Rabbi Chaim Sampson - Getting Our Prayers Answered

Oh we don't be able to go and speak with our friends we can't have simpler as we can't have the community we can't go to the shoals and to even to go to a supermarket it's not the same as it used to be so many different aspects of our own social existence would cut off from so many people even to get together with a friend but somehow it's not complete isolation because we're sort of isolated but we are put together with our family and with our friends without close family and our children perhaps our parents so we do have that so when you think about the whole thing and you put the whole thing together there's a little bit of a feeling of Hashem is giving us the opportunity to take a good look at ourselves and to say you know what how is my darling how is my prayer when I don't have the support and the involvement of the community do I still care about it in the same way am I still into it when I'm on my own and behind closed doors and no one's looking do I really care about it how about my learning but I don't have yeah I have to be by my Shero by my fav Russa but I'm on my own I kind of get away without doing it am I still into my learning and have I my relationships with my family Hashem seems to be focusing us on those core relationships it's sometimes easy to care about people when you're out in the open with everybody a smile you're nice to people when it comes again behind closed doors what and and you can't get away from your family so to speak what's your relationships really like with those that we should love the most and now we're in that situation when almost so to speak is Emma's putting a mirror in front of us and it's sort of asking a Yakka where are you who are you what do you really feel about a relationship with me with a relationship with your family yeah it's a little bit of a time for us to do Hegeman a nephesh a spiritual accounting a little bit of introspection to see where are we really and I think that that's part of what the opportunity of the time is and the perhaps Hashem is focusing on us that where am I in my relationship with Hashem by the Adam lahmacun where am i where am i in my relationships with other people and those who are close to me my relationships been Adam little Vera and where am i with the relationship with myself my own terror learning my own character traits been Adam the arts mix-a-lot smoke with me and myself in all these three areas with Hashem with my family and with myself where am I so we're starting today a series to help us with all of these different aspects and we're starting with off with prayer how to get our prayers answers to strengthen a relationship with a shown you may have seen if you were governing this morning that we say in the talkin and prayer so we said it this morning whether you noticed or not but we set a very fascinating thing we said kena Shana could Sara Mayfair ever mystery Omeed evimer McKay from Akkad sorry we are gone because our soul is contractors is small is made small that we who are in the goddess we are in the Exide how through the through the sword or through being in captivity or through pestilence or through the plague and it mentions through the plague which is what we are in this exile experience in Michael Cera be argon and from all type of difficulty and pain that's what we are we're hurt by that where we're in we're in the Exile we're in ganas and we call her we called out to a Shem and we said HUD see Laney hat see Lena help us save us why kela ha TV no because we how our hope is to you is in you why should a Shem save us from this difficult time from this magatha you know why because our hope is in you Hashem is giving us a hint throughout Avenue and how do we get out of the situation it's true our understanding that Hashem is the one who's really in control and therefore we say at the end of the paragraph look at our our difficulties hoosh Markinson can't feel I said listen to our prayers he I touched a marriage villa to fill us compared because you were the one who hears who listens to our prayers that when we understand that Hashem is the one who we look to and we hope to and to help us with our difficulties and we pray to Him so the so it seems from the prayers that we said just this very morning that the way to get out of this difficult time is through prayer so in order to understand prayer a little better before we get into some tools oh how to actually develop house our prayer in actuality and we have five different ways of doing that the first thing that we need to know is really to start with we have to realize who are we praying to who is this hash them that we're praying to and what is our relationship with him as a prerequisite you know they tell a joke of a person that was you know get stitch them to their to the pearly gates and had a voice of Shem / that Shem comes out to him and he listens to a Shem and Shem says blah blah blah and he says excuse me you say that again and Hashem says again bla bla bla of course with an English accent he says I said I I'm sorry I don't understand what you're saying can you can you help me can you explain to me a little bit so I said I said listen I'm just giving you a little bit taste of your own medicine when you spoke to me downstairs yeah and you opened your mouth it was rude and Buddhism I'm just giving you a little bit of taste of your own medicine right so we have to understand and when we speak to Hashem he's really there there's a being that's there he's in front of us and not only is in front of us right but the first thing we need to understand is it being is an infinite being who loves us with an infinite love and with an unconditional love and we all understand this we all have a sense of this that we understand that Hashem has that unconditional love and even people who don't go to synagogue who don't go to sure have an awareness you know that you know what when times are difficult you call out to the one above and that's the same that there's no atheists in a hop in a foxhole even an atheist at the top and it's difficult time somehow reach within himself to what he really knows and calls out to his Shem they tell a joke of a guy that was on a bicycle and he was riding on the hill and there was a strong wind and it blew him off and he looked and his falling down he thinks that this the end is in sight when all of a sudden he was able to hold on to aids a tree that's sticking out the rock face he looks down it's a hundred meters down he looks up it's a hundred meters up and he doesn't know what to do and even more than that he's an atheist so he's there he's looking down he's looking up he's sweating away and all of a sudden he looks up and he says you know God you know if you're there I you know I've been thinking about things recently and I've had some deep flaws of course love its philosophical conversation myself for the last few minutes and I've come to the conclusion that you know perhaps you really really are there and you know I just wanna apologize for you know ignoring you my whole life and not doing what you want but from here on in I'm with you will like this and with you 100% right and so I'm sorry just one thing you know just just let me know the that you're there and whatever you want me to do I'll do he hears a booming voice from the sky and the boy says my child I forgive you so thank god you're there thank god what should i do he says my child let go of the tree he looks down he looks up is there anybody else up there so it's a joke it's a joke that we tell but the reality is that the joke is plausible why because we understand every atheist will do that at a time of trouble of the time of life and death but what does it mean what do we learn from this we learn that even an atheist who's rejected God his whole life understands what we understand in Judaism that there's a being that even if you ignore him your whole life even if you don't listen to him you can still turn back to him and say to him Hashem God help me because even an atheist understands number one that God's love for us is unconditional we kicked him in the stomach we we didn't do what he wanted but no just like a child can come back to his his or her father anytime so to an atheist understands that Shems love for us is unconditional but more than that he understands that you know what you could just call out to a Shem anytime and he'll answer and more than that you understand that he will respond and change the course of nature the course of history for you his child gonna change everything and there is this awesome love for us you know you can take it one step further with imagining the following scenario imagine you live in the Midwest and you have a pothole in your front yard you've been cooling them in this new minute new municipality for the last several months with no response so out of frustration your fig figure you know what I'm gonna call the White House you call the White House and guess what - your amazement the president picks up you can't believe it you start saying president I got this pothole and listen you tell him the whole story you put the phone down you think nothing's gonna happen lo and behold you wake up the next morning and you see the Marines came in they engineers they're fixing the pothole the whole things taken care of now isn't that amazing you would be mind blown now the President of the United States is one thing right but the creator of the universe is gonna respond it's gonna come in you give a prayer and he's gonna respond to it that's all the more amazing now it's interesting that my Rebbe was little my teacher was north Weinberg the founder of Asia Torah and project inspire used to say that if you had a friend who was a multi-billionaire right and he loved you to bits and not only that but he was incredibly wise he was the wisest man in the world would you say I don't need that friend I've got other friends you know you wouldn't leave this man alone yeah help me go to go to him for advice for comfort for resources you wouldn't leave him alone the almighty how much more so how much more so has more power and more resources and more loved don't leave him alone don't leave him alone so we have to understand that you see who's cool will the president take someone's gonna cool you we're surprised he takes our cool Wow how can it be but who's cool is it the president really would take you know who's cool he's gonna take he's gonna take the cool of his children because he loves them and that's why Asham takes our cool because we're his children and that love for us is unconditional and it's infinite now we have to ask the following question if that's true that gems love for us is unconditional and it's infinite so why is it that we you know we have such a hard time feeling that he loves us what's greatly going on and this is crucial for us to move forward so let's say the following that you see we know that our parents love us why because we saw all the things that they do we all through our lines they changed our diapers or nappies if you're English and they they they put so much care into our lives we saw it we experienced it we feel it but some well we how with Hashem we kind of we don't feel that we see it we don't appreciate it we don't appreciate all the gifts that he gave us you see if someone restored our eyesight we would be eternally thankful but a Shemin gave us our eyes from the beginning of life how much more so so this is the key first of all we have to appreciate all the blessings that we have and secondly that they come from Hashem so I just want to know to focus on this for a minute because really this is at the same time as helping us with prayer it's really the key to happiness in life so let me just share with you you see if I offered any of you who are here $1,000 for your eyes would I have any takers any of you say ya rabbi Samson I'll give you my eyes for $1,000 not one of you how about 10,000 100,000 and million how about a billion dollars no my eyes are worth more to me than any money okay okay so let's say I'm come to you tomorrow and I say you know what you know David you know I think you're such a great guy you know Michael you're great and I know I'm gonna I'm going to you know give you a gift I don't know if you know I come from a wealthy family I want to give you a gift and here it is I give you an attache case you open it up has a words with hundred dollars bills you count it up and you know how much it's a million dollars in there so now how would you feel if I was really giving it to you you walk away with a million dollars know how you feel you'd feel like a million dollars you he's doing the cheap down the street you'd be so happy did I say to you but you know David Michael you have eyes how do you feel so you say to me well pretty much the same as before you ask the question same kind of like miserable person I was before I say think the David you you know if you'd said you told me your eyes are worth more to you than any money and if I gave you a million dollars you'd be doing a jig down the streets so how much more so you should be doing a jig jig down the street she's hee-hee right so what went what's going wrong with us because it's all of us you know what it is we got used to our eyes a blind person who can see for the first time is ecstatic right come back in a month a year ten years the same miserable person right because we got used to our eyes the way to be happy is not by getting more and more things you know why because you can if you got used to your eyes you can get used to anything we have to exercise that muscle of appreciating what we have you see it's so easy for us to go through life and take you know wake up in the morning and now you know I you know it's not it's it's little dark out there it's not sunny and and then I have to go to work that's you know I don't know if people are still doing that but in normal situation then we'd go to work and I have to go on the subway and those people are so miserable and then I go to my work and my bus is so hard I mean I come home and all those screaming children and my wife give me a hard time I run a life or you can wake up in the morning say you know what great to be alive and yeah it's not even raining and wow I have transportation that can take me anywhere and my boss puts up with me with all mine mishegoss and my wife is at sur de coeur she puts up with all my stuff well I'm so fortunate and so happy to be alive that's the trick of life the trick of life is to focus on all the things that we have and not take them for granted you see each one of us is a walking multi-billionaire because your eyes are worth more than any money and your ears are worth more than any money and what about your hands and your feet and your leg and your spleen and your lungs and your heart and your brain we're working multi-billionaires even if we don't have a penny to our name and that's something that we have to appreciate it so when you appreciate number one all the things that that we have right a and B we appreciate that Hashem is the one who gave it to us then we'll feel a sense on a Shems love for us and that's why we throughout the day say a hundred different blessings a hundred brothers right do we wake up in the morning we say mota our knee and then we say blessing that I have eyes and I have a mind and I can move and I can walk we say all these blessings because by saying these blessings and we're saying by rule but look blessed are you you are the source of all blessing at ha you a Shen you're here and you're the one who gave me all these things and okay know right you're our God you run the whole world you have all the power and you're running the world from me right so we say a hundred blessings to help us appreciate what we have and realize it that we they come from a Shem so in order to feel that love you have to see it in your life and feel the blessings that you have and how a Shem has given you so much now sometimes we get distracted by the fact that some of the things he gives us we are a little painful right and we said well yeah it's a lot of good but he's given me a lot of pain so we're not going to spend the whole class on that on this but just to say that that often difficult situations bring out greatness in us we know that Avraham Avinu had ten tests they weren't easy tests to sacrifice his son due to a famine many different tests right but because of that he became Abraham and progenitor of the Jewish people and I think we know people they might be holic Holocaust survivors who went through difficulties and came out positive who are perhaps the greatest people that we ever meet because challenge can bring out the depths of our soul and make us right so if we have that attitude for the good and for the more difficult we can see that it's all kindness from a shell so this is something that we have to appreciate that Hashem has it's an infinite being who loves us unconditionally and he's given us so much now we also have to deal with the idea that notes listen you know if it has Shem is omnipotent and omniscient then doesn't he know what I want I mean why is he asking me to pray right he knows what I what I need so just give it to me so you have to understand that has prayer first of all yeah is not for Hashem Hashem does not need our prayers right if it's not for him right who is it for it is for 100% for us because we have it's it's not that when we pray to Hashem and we say the great the mighty and the also mission goes you be that's the he know I'm VI was beating a little bit down today now I'm feeling a little bit better and maybe if someone says holy holy holy I'm really gonna feel great that's ridiculous we understand that Hashem is an infinite being he's lacking nothing as the Prophet says my mighty Taillow what are you gonna give to the Almighty he doesn't need anything so all of our service of Shem is all allowing Hashem to give to us it's all for us and when we pray is because we're gonna grow through it not because we're reminding itsem of anything so how do we grow through prayer we grow because when we pray with number one focusing on the things that we really want in life and we're clarifying that for ourselves and we're getting our emotions into it what is it that I really want if we don't know what we want in life we're not gonna achieve it prayer is a tool for us to use our free will to to note and to know clearly what we want and to exercise our will this is something that we really want and more than that I say we all understand that after a billionaire you know gives his children everything that they want without any asking you know if you know I'm sorry if a billionaire gives us what gives his child what he wants without asking hey you know you're just gonna end up with a spoiled child yeah part of what we are doing in this world is we're earning through our prayer we're asking and we're showing a share Hashem this is something that we want we're putting in the effort to ask allows us to earn what we have further than that you might also even ask well if that's this is all good but you know why is it that we even have problems in the first place I mean if Shem is really cares about us and He loves us and he wants to good for us right so let it take away the problems I mean like why let us you know fool down the steps that we have to go to in hospital and now we have to pray stop to stop us from falling down the steps why does a Shem let us do that so we have to understand you see that the greatest thing that we have in life and greatest gift that Hashem gave us was independence he gave us you know meaning everything else in life there is nothing else in this whole world that has free will and we understand from our Torah Torah that the greatest gift that Hashem gave gave us was that free will that we can choose for ourselves animal was just act on instance even Malakand even angels that are very holy right don't are not as high and Anna's and Aniston and as great as human beings because the only being apart from Hashem himself that has any degree of real independence is us that we can choose for ourselves and we understand that we don't want our children just to do what we want them to be automata automatons and to be robots and carry out we want them to to grow and to the independent human beings we understand that and each one of us understands that the greatest thing we have is our free will because if I would offer to you I'll make all the decisions for you for the rest of your life right let's say it was the wisest person in the world and you would just listen to me I'm gonna tell you what to do for lunch and eat for lunch we can go for your vacation and we're gonna do for a living whatever it is but I'm much wiser than you and you recognize that you still wouldn't do it why not because you understand and if you would just do what I want you just become an extension of me there's no you less the greatest thing that we have is free will and that means and this is the biggest paradox perhaps of existence for least one of them which is that the greatest gift that we have is the free will our ability to choose and to earn and to be independent even though that bet what comes with it is the choice to choose to do bad I can do good or bad that's the greatest gift but if Hashem would swoop in every time I make a mistake or I did something wrong or I'm about to do then there would be no free will if you would swoop in like Superman every time and stop stop stop and there's no free world because it would all be good it's great to be a human being than it is to be an angel and because of that Hashem allows us to make mistakes and once we make mistakes there are problems and now we're in a position to be independent and to pray for it so just to review we're saying here that the first thing we need to be able to pray and to get our prayers answered right and it's to really develop that real relationship with Hashem to realize Shen's here he's with me he loves me like a child he's listening to me he loves me unconditionally and he loves me with an infinite love that's number one number two you have to understand that free will is for us and prayer excuse me prayer is for us it's for us to grow it's us to know what we want to have that clarity in life and to be able to earn that which Hashem gives us and not to get it as a free free gift which would be embarrassing right that we can be independent beings as as as much as possible and that independence is good for us so that that so this is the prerequisite so don't have finished we with with a story of an act of prayer that rabbi Weinberg tells the story of a person that came to his office and a lot of people used to come into his office people come in to meet a wise man and he meets this person that was doing he was taking an MBA at Harvard and it was a very bright person and and he says in his as he's speaking to her by Weinberg he mentions that he was an atheist so rabbi Weinman says well who brought you here so he says well you know why do you want to know he said well I'd like to give that person a medal because if you're an atheist and you're sitting with a rabbi that's pretty impressive so I want to give him a medal so the guy says you know well he doesn't deserve anything it has nothing to do with him she said well why not he said I want to tell you the story he's like there's a fella I was traveling from Norway through Norway he came to the to Israel once you an Israeli have to go to Jerusalem once he come to Jerusalem he had to go in the old city and the old city means the Western world and here he is this atheist he comes to the Western Wall and funnily enough he tells rabbi Weinberg that he he starts feeling something you know there's some kind of a spiritual feeling so he says what he what rabbi Weinberg says is the Atheist prayer what's the Atheist prayer he says he says God I'm an atheist I have no reason to believe in you but on the other hand I'm kind of feeling something now so if you're really there let me let me meet you I let me find out about you and that's the Atheist prayer he finishes his prayer he's wearing his cardboard keeper he looks around him and he sees that people who are leaving the the western wall they're walking backwards so he think is he better do that so he's with his keeper and he's walking backwards and a guy from Asia Torah sees this fellow and he sees this guy is war backwards with a keeper he must be having his own experience so he taps him on the shoulder the guy needed jumps out of his skin he said what are you doing you know the blank and he blatantly said you know I just wanted to say hello what he wouldn't what do you want from me said listen you know I saw you at the hotel at the Western Wall I and I I just was wondering if you'd like to come to be Shiva he said what's he Vienna he said well a Shira is a place where you could find out what God is all about he said to her about Weinberg it came down on him like a hatchet right that he had just prayed if you're there right let me have an introduction to you and within a few minutes he had someone touches on the shoulder and says you know please come and find out of her he said you know I had no choice but to come it had nothing to do with that guy so this was the story now finally the end of the story was this person stated ation in the end you know him he he he stayed and he learnt and he ended up marrying a nice religious lady from from New Jersey and they lived happily in New Jersey but he said a prayer which worked so rabbi Weinberg explained why does it work he said we have a pasta at first that we say in ASHRAE we said which is Hashem the whole kora algo Nahal a shaker ooh hoo the MS hashem is close to all those who call to him in truth i what does it mean in truth it means when you're real when you're real with your relationship with her cottage Buraku with hashem with God then Hashem answers your prayers this young man was so real at that time Hashem answered his prayers so what we're going to do next week you know our time is up for this time we gave an introduction of what prayer is about and how you have to understand what prayer is and who has Shem is and who we're relating to that's the a of Prayer the second which is going to be next week it's gonna have five steps on how to be real with Hashem so that better I touch em we can get our prayers haunted thank you very much have a good night