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The Prayer Podcast is an attempt to make prayer meaningful, elevating and real in our day-to-day lives for every individual regardless of background.
This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Dr. Leonard & June Goldberg
00:00 - Intro
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Prayer Podcast.
00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Alright, welcome back everybody to the Prayer Podcast. This is our third installment of the introductions to prayer, and I think it's very important before we get into the actual prayers is to put a framework so that we understand what prayer really is, and I found a beautiful gem in one of the books that I'm using for preparing these classes on prayer. They bring in the introduction, many different quotes from the Talmud, from the Midrash, about prayer. I figured we should go one by one to discuss them, but before we do so, we have to just review what we spoke about previously, and that is that prayer means I'm talking to Hashem and building my relationship with God. God knows our needs, but when we ask, a father also understands the needs of their child. When the child asks, there's a building of the relationship and there's the ability for us to grow in our connection and for God to, even if he doesn't want per se for us to have something, we can persuade God to give it to us. God, give me healing. I know somebody who's ill. I know somebody who's looking for a job. You know what, when we come with a minion, we come with a quorum and we ask God for something, it has more power. It's much more powerful. We're able to persuade God to do things that maybe God didn't want to do, but we'll do it now and he'll grant it for us. So prayer makes things accessible, tangible, but also we have to recognize it is a relationship builder between us and our Creator. So, with that understanding, let's go and start seeing some of the words of our sages, short little phrases that I think can add a tremendous amount to our perspective on prayer. So the Sefri writes and this is the Midrash says Yo fe shoa achas bethila, one moment of prayer is greater than ma'asim tovim.
02:30
Good deeds, what does more Me trying to do good things or asking God for good things? You see, the incredible thing is that we think that I can accomplish things in my own deeds. I'm going to do an act and that's going to. I'm going to actually physically do something. But you know what's even more powerful than doing good deeds? Talk to Hashem. When we talk to Hashem, it's more powerful than all the good deeds in the world that you can possibly do, both in what we can accomplish and in our relationship with Hashem.
03:09
You think, you know, it's like someone comes to a rabbi and says, rabbi, I can't carry the burden of my life. It's so, so painful, it's so heavy, it's crushing me. You know what. You can carry the backpack of the entire world on your shoulder, or you can just give it to Hashem. It's your choice. You want to take God out of the picture, carry the burden yourself, live with anxiety, live with the stress, live with the pain. Or you can say Hashem, it's not on my shoulders, it's on your shoulders. Creator of heaven and earth. I know you can handle it much better than I can Give it over to Hashem. I can try to do all I want.
03:56
Prayer is when we say Hashem, you have the power to do everything. It also says that prayer is a great tool for humility, because when I think that I can do everything, I don't need God. Why do I extend my arm and say Hashem, please? I open my hands and say Hashem, I have nothing. I have nothing except for what you put in my arms, what you put in my hands. That's it I have.
04:28
That's why, when we wash our hands for the tilat yadaim, before we eat bread, what do we do? We open up our hands With a potah at the other and must be a little hard on. I show that my hands can't do anything. Look what do I have? Nothing, only what you put into my hands. That's what I have. And with that we say the blessing of al-natilat yadaim. Now I'm gonna eat bread. We think, oh bread, I yearn to living. I bake the bread I made. Now, you made nothing. Look, hashem, we recognize we have nothing. And that's the blessing with which, with humility, that we come to eat our bread. We come to eat our bread. We say Hashem, we washed our hands of that arrogance. We washed our hands of that frame of mind that it's all me, it's not me, it's all you.
05:23
That recognition is how we approach prayer and when we try to do good deeds. It's great, it's a big mitzvah to do good deeds, but it's even greater for us to open up our heart and talk to Hashem. The Talmud in Brachot says Godolat tefila, mimasim tovim tefila. Prayer is greater than Godid's, godolat filim mikorbanot. It's even greater Than sacrifices.
05:49
What is a sacrifice Sacrifice? I take the animal. I bring the animal in front of Hashem. Hashem, take. This is my offering. Instead of slaughtering me, slaughter the animal, and this should be my atonement. There's a powerful thing imagine. Today it's hard for us to imagine what it was to bring in an animal as a sacrifice, but the closest we can get to it is a car. Take your car. You have your beautiful Genesis right. You put your hands on the hood of the Genesis. Yes, hashem, forgive me, I sinned. This should be my capara, this should be my atonement. And Then comes a big wrecking ball and boom Smashes the car and that's it. That's my atonement. I walk away from it.
06:34
Prayer is even more powerful than that Prayers. When we giving of ourselves and recognizing I am nothing in front of you, hashem, you Facilitate everything in my life I can try to accomplish. You see, masim tovim the good deeds Goes on a backdrop of understanding that everything really comes from Hashem. I Can't move my finger if Hashem doesn't allow me to move my finger. I can't move my leg if Hashem doesn't give me the ability to do so. I can't think a single thought or Pronounce a single syllable if Hashem doesn't give me the ability to do so. So you know what's more powerful than doing things? Talking to Hashem and that's what the Midrash is telling us here. The Talmud as well is saying it's even greater than a sacrifice. When we talk to Hashem, the Talmud in Brachot says as well Call shef. Shall all of Akish Rahim in my career.
07:39
If one has the ability To ask God, to beseech the heavens on behalf of their friend, the ainu Mavakish, and they don't utilize this powerful tool of prayer, you know what you're called. The Talmud says Nikra Kote, you considered a sinner, you've transgressed against the Almighty, you've transgressed against your fellow fellow man and you've transgressed against yourself. You have the ability to be so close to God, to talk to God, to ask on behalf of your friend, and you don't. That's a terrible thing. You know someone needs something. You know someone who is in a desperate need of mercy and you don't ask God Because you know it. Even more so, the Talmud says that if you pray for your friend, you don't even need to say their name. We know someone is ill. We know their name and their mother's name to pull the strings of mercy from the heavens, so that God shower that individual with mercy, with Rahamim, and Give them healing. Someone needs a job, someone needs a shirukh, a zivug, a mate, their soulmate. So what do we do? We pray for them. You withheld that prayer. The Talmud says that if you're praying for your friend, you don't even need to say their name? Why not? God knows who you're talking about and God loves the prayer that we pray for one another, because it's not just you being selfish and asking for yourself. You're asking for other people so powerful. There's nothing that God loves more than we are united as one and we pray for each other.
09:42
The most beautiful thing that we see coming out of the Simhastora war is that in Yeshivas around the world, little children are given a name of a soldier that they pray for every day. One child in Yeshiva for one soldier in the battlefield. You know how powerful that is. This is my soldier. The merits of those pure prayers on behalf of a soldier. They don't even know who it is. It's my brother. It's my brother because we're all brothers to one another and I'm praying for them. You know what that does in the heavens, how God smiles, says I'm going to protect that soldier. And I know we have terrible casualties in Gaza. And every single one, every single one, is a painful child of a parent, of parents, a neighbor, a friend, a relative, a brother, a sister, a father, a mother Very, very painful. But if you look at the statistics of war and you call up 300,000 reservists and you have less than 200 soldiers that are killed.
10:59
We're talking about unbelievable miracles. Unbelievable miracles. These are the power, the power of our prayers, that we pray for these soldiers. This is the power, this is the incredible gift, the incredible gift that we can bestow upon our friends when we pray for them. And if we don't do so, the Talmud says you're called a chote, you're called a sinner. Me peh, ma nai shu el-i-melch ve b'na, ve me gilas rus shayyal en levkesh. Rahamim al-doran ve lo-biqshu. We see that el-i-melch in the book of Ruth was punished. They had the ability to pray for someone and they didn't. They didn't utilize the opportunity, the power that we have to pray. You'll never, ever understand it how great that power is.
12:03
The Talmud now continues in Brachot that says kol-a-mesh-pal-el ve aharkach. Yotsel-ad-derach akod-ish-boruchu o-seloch hafatzav Anyone who prays and then goes out on the way. Then they go out and embark on their mission of life. Pray first, do later HaKadrashporuchhu, the Almighty will take care of all of their needs. Why? Because what came first?
12:32
The doing or the praying, my physical attempts or the humility where I ask Hashem, hashem, I know everything is in your hands and you're the one who makes things happen. So if we recognize that everything is from Hashem. And we do the prayer first and then we go out and we go do our job, try to earn a livelihood, try to support our family. Oh, that's the right way to do it. Recognize that it's not me. It's not me. It's not me that provides for my family, it's the Almighty that provides. I'm just doing the show, I'm playing the game, I show up at work, I put in my greatest efforts, but I know that the success comes from Hashem. And that's what we do. When we declare Every day in our prayers Hashem, you're the one who gives.
13:36
We say, by the way, talmud says that why do we say Ashreh, the Psalm 145? We say that three times a day. We say it in the middle of the verses of praise, the verses of song psukedizimra. We say it at the end of the morning prayer and we say it before mincha. And on Shabbos we also say it three times. We say it before the Mus'af prayer. Why do we say it three times?
14:06
The Talmud says, you know why? Because we say one verse over there which is so powerful, this incredible verse that Hashem opens our hands, you open your hand, hashem opens his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing, mospey, lecholchai, every living thing, say just tell us. We need to open up our hands as well and realize that we have nothing. Look it's porous. We have nothing, and yet Hashem fills it. Because of this verse alone, we say the Ashreh three times a day.
14:52
That Talmud says To recognize with humility everything is from Hashem. So if we say this with proper intention, every single day before we go out to work, we say you know what Hashem? This is puppetry. I'm going to go out to work as if, as if I am so smart and I can earn a living from my family, but really I know it's all. You, hashem, you're the one pulling the strings, you're the puppeteer who's giving us the thoughts call this guy, try to make that sale, or not. Even how many people I speak to and ask them oh, you have a company, you sell a certain product. Tell me how do you make your sales? If they're honest, they tell me the following I don't, it just comes. I don't know how. I don't even know how they find me. I've had so many people tell me this when do they find you? Unbelievable. We have to recognize this every single day. Hashem is opening his hands and giving us every day the gifts. And if we're humble enough, we'll realize that All of our success comes from Hashem Another Talmud, the Talmud in Brachos as well.
16:12
It says Anyone who washes goes to the restroom. They wash their hands, they put on their to fill in, they read the Shema, they pray the Amida Shema, they pray the Shmonesre. The verse says it's as if you built the tabernacle and you brought on it an offering that's desired and loved by Hashem. Because what do we do when we pray? We relinquish our power. We say Hashem, it's all in your hands, the Shema. What do we do? We declare Hashem, you're the king. We remember again and again, and again, and we commit ourselves over again, With all of our hearts, with all of our soul and with all of our means, with all of our possessions, with everything. Everything is dedicated to you, hashem.
17:19
By the way, you can even dedicate your vacations to Hashem. What do you mean? Dedication of my vacation? My vacation is for me to take a break. Why are you taking a break? You're taking a break so that you can rejuvenate, you can refresh, so that you go back into the service of Hashem, so that you can work hard. Why do we work hard. Why do people invest so much in their career, in their livelihood? So that, hopefully, they can serve Hashem. That should be the intention. And if you do so, by the way, it's a mitzvah for you to go to work every day. You should say every day, before you go on your job, you should say Hashem, I'm fulfilling the mitzvah of earning a livelihood, but it's not really earning a livelihood Putting forward my effort. The livelihood comes from Hashem and that's our prayer.
18:21
The Talmud now says a very, very interesting thing. Another quote Talmud Brachot 30b La'olom yamod adh-mesatsmo. A person should evaluate himself Im yacholechav, inis libo yisbalil. If he can direct his heart, meaning have proper focus In his prayer, he should pray the imlav, and if not, al yisbalil, don't pray, don't just say words. Stop, take some time. You're frazzled, you don't do well in the mornings. Sit and relax. Try to get yourself to a place of peace of mind so that you can focus your prayer, so that the words don't just come out of your mouth without any focus or intention, without any heart, but the words should be flowing from your heart with love for Hashem. The person should sit.
19:21
It says that chassidim arishonim, the pious ones, would sit for an hour prior to prayer, preparing themselves. You don't just run in, oh, run into synagogue, throw my tfilin on, slap him on my arm, slap him on my head, say the shema and I'm all in focus. Take some time, connect with the words you're saying. And the Talmud says you have to evaluate yourself. If you're able to do so, great. If you're not able to, don't pray it, don't just say words. Why? Because prayer means I'm talking to God. There's nothing more powerful, nothing more delightful than talking directly to Hashem. And then the Talmud continues.
20:11
In Eruvim it says kol sh'ein datum yush evas alav al yusbal el. If you're not relaxed in your mind, you're busy all over the place. The Talmud says you're in the middle of a court case. You're not allowed to pray. You know why. You're going to be standing there saying atah honaylo adhamdas, god, you're the one who gives us wisdom. Mual, you're not thinking about it. You think. You know what? When I get in front of the judge, I should say this. I should argue this. I should do that. You know I have to pick up the cleaners on my way back. I have to. All your thoughts are all over the place. Can't pray like that.
20:48
Prayer means we're present, we're 100% present. Hashem should bless us all. That our prayers should be miyush avim. They should be with a calmness, with a presence of mind. Take a moment before you're praying. What am I doing here? I'm in synagogue or wherever you're praying. What am I doing here, hashem? I love you, thank you in your own words, and if we can pray in the prayers that the men of the great assembly established for us and understand them and feel a connection to them, how great that is, how special that is for us. Hashem should bless us all. That we should feel the prayers every day and feel that closest to Hashem. Hashem should accept our prayers lovingly, amen.
21:44 - Intro (Host)
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