The Wondrous Segula

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Chazal have taught us a wondrous segula to have our tefillot accepted faster. Namely, if someone is in need of a yeshua and knows of someone else with that same need and prays for that person to be helped. With this statement, the chazal are also teaching us how important it is to pray for others. The Be'er Mayim Chayim explains, when we pray for others, we are showing that we care about the pain of the Shechina, kaviyachol. The pasuk says, when a Jew is in pain, Hashem is in pain, and Hashem's pain is equal for every single Jew that is hurting. So when we pray for others to be relieved from their suffering, we are also praying for some of the pain of the Shechina to be relieved. Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l writes in the Igerot Moshe (YD 4:51), about how much every single person's tefila makes an impact, even if the person has done many averot. Then he writes, if someone was asked to pray for someone else, he should feel the responsibility of that request. Nobody knows whose prayers will have the most impact. By praying for someone else, the person is doing the ultimate chesed and also fulfilling the great mitzvah of ואהבת לרעך כמוך . Then he concludes by saying, since it's an absolute obligation to pray for our friends and give them berachot, even if we're not asked to pray for someone, if we know they're in need, we should pray for them anyway. The Chida writes in his Sefer Nachal Kedumim, when praying for others, we must really have pure intentions that they should be helped and not just pray as a ploy to get the help that we are looking for. If we are able to pray with pure intentions for others, then the segula works. If someone has been doing it and hasn't been answered yet, he should not cast doubt upon the segula of the chazal, but rather attribute it to his own shortcomings. The Shulchan Aruch writes that washing netilat yadayim for bread with a lot of water is a segula to become wealthy. The Mishna Berura writes there, if someone is careful to always wash with a lot of water but hasn't been blessed with wealth yet, it's because he has a deed which is blocking the parnasa from coming at the moment. Chazal's words are emmet. Sometimes Hashem shows us clearly how segulot do work. A rabbi told me he knows of a couple that was married for nearly eight years without children. They became friendly with another couple who was married for a few years without children. They accepted upon themselves to truly pray for one another to be helped. This past year, Baruch Hashem, one of those couples had a baby. And then, on the very same day, the woman from the other couple went into labor more than six weeks early and had a baby on the same calendar date. They were in awe of the hashgacha of Hashem, both for blessing them with children and also for showing them how their prayers for each other is what brought about their yeshua. Tefila is always special. When we have a true desire for other people to be helped and we pray with that kavana, it makes the tefila even more special.