Rebbetzin Leah Gans
“Several other things also fall under chesed performed through speech.
For example, praying for someone who is ill, asking the Almighty to heal them. This is included in the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting the sick).
The same (chesed—prayer) applies to someone in trouble, even if they themselves do not know about it, as we learned about our forefather Abraham, who prayed for the inhabitants of Sodom so that their city would not be overturned. All the more so (one should pray) for a Jew in trouble.”
A prayer in which we ask on someone else's behalf does not go unanswered (even if it seems that way to us).
There was one very difficult situation involving people we knew. We tried to help, but the more we intervened, the more everything seemed to fall apart. Eventually, we decided that we would simply pray for them, and not even for peace in their home, because it was unclear whether such a home should be preserved. We prayed that things would turn out well for everyone.
A prayer like this can apply to any situation; it will never do harm.
I remember that when Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman's (zt"l) condition deteriorated severely several times, everyone was urged to pray, and many went to the main prayer gathering at the Western Wall. Everyone prayed: children in cheders and schools, young men in yeshivas, and young women in seminaries. And miracles happened! Clearly, this was in the merit of the prayers. And if we stop to think and compare who Rav Shteinman was with who we are—how small we are beside him—it is amazing that our prayers, too, can help.
I, one small individual, can recite a verse from Tehillim and help, while the great sages of the past who are no longer with us, the luminaries of our people, cannot help!
What power we have as people who are alive!
to be continued
Prepared by Mrs. Zissi Skarzhinskaya