Balak - Prayer and the Quantification of Quality

[Music] in the long and seemingly NeverEnding list of murderously villainous Jew haters buug certainly ranks pretty high on that list the king of moav made it his Supreme mission to annihilate the entire Jewish people every man woman and child he employed horribly evil tactics to ensure our demise he tried witchcraft he tried adulterous seduction he tried using dark magic emanating from the astrological interpretations of the constellations all to wipe us off the face of the Earth in short bolock was patently evil even for Jew hating standards so it seems rather strange that such a ruthless person would be rewarded by Hashem with a reward so great is essentially spiritually incable the gar in Hur y says that because Bak in his attempt to beseech Hashem to kill the Jewish people brought carbonos and passionately pleaded his case before Hashem he was rewarded with having a granddaughter named Russ one of the greatest Jewish women of all time and the eventual grandmother of D amik the greatest King in the history of our people now why would a man who wanted nothing more than to see us all die get rewarded by Hashem for pleading for our deaths what good were his pleas and this phenomenon isn't limited to Bullock M while battling the traitorous kak DAV earnestly to Hashem that he not accept kak's prayers why did Misha need to ask Hashem not to accept Kos K was on a rebellious campaign against Misha for which he would end up getting swallowed up by the very Earth he was standing on Hashem considered Kira's movement so bad that he ground the systems of nature to a halt and opened up the Earth to its core to swallow the man alive why was mosa concerned about the prayer of a man such as kak we again see this strange phenomenon in parus M the Tyra states that one who murders by accident must run for his life to the ear Micha to the City of Refuge lest the victim's relative kill the murderer the murderer remains in that ear mikl until the death of the cayen G and then and only then may he leave so the gar and Maka y Al says that the mother of the Cen would go from time to time to the ear michl and bring the murderer cookies to lessen the likelihood that he pray for the death of her son the kayang she basically ensured that his living conditions were comfortable to the point that he wouldn't feel the need to pray for her son's demise now why would this woman be afraid of the murderer filos did she really think that the mighty and holy cayen gugle in his full spiritual Glory would get affected by some Outcast locked up in a prison City for killing someone did she really think that those fos could topple the strong and mighty Cen gal all these questions point to a very powerful answer all these questions point to the power of an Earnest prayer prayer uttered in sincerity can turn Hashem away from the stature of the person talking it can overshadow previous deeds and external scenarios the passion and meaning injected into those prayers the fire burning in the soul of the one doing can pierce the very heavens bulock in a horribly gruesome way genuinely wanted the Jews out of the way when he was praying to Hashem and offering him carbonos he was doing so with 100% of his heart and his soul he was as sincere as a man could be and therefore in a backhanded way he developed a spiritual connection with Hashem he was seeking Hashem out he lifted his eyes towards the sky and relied on hashem's help he used every cell in his heart to sincerely plead with Hashem he raised his arms to heaven and begged Hashem to help him and hence he was rewarded he recognized hashem's presence he understood hashem's power he thrust his burden on Hashem and therefore connected himself spiritually to his creator and therefore he in turn merited to have David come out of him David a who would teach the world how to truly connect to Hashem through prayer Misha knew that kirak was wrong he knew that he was a power hungry misguided and selfish person he knew that all of kak's claims were worthless yet he also knew that kirak was unquestionably sincere in his prayer to Hashem that although making a gross and selfish miscalculation kirak still poured his heart out to Hashem his victory over Misha was such a desperate need of his that he would plead from it from the depths of his heart and therefore Misha feared kak's prayers he feared that his prayer was so sincere and heartfelt that they might actually be listened to mosha knew more than anyone The Secret of prayer sincerity and kak had lots of it a man who in one Grievous moment of error lost his freedom and is now languishing in a prison city has one thing that the average person might not have he has an aching heart that day in and day out pleads with Hashem to save him from his plight he turns to Hashem every minute of his day with a soul on fire and praise with nothing else left in his life the only thing he resorts to is prayer and therefore the words that pour out of his mouth Ascend straight to the throne of ashem and the cen's mother was acutely aware of this she was petrified of this she therefore made it her business to make his life as comfortable as possible and in turn limit his need to pray for the death of her son for she knew that if he would in fact pray those fos those prayers would be infused with unimaginable spiritual energy powerful enough to climb the highest of staircases In Heaven There is nothing more cherished by Hashem than the sincere prayer from a soul of flame often pressing and difficult predicaments in life are the ultimate Catalyst for lighting our souls on fire the prayers that such Souls exude reach Heights that words uttered by others in more calm environments would never reach it's easy to stand in sh and to dive into Hashem when life is great and you're coasting along but one runs the risk of having one's prayers ens snared by the dangerous world of monotonous word uttering with little to know meaning in the words coming out of our mouths sometimes the greatest match to light those words on fire is a challenge that Hashem places in our lives and then suddenly daydreaming during daving is not an option suddenly the welfare of one's life rests on those prayers and the words take on an entirely new significance those words then burst into flames ascending Heaven word nothing is more powerful than the prayers of one in distress one should not think that one's predicament or history or upbringing or plight will ever hinder the power of those prayers this paraa proves the very contrary those philos aren't loved by Hashem despite one scenario and plight those filos are loved by Hashem specifically because of it my grandfather R morai Glick a former Rabbi teacher and psychologist suffered in his later years from a painful case of dementia sadly it was severe enough to prevent him from remembering his grandchildren's names or how to not a tie but not severe enough to Blind him of the fact that he had the disease in the first place and it pained him deeply I used to spend chabas with him from time to time to keep him and my grandmother company so one shabus afternoon he came down from his afternoon nap and he walked into the kitchen and he wished me a good morning he then made himself a cup of coffee and proceeded to put on his Talis and Fillin and began doing the shakas prayers for Sunday morning he swayed and he chuckled and he sang and he cried and he stood firm as a rock while angelically saying Shona with tears rolling down his cheeks he prayed for his children and he prayed for his former students and he Daven for his patients who were often too helpless to dobin for themselves he prayed for Claus and he prayed for ER and he prayed for all the childless couples that he had helped all the marriages he had saved he doed for all the special needs children and Hask and all the people he knew suffering and Psych wordss he thanked Hashem for the wonderful gifts he had and requested that Hashem should give him health and give Health to the Aging mind that he had and with that he finished his prayer put away his Talis and Fillin and sat down to read a book did he say the correct F no he said shakas for Sunday instead of Min for chabas was he wearing the correct attire no he was wearing on chabus when tells us not to but did his toos ride on wings of angels and Pierce the heavens bringing on Heavenly tears a resounding 100% yes for those were felus of a broken man those were feel us in their most sincere form those were feel us of a man whose entire unadulterated connection to Hashem was entirely infused in those prayers such prayers burst through the Gates of Heaven and rest at the very feet of hashem's Throne on May 16th 2004 my father was walking up a flight of stairs and collapsed he had a terrifying cardiac arrest and his heart stopped working completely he was given a 5% chance of living out the rest of the day 5% chance two weeks later he was released from the ICU and Days Later walked out of the hospital a completely healthy man so a few days after K Comey was taking a walk around the block and he bumped into our non-observant Jewish neighbor who despite being Jewish himself had less than Pleasant views on Jews and Judaism he ran over to my father and he said Dr Eisenberg you owe me a thanks really why is that my father asked the man looked at my father with a smile and he said for it's because of me that you are alive really my father said how is that so the man continued he said when I heard that you collapsed with a cardiac arrest I whispered a powerful prayer to God for your recovery and he must have been so utterly shocked so utterly flabbergasted so utterly surprised that I of all people prayed an actual prayer that he must have answered the prayer how could he not and seeing you today alive and well as only confirm my suspicions that God must have listened to my powerful prayer tens of thousands of people ding for my father's recovery dozens of rabbis Rashia Shiva and holy people around the world pounded on Heaven's Door on his behalf hundreds of thousands of prayers emanating from Pure and sacred lips were thrown God's way for him yet this non-observant disgruntled man believed it was his prayer that kept my father alive incredible what's even more incredible is that the man might even be right [Music]