Every since the outbreak of war five months ago, the Rav of Ramat Elchonon has had no rest. There is no end of halachic questions piling up on his desk, both from the front and the families of the captives. In his sunrise minyan in Ramat Elchonon, pirkei Tehillim are said, together with Ovinu Malkeinu every morning to repeal the harsh decree. Family members of hostages come to Kollel Beis Dovid in Holon seeking strengthening.
We have asked HaRav Yitzchok to tell us how the public can improve and fortify itself through prayer. This is what he answered.
There was once a case of a man who was hemorrhaging without stop, defying the efforts of all the doctors. The members of his family went for advice to the Ponovezh Mashgiach. HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein, begging that he pray for their father.
He duly said: "May Hashem have compassion upon this man," and the bleeding stopped.
In the yeshiva, everyone talked about this miracle. The Mashgiach heard about this and related to it in his Mussar talk and said: The gemara in Kiddushin (29b) tells that there was an evil spirit in Abaye's beis midrash who molested anyone who entered. When Rav Acha the son of Yaakov arrived in town, Abaye forbade all of the people from admitting Rav Acha to their homes so that he would have no choice but to lodge in the beis medrash. Hopefully, he would be able to miraculously overpower the evil spirit.
Left with no choice, Rav Acha went to the beis medrash and was accosted by the evil spirit in the form of a seven-headed serpent. Unfazed, Rav Acha prayed and prostrated himself. Each time he did so, one of the heads fell off.
On the following morning, Rav Acha said to Abaye that indeed, he had been privy to seven miracles, for if not, he would surely have died.
The Maharsha asked: How could Abaye have sent Rav Acha to stay in the beis medrash when it was such a dangerous place? How could he have relied on a miracle saving him from death? And even granted that Rav Acha merited a miracle, still, when a person experiences a miracle, it is at the expense of his merits, that is, they are deducted.
The answer is that Abaye was certain that Rav Acha had sufficient merit: his fervent prayers would surely add to them and enable him to slay the demon. This, said Abaye, is not considered as nullifying his merits. The question was that perhaps the demon would kill him before he had a chance to pray, But, he added, this would not have happened since those merits would have saved him through a miracle.
This teaches us a new concept altogether. If a person prays avidly for a certain thing and his prayer is effective, under natural circumstances this may seem as a miracle but actually, it is not considered a miracle. Why? Because prayer has the power to save. Hashem actually empowered nature itself with the very ability to effect what seems to be a miracle.
Contemplate how amazing is the power of prayer!
Twenty years ago, I received a letter from teachers and students of a certain seminary, painfully describing how there were so many older girls waiting for a shidduch. They were asking what they should do to hasten their salvation. It was very distressing for me to hear that so many girls were waiting, and waiting seemingly in vain, many having reach a late age.
I traveled to HaRav Eliashiv for help. I described how painful was their situation. At first, he very modestly demurred, claiming that who was he to help? I again described their plight and said that they were desperately waiting for advice from the posek hador. He finally replied, "The only thing I can suggest is that they pray and pray and pray some more."
I conveyed his words to the girls, whereupon, they burst into fresh tears. "We have cried until our throats are dry. We pray all the time but no salvation is in sight."
A few days later, I went to visit the author of "Ayeles Hashachar" (HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman). I told him about the letter and about my visit. Then I described the desperate reaction of those girls. Instead of answering, he went over to the bookcase, took out Sefer Melochim and turned to Perek Daled.
He began reading about the miracle that took place with the wife of Ovadia and the oil, all in the merit of Prophet Elisha. He began by reading how Ovadia's wife wept and said: I am the widow of the righteous Ovadia. We were in grave debt and the creditor came to take away my children as servants.
Maran asked: Do you know how many times she prayed?
The answer can be found in Radak in the name of the Targum. She beseeched Elisha 265 times, as is hinted in the gematria of tzaka. He writes: [it's in Aramaic]
Can we believe that the woman actually cried 265 times? She went to Ovadia's grave and then returned to Elisha before he performed the miracle. Had she only wept 264 times, she would not have been saved by the miracle.
We must learn from this that one must continue to pray, even more than 265 times, for as here, it was by the final time that the miracle occurred before her very eyes. We must do the same: to pray and pray until, suddenly, everything turns out for the best.
