The Effectiveness of Prayer
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I hope this message finds you well.
I’ve been grappling with a tough question for a long time now, and I’d really appreciate your insights. Here’s my struggle in a nutshell:
I’m struggling to understand how there’s so much evil in the world if God is all good. The typical response that we can’t fully grasp God’s plans doesn’t sit well with me, especially when I think about events like the Holocaust or recent wars. They’re just too terrible to accept as part of any good plan.
I found some comfort in Rambam’s words about free will, suggesting that evil exists because people can choose to do wrong or because of natural laws that sometimes have bad outcomes. But this leads me to a bigger question about prayer:
If we can ask God for things through prayer, it means we’re asking for God’s intervention in the world. But if God doesn’t always intervene, how can I pray and ask for help? and if he is helping through prayer, why we almost never see this? especially considering that horrible events have happened in the past, even when people were fervently praying, and yet were losr (like the Holocaust).
Rabbi, I’m feeling really lost and would greatly appreciate your perspective and guidance.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.
Warm regards,
Ori
Answers
I think that, perhaps, there are two parts to your question about prayer. The first is how can I ask for Hashem’s intervention if Hashem does not always intervene in an overt way in the physical realms. And it seems to me that the second part of your question is why do we (mostly) not see the results of our prayers?
The Maharal addresses the concept of prayer and explains that the most central tenet of prayer is that we have Who to turn to. When we pray we are acknowledging that there is only One Entity capable of answering us and giving us what we are asking for, and that is Hashem. Even not receiving what it is that we are beseeching Him for cannot detract from the fact that there is no one else who we can turn to other than our Father in Heaven. That knowledge is a source of great comfort because it teaches the importance of knowing that we can ask Hashem for everything that we want and everything that we need. Of course, for us to be able to do so in a healthy way requires us accepting that Hashem may not give what we are asking for, despite its justice being so plainly obvious to us. Turning to Hashem is the way that we show that we are not in control, and that it is Hashem that we must turn to. There is a poignant story that is told about when a person came to the Ponovizher Rav to complain that Hashem does not listen to his Tefillos. The Ponovizher Rav said, “He does, He said no.”
And that brings me to what I think is the second part of your question on prayer. Prayer is not something that I recite and get immediate positive responses to whatever I asked for. That is not how prayer works at all. Why do things not go according to our plans and desires? The simple answer is that this is Hashem’s world and we cannot “dictate” to Hashem, for example, who will be well and who will not. We can ask and beseech but not more than that. The final decision belongs to Hashem alone. So, what about all of the prayers that we pray that are seemingly not answered? Several years ago a soldier called Nachshon Wachsman was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists. For many days the Jewish Nation was praying for his well being and that he be rescued. But, it was not to be. When the soldiers who had tried to recapture Nachshon reached the hideout where he was being kept, they were met with a steel fortress. No one had told them about it and they went in to what can only be described as a murderous crossfire. By the time they had fought their way through Nachshon was dead. What they all said was that according to the odds none of them – not one of them – should have survived. At the Shivah, a secular Israeli journalist asked Nachshon’s father why all the prayers recited didn’t help. So he explained to the journalist exactly what he had been told by the soldiers who had attempted to rescue him, and how they all said that it was a complete miracle that they had survived. And then Nachshon’s father ended by saying that all those prayers to save a Jewish child were answered. It was just that the child was not his son.
Heartfelt prayers are always heard! It is inconceivable that they will not have an effect.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team