Power of Prayer

29 Tishrei 5782

“O Lord, place a guard for my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Tehillim 141:3)

Not only does this verse in Psalms speak to the importance of guarding your own words, it also teaches an important lesson about prayer. As Rashi comments, “When I pray before You, I should speak poetically, that it should be acceptable.” It is crucial for our own life and the life force of the world to draw down blessings through the channels of prayer.

“Hence, the [infinite] Ein Sof-light which is in [the World of] Atzilut is also present in [the World of] Asiyah, and [even] in this material world” (Lessons in Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 25)

Because G-d is similarly present in all Worlds, the prayers rendered on this lowly level reach to the highest heights and draw down to the lowest lows. As it says in Tehillim 113:5-6 “Who is like the Lord, our God, Who dwells on high, [yet] looks down so low upon heaven and earth!”

“And God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark” (Bereishit 8:1)

The prayer from our mouths has a tremendous effect. Because of the prayer of Noah, the Divine name representing the Divine Standard of Justice in the verse above was converted to the Divine Standard of Mercy (Rashi). If a prayer has the power to reverse the very nature of a Divine name, how much more can it influence our own nature for the good?