“I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov ….” (Shemos 6:3)
Rashi adds, “Hashem appeared to the avos, the forefathers.” Rabbeinu Tam notes that his grandfather, Rashi, fasted 613 days (approximately three years, excluding Shabbos, Yom Tov, and the entire month of Nissan when one is not permitted to fast) before he began to write his famous commentary on the Torah. What original concept is Rashi introducing here?
The Chasam Sofer explains, “Hashem reveals Himself particularly to those who seek Him as a father.” Hashem is the source of all salvation, as it says in Adon Olam, “In Your Hand I entrust my spirit.” When one needs help, his first recourse should be to turn to Hashem, and pray to Him. Rabbeinu B’Chaye adds that one may certainly invest the appropriate efforts and consult a professional – the doctor, the lawyer, the advisor – but one should be totally cognizant of the fact that his true and ultimate help comes from Hashem alone. This is as it says in the Talmud (Berachos 60a) counseling one who undergoes bloodletting to beseech G-d, “May it be Your will Hashem that this procedure should be a cure for me, and may You heal me, for You are a faithful healer and Your healing is genuine.”
The Medrash tells us that one day Moshe Rabbeinu experienced a severe toothache. When Hashem asked how he was feeling, Moshe replied, “Master of the world, everything is revealed to You,” yet Hashem wanted Moshe to speak of his pain. Hashem then advised him to find a specific plant, steep it in water, then drink the liquid, and he would be healed. Moshe did as he was told, and the pain was relieved.
A year later Moshe once again experienced pain in his teeth. “Why should I trouble Hashem?” he thought to himself. “I will find that plant and follow Hashem’s instructions as last time.” He did so but his pain was not relieved. When Hashem appeared and inquired after Moshe’s wellbeing, Moshe disclosed that his teeth ached. “What did you take for a remedy?” asked Hashem. “I took the same plant as last time and it didn’t help,” admitted Moshe.
“Do you think it’s the plant that heals?” said Hashem. “I am the one Who heals, and at that time I recommended the plant.”
A similar lesson is learned in the Talmud (Rosh Hashana 29a) concerning the Copper Snake that healed. The Torah relates (Bamidbar 21:5) that the Jewish People began to complain in the desert. “Why did you make us leave Egypt … there is no bread and water … we loathe this miserable food [the Manna] …” Hashem sent serpents that bit the people and many died. The Bnei Yisroel realized they had sinned and begged Moshe to pray for them. When Moshe prayed, Hashem instructed him, (ibid. 21:8), “Make a copper serpent and place it on the pole … anyone who was bitten and looks at it will live.” The Talmud asks: Did the serpent kill or keep a person alive? The answer given is that it indicates that when the people looked up, turned their thoughts above and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven they were healed; otherwise they died.
Salvation is only from Hashem and is contingent upon our sincere prayer to Him.
One of the students learning in a post-high school program in Monsey requested permission from the Rosh Yeshiva to learn with a graduate student from the kollel. He felt it would be a very beneficial arrangement for his development and spiritual growth.
When the Rosh Yeshiva approached the graduate student, he responded, “I’m not opposed to it. However, I do have a regular study partner whom I would be loathe to lose. If you demand my cooperation I will gladly acquiesce; otherwise, I would prefer to continue learning with my current study partner.”
The Rosh Yeshiva did not want to force the issue; he merely wished to make a suggestion. And so, the study partners remained unchanged.
The following semester the young student once again made his request to the Rosh Yeshiva. Again, the Rosh Yeshiva asked the kollel student if he would consider changing study partners. The answer remained the same; he was reluctant to change unless the Rosh Yeshiva demanded it. The Rosh Yeshiva did not insist, and each pair of study partners remained unchanged.
The student made a third request, and although the Rosh Yeshiva preferred not to press the kollel student, he nevertheless asked him again, with the same negative respond.
When the Rosh Yeshiva returned to yeshiva after the long bein hazmanim break, he was shocked to see the young student sitting at the table where the kollel student usually sat, deeply engrossed in his learning. He could not understand what had transpired. After his many unsuccessful attempts to bring together these two individuals as study partners, what had changed?
When he questioned the young man, he innocently answered that during the time they had been off from yeshiva, he had prayed intensely to Hashem, with deep feelings and tears, that Hashem should help him find a suitable learning partner. He had now returned for the new semester with a very good feeling about his prayers so he just sat down at this table.
Just then the kollel student walked in and, seeing the Rosh Yeshiva, asked, “Is that young student still seeking a study partner from the kollel?”
“Not only does he want a kollel student for a study partner,” said the Rosh Yeshiva, “he is sitting at your table ready to begin! I just want to know,” continued the Rosh Yeshiva, “what brought about this change of heart?”
The graduate student explained to the Rosh Yeshiva, “My study partner just informed me that he wants to become a dayan (judge), so he will be entering a different study program that will prepare him for that field.”
Such is the power of tefillah to Hashem.