6. Vayechi 5779 -Does G - D Ever Say No To A Prayer

FaceBook LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156695256993257/ Written Notes https://www.dropbox.com/s/hjsa9ui6m1qszyz/6.%20Vayechi%205779%20Does%20G-d%20Ever%20Say%20No%20To%20A%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0 Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mevlhe5vastxt8n/6.%20Handout%20for%20Vayechi%205779.pdf?dl=0 -- When we pray to G-d for something, does G-d ever say no? Some people say, “We pray for what we want, and Gives us what we need.” Often we thank G-d for not giving us what we pray for, realizing what a mistake that would have been. Others say, “Be careful for what you pray for, lest you receive it.” But what is the truth about prayer? Is prayer a shot in the dark, or is prayer an absolute practice that always works? Well here is a Jewish counterintuitive fact (-Sefer Maamorim 5725, d”h Vayigash Eilov Yehudah…): Prayer always works, and is always answered with a yes! The teaching brings a simple proof from this law: One is not allowed to make a blessing in vain. Please turn to your Handout Page 1. Thus, from a legal point of view it would be a prohibition to make a blessing in the Amidah if G-d didn’t answer yes to that prayer. For, it is forbidden to make a blessing on something that we are not having enjoyment on. For example, one can’t make a blessing on food if one is not eating food. Here is an example of a blessing in the Amidah, blessing #8 of the reads, “Heal us, O L-rd, and we will be healed; help us and we will be saved; for You are our praise. Grant complete cure and healing to all our wounds; for You, Almighty King, are a faithful and merciful healer. Blessed are You L-rd, who heals the sick of His people Israel.” If after the opening words of asking G-d to heal us, if we were not healed then it would be forbidden to then make a blessing, “Blessed are You L-rd, who heals the sick of His people Israel,” for this would be making a blessing in vain! Thus, we must conclude that every prayer is answered by G-d with a yes, or our sages would not have set us up to make every day, three times a day, 13 blessings in vain. Thus, we are going to explore in this lecture precisely how G-d answers each and every one of our prayers. This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbos in 1965, in which the Rebbe explains Jacobs wanting to reveal to his sons when Moshiach will come, and the Divine Presence lifting from Jacob, causing Jacob to speak of other things instead.