Give Your Children an Edge

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Mishna Berura in siman 47 writes that a father and mother should constantly be praying for their children to be learners of Torah, to be tzaddikim and to have good middot . Rabbenu Yona writes in his Igeret HaTeshuva that a woman should be careful to pray every morning, afternoon and night that her children should be yirei Shamayim. The Mishna Berura in siman 122 writes, these prayers can be in any language, as long as they are from the depths of the heart. Our children are being bombarded with tests and temptations and they need all the help they can get to stay pure. Our tefilot are what can make all the difference. When a person prays for his child, that child will receive more Heavenly help from Hashem. And then, during those times when the child is in jeopardy of being convinced to make the wrong decisions, Hashem will give him the help that he needs. Prayer is the greatest help we can give our children. It doesn't cost us anything and in fact we even get a mitzvah for it. There are some decisions which could potentially determine the entire course of a person's life. At those times, the parents wish they could make the decisions for their children, but it's out of their hands. However, Hashem can guide the children in the right path and the amount of siyata d'Shamaya the children will get depends on the tefilot prayed on their behalf. Sometimes, we wish that our children could be in a certain yeshiva or in a certain environment that we think will be so beneficial for them, but they don't have the credentials to get in. Hashem could help with that too. A man told the following story on a hashgacha pratit hotline. He said 60 years ago, his grandfather and his family left their affluent lifestyle in Persia and went to live in Israel. His grandfather's father was hoping his son would be able to learn in a yeshiva there, but since the boy was 13 and didn't know anything beyond the Alef Bet and the siddur , he was having trouble getting into one. But his great-grandfather wouldn't give up. From one yeshiva office to the next he traveled, begging for his son to be accepted. One yeshiva agreed to meet his grandfather for an interview. When his grandfather came in, the Rosh Yeshiva asked him to elaborate on a certain topic in the Gemara called kum leh b'draba mineh. His great-grandfather was about to bury his head in shame at his son's ignorance, but surprisingly, the 13 year old opened up and began giving an entire discourse on the topic. The Rosh Yeshiva enjoyed it so much, he got up and kissed the boy on the forehead saying, "Welcome to our yeshiva." Later on, his father asked him how in the world he knew anything about that topic, never having learned Gemara his entire life. The boy replied, "That was just about the only thing I knew. You see, yesterday when I went to pray Mincha , there was a shiur going on in the shul so I stayed to listen. It was all about this specific topic and I listened to every single word. The speaker explained it very clearly and I repeated it exactly as I heard it to the Rosh Yeshiva." This siyata d'Shamaya that Hashem gave this boy enabled him to learn Torah in a good yeshiva and go on to raise a family of bnei Torah with children and grandchildren who are all yirei Shamayim and shomer Torah u'mitzvot. We can give our children a very big edge by utilizing the gift of tefila on their behalf.