WHY SHOULD WE PRAY? PART 1

“Evening, morning, and noon I pray and moan, and He hears my voice.” Psalms 55:18

As I put this Op together, it is 26 July 2025, Shabbat and the first day of the fifth biblical month of Av! The world continues to spiral into chaos and destruction and Israel continues to be forced fight in a seven front war which began on 7 Oct 2023, with no end in sight.

We are witnessing natural disasters erupt from earthquakes, to sudden flash flooding events in areas which normally do not see much rain. Meanwhile society continues to embrace debauchery, perversion of every abomination amidst increasing and more violent anti-Semitism. Yet, in the midst of this chaos, violence and war consuming the world, HaShem IS making Himself known and His Hand IS being revealed, for those who are paying attention and are searching for Him!

It is for this reason, after reading through this weeks Torah portion and subsequent Haftarah portion i.e. Jeremiah 2:4-28; 4:1-2 and Isaiah 66:1; 23-24, I can see a theme emerging, i.e. PRAYER! Why should we pray and do we pray whenever, wherever and however we want or has HaShem set up specific times of the day for us to approach Him? Is there significance to entering into the Biblical Month of Av in the year 2025? We will discuss these topics further in this Op, but as always, never forget the eternal aspects of HaShem or His Torah listed below:

• HaShem never changes per Num 23:19/Mal 3:6/Hebrews 13:8/James 1:17
• His Word is firmly established per Psalm 119:89
• He reveals the end out of the beginning per Is 46:10
• He does nothing without first revealing it to His prophets per Amos 3:7
• He says there is nothing new under the sun per Ecclesiastes 1:9
• He says His Torah is the ONLY truth there is per Psalms 119:142
• He says His Torah is a tree of life and eternal per Proverbs 3:18-19 and Psalm 119:160
• He says His Torah is perfect and restores the soul per Psalm 19:7
• He says His Torah makes the simple one wise per Psalm 19:7
• He says His Torah Is freedom and liberty per Psalm 119:45 and James 1:25
• He says His Torah is the only good doctrine there is Proverbs 4:2
• He says His Torah will add length of days and years of life and peace per Proverbs 3:2
• He says all of the ways of His Torah are ways of pleasantness and peace per Proverbs 3:17
• He says His Torah is for our good and well-being per Deuteronomy 6:24
• He says His Torah is health for our lives per Proverbs 3:8
• He says His Torah is life to our soul and a graceful ornament for our neck per Prov 3:22
• He says His Torah is better than pearls and all desires cannot compare to it per Prov 8:11
• He says those who walk with His Torah are praiseworthy per Psalms 119:1
• He says observing His Torah is how we purify our path per Psalms 119:9
• He says His Torah is better than thousands in gold and silver per Psalms 119:72
• He says His Torah brings abundant peace to those who love Him and His Torah per Psalms 119:165
• He says there is one Torah for all per Exodus 12:49/Leviticus 24:22
• He says those who hate His Torah love death per Proverbs 8:36
• He says His Torah is the way of faith per Psalms 119:29-30
• He says His Torah makes us wiser than our enemies per Psalms 119:98
• He says His Torah is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path per Psalms 119:105
• He says one who finds His Torah has found life per Proverbs 8:35
• He says one who finds His Torah has found favor from HaShem per Proverbs 8:35
• He says Messiah Yeshua is the GOAL of His Torah, meaning without His Torah, Messiah cannot be known per Romans 10:4
• He says if we had believed Moshe/Torah, we would have believed Messiah per John 5:46
• He says His salvation is far from the wicked for they sought not His Torah per Psalms 119:155
• He says to hold fast to and guard His Torah, for it is our life per Proverbs 4:13
• He says His Torah is the bread of life per Proverbs 9:5

Why am I inserting these photographs of violent, devastating tornado’s in this Op? In my opinion, these tornado’s are a very good illustration for the chaos and destruction in the world we live in today! Nothing is normal anymore and while tornado’s occur during severe thunderstorms, they form usually without much warning and their severity ebbs and flows throughout its lifecycle. One minute it can be a simple tornado swirling in an empty field and the next it can suddenly grow into a massive cloud of swirling death moving into a city. Likewise global events can ebb and flow and sudden massive events and wars can erupt and engulf the entire planet.

With all this in mind, what is the one action we can take to help us walk through the storms of life and survive? Clearly it is our prayer life when we seek out HaShem and His Heart! I want to insert a quote here from the Artscroll Tehillim (Psalms) Tanakh Series book on page 698 discussing the importance of prayer in our lives. It says “Prayer sustains the soul, just as food nourishes the body. The blessed influence of one prayer endures until the time of the next, just as the strength derived from the morning meal lasts until dinner. The further the soul is removed from the time of prayer, the more it is darkened by coming into contact with the mundane world.”

How true this description of prayer truly is! How many of you have felt empty, depressed and literally dry inside and then you approach HaShem, and you suddenly feel better akin to drinking a glass of cold water on a hot, dry, burning day? How much more we are blessed when we pray unto HaShem, Master of the Legions of Heaven, using the prayers He gave, at the times of the day He set and in the manner He determined via what He taught Israel and the tavnit (Pattern/blue print) he gave to David for the Temple and the Temple services per I Chronicles 28? Where do we find these prayers? In the Siddur!!!

This is precisely why we must study and learn the Temple of HaShem and every single millimeter of its layout, how it functions and especially all the Temple services! Isaiah 66:1 says “So did HaShem say: ‘The heavens are My throne, and the earth My footstool. Where is the house (Temple) that you would build for Me, and where is My resting place?'”

On a side note, Acts 7:49 from the Apostolic Writings repeats this question citing Isaiah 66 “The heaven is My throne, and the Earth is My footstool. What house shall you build for Me? Says HaShem, or what is the place of My rest?” Again, reaffirming there is nothing new in the Apostolic Writings, those writings just quote the Tanakh! I digress.

The commentary from the Artscroll Rav Schwab book on Yeshayahu (Isaiah) on page 721 discussing this verse says “Do you think the Beis HaMikdash (Temple) is My residence? Can you possibly build a house that is big enough for Me? Why, the entire universe is My throne, and the planet Earth is My footstool. The Beis HaMikdash was not intended to be My resting place for people to come and visit Me, and then leave and continue with their misguided way of life. Rather, it was intended to be the place that is dedicated to the ideals set forth in My Torah, which is its centerpiece, and from where the people are to take these ideals home with them and put them into practice!”

Consider what King Solomon prayed at the dedication of the First Temple as recorded in I Kings 8:27-30 which says “Would HaShem truly dwell on earth? Behold, the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain You, and surely not this Temple that I have built! But, may You turn to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O HaShem my Elohim, to hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today: That Your eyes be open toward this Temple night and day, to the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ to hear the prayer that Your servant shall pray toward this place. And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Yisrael, which they shall pray toward this place; may You hear from the place of Your habitation in Heaven, may You hear and forgive.”

In other words, HaShem doesn’t need the Temple, because the entirety of creation belongs to Him. He does, however, command the Temple to be built so as we will participate, learn and apply to our own personal lives how to walk and serve HaShem the right and only way! HaShem is not a manmade deity which is appeased by the animal ‘sacrifices’ as is so commonly believed, especially within much of Christendom and its aversion to the Temple; on the contrary, the animal korbanos are what allows us to ‘draw near’ to HaShem in humility and purity of intentions and heart. When there is no Temple standing in Jerusalem, we then take the portions of the animal, bread and wine korbonos and do them today via our prayers! This is again precisely why we MUST learn everything about His Temple!

Hosea 14:3 says “Take words with you and return to HaShem; say to Him, ‘May You forgive all iniquity and accept good intentions, and LET OUR LIPS SUBSTITUTE FOR BULLS.'” The commentary on this verse from the Artscroll Twelve Prophets book Hosea, page 109 says “Those offerings that we should be bringing (In the Temple) to You we will replace with the appeasing words of our lips. Indeed, our words of repentance are preferred by You to our offerings, since offerings are of no value if not accompanied by words of confession.”

This is what HaShem admonished Israel before because they had the Temple, brought their korbonos (Offerings) daily as required by the Torah, but their hearts were not in it. They did it out of rote, because it was their job, not because they wanted too or truly desired to draw near to HaShem.

Isaiah 66:23-24 says “And it will happen (A reference to the future Messianic Age), that month upon month, and Shabbat upon Shabbat, all flesh will come to prostrate themselves before Me, says HaShem. And they will go out and see the corpses of the people who rebelled against Me; their worms will not die, and their fire will not be extinguished, and they will remain an abhorrence to all flesh.”

The commentary from Rav Schwab on Yeshayahu (Isaiah) page 740 discussing verse 23 says “The world will flock to Yerushalayim to come in close proximity to HaShem’s palpable presence there and to worship Him there. They will come in groups; every week of every month will bring new people to worship HaShem in Yerushalayim.” It is interesting, we must pay close attention to the words used because this verse says ‘All flesh’ not ‘All mankind’. What is the difference?

Tractate Sotah 5a from the Talmud Bavli explains “A person’s prayers are not heard unless he makes his heart soft like flesh i.e. he is humble. In this verse (Isaiah 66:23), people are called ‘flesh’, thus only the prayers of those who are soft like flesh will be heard.”

Consider now what the meaning of Ezekiel 36:26-30 says regarding the future Messianic Age “And I shall give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh; and My spirit I will put within you, and I will cause that you will go by My decrees and guard My Torah and perform them; and you will dwell in the land which I gave your fathers, and you will be to Me a people, and I shall be your Elohim; and I shall save you from all your contaminations, and I shall summon the grain and increase it, and I shall not place famine upon you; and I shall increase the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you longer accept the shame of hunger among the nations.”

Hebrews 8:10-11 reiterates this “Because this is the covenant that I shall make with the House of Israel after those days, says HaShem, giving My Torah in their mind, and I shall write them on their hearts, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. And they shall by no means teach each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know HaShem’, because they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”

An excerpt from Tractate Taanis 2a from the Talmud Bavli explains prayer as follows: “Our Gemara (Explanation) understands the phrase ‘To serve Him’ as a reference to prayer. Indeed, Scripture and Rabbinic writings often refer to prayer as ‘A service’ which parallels, and in our days, substitutes for the holy service that was performed in the Beis HaMikdash (Temple). In fact, the Gemara teaches that the three daily prayers were instituted to correspond to the three daily services in the Beis HaMikdash, and that the Mussaf prayers were composed to parallel the Mussaf offerings. Moreover, the very fact that prayer is called an ‘Avodah’ (Service) sheds light on the true meaning and significance of prayer.”

It continues “Prayer is referred to as avodah because it is a form of accepting HaShem as one’s Master, and declaring oneself HaShem’s servant. This can be seen in the word avodah as it is used in its classic sense, as referring to the Temple Service. When a person offers a korban to HaShem, he is in effect stating that he belongs to HaShem. All his property is truly his Master’s, just as a slave’s possessions belong to his owner. He thus FREELY gives his animal back to HaShem, its true Owner, as an offerings. The same is true of prayer. Although we pray to HaShem we do ask for our own needs, it is also an admission that all we have comes from Him. We are entirely dependent on HaShem and His generosity. And when a person acknowledges his total dependence on HaShem, he is in effect accepting HaShem as his King and Master. Prayer is thus an expression of the ultimate avodah.”

Now with all this said, as we are entering into the Biblical Month of Av, this time of year has an enormous significance attached to it, because it is typically a time of great trial, destruction and war for Israel. In fact the Ninth day of Av, is the most solemn day of year because it is the day the First and Second Temple’s were destroyed and the exile began.

I cite this because as this year, 2025, has been an unprecedented year of trial, death, destruction and difficulties, unlike other times in history, we MUST pay very close attention in the coming days and weeks. As such, we all, including myself, need to ensure our motivations for praying to HaShem are pure and we do not in any way approach Him in complacency or out of rote behavior. We are going to need to depend upon Him unlike any other time in our lives in the coming months. Life is extremely difficult as it is, and only HaShem, in His infinite mercy, compassion and forgiveness can get us through to the other end.

Just like Abraham and Daniel in the Tanakh, HaShem may not deliver us from these extremely trying times, but He will get us through them to the other side because He is there with us, when we call out to Him. Then as we grow closer to the appointed time and the Final Redemption, we will see the Hand of HaShem move, and Israel will rise up like a roaring lion! May it be so very soon in our days!

Something to consider!

Shabbat Shalom!

SOURCE MATERIALS

• The Artscroll Bamidbar (Numbers) With Teachings of the Talmud
• The Scriptures
• Artscroll Psalms
• Artscroll The Twelve Prophets
• Artscroll Isaiah
• Artscroll Jeremiah
• Artscroll Ein Yaakov Aggadah of the Talmud
• Judaica Press Isaiah
• Rav Schwab Yeshayahu