Prayer is the Answer

Our most powerful weapon is prayer, especially in a time of crisis. When praying, we should be confident our individual prayers are impactful. Moreover, we should be encouraged to know that our prayers are not being said in isolation. They are being combined with the prayers of righteous people throughout the entire Jewish world, not only those alive today but millions of people who have prayed throughout the millennia. This dramatically augments the potential impact of each additional prayer. 

Structured Prayer 

The siddur is saturated with inspirational passages that we can leverage into powerful and effective pleas for divine assistance. When we are rushed and distracted, we often blow right by these spiritual gems, reciting them without pondering their meaning and significance.

In order to optimize our prayers, we need enhanced focus combined with intense heartfelt yearning. Here are some suggestions, starting from when we arise in the morning.

After we take care of our personal needs, we recite the prayer Asher Yatzar to thank Hashem for the miracles taking place in our body and our overall health. At the same time, this prayer can be a powerful segula for the recovery and well-being of others. Take a deep breath before you begin and contemplate how much is at stake. Keep in mind our wounded brothers and sisters in Israel.  

After finishing the blessing, make a declaration in your own words thanking Hashem for your health and your family’s health. Then ask Him to heal the wounded and sick of Israel and make this a safe and healthy day for the Jewish people.

When we wash our hands in the morning and recite the blessing, we should do so with the intention to sanctify ourselves and perform Hashem’s will. We should dedicate all the Torah we will learn and all the mitzvot we plan to perform that day as a merit for the safety and well-being of the Jewish people. 

When we recite the blessings over the Torah one of the paragraphs contains the Priestly Blessing. We should concentrate intensely when asking Hashem to guard us and bless us with peace.

Before beginning to pray, let’s recite the statement: “I hereby accept upon myself the mitzvah to love your neighbor as yourself.” Prayer of course, must begin with Ahavat Yisrael. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi taught that our mission depends on our mutual love for one another. Now we know that our survival also depends on this.

During the morning blessings, when we get to the blessing Matir Asurim, the freeing of captives, focus intensely on the plight of those being held hostage and pray for Hashem’s mercy and compassion on their behalf.  

These are just a few examples at the beginning of our daily routine. The siddur is filled with opportunities for inspirational and powerful appeals. To take full advantage of these opportunities, it is a good idea to use a marker or pen to highlight passages that resonate with you. This will enhance your ability to focus and leverage them to the hilt during your regular daily prayers.

 
Personal Prayer 

Listening to the news is not a mitzvah. Prayer is a mitzvah. Listening to the news doesn’t improve the situation, but prayer does. Yes, we need to find out what’s happening during this crisis but constantly checking the news is counterproductive. Each time that we are tempted to switch on the news due to our internal angst, we can do something constructive like saying Tehillim, learning Torah, or engaging in personal prayer instead.

Rabbi Arush emphasizes that now is the time for us to increase our personal prayer on behalf of the Jewish people, the more the better. I recommend that you start with five minutes a day and strive to increase another five minutes each day. I try to allot time to personal prayer for the Jewish people in segments. I pray five to ten minutes at a time walking to synagogue, walking to the bus, riding on the bus, going for walks during work breaks, lunch etc. By early afternoon I’ve usually prayed for at least a half hour. 

This is a time of great danger and urgency. Complacency is not an option. Hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters are putting their lives on the line to protect us. We should certainly be willing to allocate time to pray for them and for the whole Jewish people. All our prayers together can make a cosmic impact, saving lives and bringing salvation.  

Baruch Hashem, we are once again a unified nation. We have set aside our political, religious, and cultural differences, and we are concentrating on loving and helping one another. In that spirit let us unite in prayer.