Hashem's Right Arm
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The Hafetz Haim writes (Sha'ar Ha'tvunah, chapter 10) that our world is like a drop in the bucket compared to the upper worlds. The Gemara in Masechet Avodah Zarah (3) tells that the heavenly realm consists of 18,000 worlds, and there are millions upon millions of angels singing Hashem's praises. Tanna De'beh Eliyahu teaches that the heavenly angels proclaim, קדוש קדוש קדוש ה' צבא-ות from morning until evening, and then at night they declare, ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו. And yet, the Hafetz Haim writes, Hashem receives more satisfaction from a single Jew than He does from all the heavenly angels combined. He begs us, השמיעיני את קולך - He wants to hear our voices.
When we speak to Hashem, we draw so close to Him. Commenting on the pasuk in Shir Hashirim, וימינו תחבקני("His right arm embraces me"), the Midrash writes, זו תפילה- this refers to prayer. When a person stands up to recite the Amidah, Hashem's "right arm," so-to-speak, embraces him. For this reason, the Talmud comments, ולואי שיתפלל אדם כל היום כולו - we wish we could pray all day long, so we could be constantly connected to Hashem.
רחמנא ליבא בעי - "G-d wants the heart." He wants us to open our hearts to Him, to give Him our emotions. Every prayer we recite is immensely valuable, if it is prayed with sincere feeling. The author of the work Ro'eh Even Yisraelcomments that while many people look around for "segulot" for making money, in his view, the greatest segulah is reciting the Amidah properly.
Prayer is real. The Hafetz Haim taught that if a person prays for his fellow, he fulfills the Biblical mitzvah of performing kindness. And so after 120 years, when a person departs this world, he might be told, "You are credited with making ten marriages, finding jobs for eight different people, and saving the lives of twenty people." The person will then say that he has no recollection of doing any of this, and he will be told that he accomplished all this through his tefillot. His prayers were the cause of these events happening, and they are therefore credited to him.
We must utilize the gift of prayer for both ourselves and our friends. The Gemara teaches, המתפלל על חבירו נענה תחילה - when a person prays for his fellow, he is answered first. The work Ki Atah Imadi cites Rav Bunim as saying that the greatest merit one can earn is for praying for his fellow when he is in the same situation, and he will lose if his fellow receives what he needs. An example is a situation of a group of boys, all of whom are married except for two of them, and one prays that the other should find his shidduch. If his friend finds a shidduch first, then he will be left alone, the only one in the group still unmarried. If he nevertheless prays wholeheartedly for his friend, then in this merit he will be answered and given his shidduch.
The Mayim Haim tells the story of a man who was married for many years without children. His Rabbi advised him to follow the Sages' guidance and pray for somebody else who does not have children. Several months later, the man returned to his Rabbi and said he had been praying for another couple, but still has not been blessed with a child.
"This only helps if you truly and sincerely want that other couple to have children," the Rabbi said, "but not if you're praying only because you want a child of your own. When you pray with all your heart that another Jew should have children, because you truly want him to be happy, then I guarantee you that you will be blessed with a child." Sure enough, the man prayed sincerely for the other couple and had a child.
Tefilah is immensely powerful, but it is especially so when it is recited as a kindness for others. Hashem says in Parashat Vaera, וגם אני שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל - "I have also heard Beneh Yisrael crying out." The commentators raise the question of why Hashem adds the word וגם - "I have also heard." Who else heard the people's cries, such that Hashem says that He also heard? The commentators explain that during the Egyptian bondage, each member of the nation heard the cries of the others, and everyone was praying for each other to be freed. When Hashem saw this, He said, "If they are hearing each other's cries, then I also hear their cries, and in this merit I will save them."
Prayer is so important. Hashem yearns to hear us pray. It brings us so close to Him, and brings salvation both for ourselves and for our fellow Jew.
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