Quick Thoughts: Tefillah is Real

~ Quick Thoughts ~
Tefillah is Real
By: Daniel Listhaus

            The mishna in Berachos (9:3) teaches that "A prayer for something that is past, is a vain prayer".

The mishna gives two examples:

1. If one's wife is pregnant and one prays, "May it be thy [Hashem's] will that my wife will bear a son" or
2. If one is on the road and hears a cry of anguish in the city and said "May it be Your will that these are not the members of my household".

In both examples an event already occurred. In the first cast embryo is already formed; and in the second, someone already cried out.

One could think of Davening (prayer) as a form of therapy, something that helps maintain saneness by thinking that there is always someone we could cry out to for help. However, that is not fully true. Hashem is not a merely concept or a word that is there to help us scream out to something. Hashem is the G-d and Creator and Master of the universe who is actually listening to our tefillos (prayers). When we daven we are not entering a therapy session (though unarguably therapeutic in nature) but rather engaging in a real conversation with the Almighty! This is why we do not pray for things that have already happened, because prayer isn't merely a way of generically expressing our hopes and frustrations but is rather real and purposeful.

This is how we have to view prayer. Certainly we could (and should) ask Hashem to help us get through current situations that were caused by past experiences and certainly we could (and should) daven for Hashem to help us in the future. However to daven for something to happen that has already happened is a vain prayer.

Davening "vain prayers" is both a good sign and a not good sign. It is not a good sign because perhaps it reflects that we do not fully understand and appreciate the realness of tefillah. However, it is a good sign that we believe that Hashem exists, is always listening to us, and that it is He Who could help us.

May Hashem help us internalize this message that tefillah is real and in this zechus answer the tefillos of all of K'lal Yisroel!

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