A House of Prayer for All Nations
Mussar

The Value and Obligation of Prayer

· editor
In short: This article draws on Midrash, medieval ethics, Hasidic teaching, and halachic sources to illuminate why prayer matters — and when. It teaches that prayer should precede trouble, not only follow it; that fear itself is a heavenly signal to pray; that tears and sincerity can open gates that merit alone cannot; and that even the humblest, most spontaneous cry reaches God. The guiding spirit throughout is that prayer is not a transaction but an act of surrender, trust, and relationship.

“I Called — and He Answered Me!”

“Although the Sages taught that a person should always pray before trouble arrives — and even though I only called out to Him once I was already in the midst of trouble — still: I called, and He answered me. He answered me, O Lord. And more than that: even though I did not arrange proper prayers and supplications, and did not exert myself — even so, with a single cry alone, I called, and He answered me.”

— Mizmor le-Todah (A Psalm of Thanksgiving), by Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropol

“And I Pleaded with God” — In Every Situation

“Moses taught everyone who comes into the world: a person should never say, ‘Since my illness is dangerous and I have already written my will and distributed everything I own, there is no point in praying further.’ Rather, he must continue to pray — for the Holy One, blessed be He, does not disqualify the prayer of any creature. After all, Moses himself wrote his will, and yet — would you think he stopped praying? The Torah therefore says: And I pleaded with God! (Deuteronomy 3:23)”

— Midrash Tanchuma, Va-et’chanan

Pray in the Hour of Distress

“‘And I pleaded with God at that time, saying’ — what does the word saying imply? Rabbi Azaryah said: It implies that this was a message for all future generations — that they should pray in times of distress. For Moses, even after being told ‘You shall not cross the Jordan’ (Deuteronomy 3:27), began to entreat.”

— Midrash Va-et’chanan 2:6

Fear Is a Signal to Pray

“When fear of something falls upon a person, he should immediately seek God’s mercy to be saved from it — for Heaven has roused him through that fear, as the Sages taught (Sanhedrin 44b): ‘A person should always pray before trouble arrives.’ But how does one know about trouble before it comes? It is that the Holy One, blessed be He, rouses him through fear.”

— Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik (a collection of teachings by Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin), 169

The Intention of Prayer

“It is fitting, my brother, that you know: the intent of our prayer is nothing other than the soul’s yearning for God and its submission before Him. This comes about when a person stands in prayer, contemplating that he stands before the King of all kings — who watches and beholds all his ways and all his deeds — and humility falls upon the one who prays.”

— Chovot ha-Levavot (Duties of the Heart), Cheshbon ha-Nefesh (Accounting of the Soul), Chapter 3

Cry Out from the Depths of the Heart

“What the Sages meant when they said ‘the Evening Prayer has no fixed form’ is this: through the darkness within a person’s heart, when he cries out from the pain in his heart — this opens the gate to prayer more than any of the times specially designated for prayer.”

— Sefat Emet (by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger), Nitzavim

Tears Open Every Gate

“There is a person who is not worthy of having his prayer accepted by God — except by virtue of the force of his supplications and the tears of his eyes. He weeps and entreats constantly; and even if he has no merit and no good deeds to his credit, the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts his prayer and grants his wish.”

— Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious), 130

Pray Before Trouble Strikes!

“A person should be careful to bring his prayer before everything else, for it is easier to nullify harm beforehand. As the Sages taught: ‘A person should always pray before trouble arrives.’ For this reason, men of action customarily pray before celebrating a child’s wedding — asking that the attribute of divine judgment and the evil eye not prevail over them. This is a sound and proper custom.”

— Shevet Musar

Ask — Through Kindness, Not Entitlement!

“One should not think: ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, should grant my request because I prayed with proper intention’ — for in fact, the opposite is true: such thinking calls a person’s sins to mind (since, by claiming confidence in his merits, his deeds are scrutinized all the more closely). Instead, he should think: ‘May the Holy One act out of His kindness,’ and say in his heart: ‘Who am I — lowly and despised — to come and petition the King of all kings, the Holy One, blessed be He? I can only do so because of the abundance of kindness with which He treats His creatures.'”

— Mishnah Berurah, Laws of Prayer, 98:5

Our Father Abraham Prayed About Everything

The verse states: “I have lifted my hand to God… that I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours” (Genesis 14:22–23). Targum Onkelos (the Aramaic translation of the Torah) renders this: “I have raised my hands in prayer before God” — meaning that Abraham our father, peace be upon him, was telling the king of Sodom: for everything he needs, he prays to the Holy One, blessed be He — even if he needs only a thread or a sandal strap.

This is the meaning of Onkelos’s rendering “I raised my hands in prayer”: it was Abraham’s custom and way to ask God for all his needs. The king of Sodom should therefore not imagine that Abraham would take anything from him, since Abraham had no need of his favors — he received everything directly from the Holy One, blessed be He.

— Imrei Kodesh, Parashat Lech Lecha