In this week’s parshah, when Moshe and Ahron go to speak to Pharoah, they perform nissim and therefore it comes as no shock that there is no record of the Yidden doubting that Hashem indeed accepted their tefillah & was coming to save them. 

However, this comes in stark contrast to the conclusion of last week’s parshah. There, Hashem did not command Moshe & Ahron to do any nissim when they spoke to Pharaoh (despite the incredible fact that Hashem did tell Moshe there about the nissim of the matteh turning into a snake, water turning to blood, etc. in last week’s parshah 4:2-10).

Not only that, the result of their conversation was that Pharoah made the Yidden’s work even harder, and understandably, after seeing this many Yidden felt that their tefillah to be saved was simply not answered (6:9). 

Why didn’t Hashem send Moshe and Ahron with nissim the first time that they came to Pharoah? By not doing so, He gave the illusion that their tefillos were not really answered, while in reality, it was.

Why would He do so?

Consider the following true story, related firsthand to Rabbi Gavriel Friedman:

Jonathan had grown up in a home that was Jewish, but only minimally connected to any form of religious observance. As Jonathan neared his 13th birthday, however, he approached his father and asked if he could have a bar-mitzvah. His father, not knowing much about what was entailed in a bar-mitzvah, assumed that his son was asking to have some friends get together and have a party. But Jonathan had other aspirations in mind. He wanted to read from the Torah in shul, put on Tefillin and become a fully engaged religious Jew.

A local rabbi was contacted, and Jonathan began to study his bar mitzvah Parsha weekly. As time went on, the rabbi began to feel a nagging question. And so, one day, after learning, he turned to Jonathan and said, “Jonathan, let me ask you something. Why in fact do you really want a bar mitzvah?”

Jonathan, an incisive, young boy, replied with the following. 
“Let me tell you a story. I have a sister, and like all good siblings, I love her, but I’ve always wanted a brother. So, some time ago, I turned to G-d and said, ‘If You give me a brother, I’ll be yours. I’ll go to synagogue and follow the commandments. I’m all yours; just please give me a brother.

“But I began to wonder, how would I know it came from G-d? So, I added the following stipulation with G-d: My baby brother would have to be born on my birthday. If that would happen, I would commit to a religious life.”

“What happened?” the rabbi asked, intrigued by Jonathan’s story.

One year later, my mother gave birth to a baby boy. However, this was five days before my birthday. I said, “You know what G-d? That’s close enough. I’m in!”.

The rabbi could not believe it. An eleven-year-old making deals with G-d, and it didn’t even come true, and yet here he was, still with it.

The rabbi went home, and returned to Jonathan a few days later. “I want to tell you something,” he said to Jonathan, “I checked the calendar, and guess what?! Your brother was born on your HEBREW birthday!”.

This little boy was none other than Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, a renowned Jewish speaker of today. Among his many prestigious titles, R’ Rietti is very involved with Gateways and he is a noted lecturer who has given over 200 lectures. Rabbi Rietti currently directs a teacher training program in Brooklyn, New York, under Mishkan Yecheskel. His model classroom with hundreds of educational materials is used for training teachers how to reach different children in the classroom. It is literally an 'Al Pi Darko' approach.

What do we learn from this story? Sometimes we pray for something, and we get it; and sometimes we pray for something, and we think that we’re not getting it. But maybe, the truth is, we’re just looking at the wrong calendar…

Yetzias Mitzrayim was a foreshadow of every future exile, including our own (it is not counted as part of “the 4 exiles”, because Galus Mitzrayim encapsulates all 4 of them, including the one that we are in today).

Hashem was teaching us a vital lesson, one that we will all experience in galus. Yes, our tefillos are ALWAYS heard by Hashem. Yes, they will ALWAYS accomplish something. However, in galus, we should know that we will often not SEE them answered in the way, and with the result, that we necessarily expected or in plain sight.

Although it seemed like our tefillah was not answered at first in Mitzrayim, that was not the case. The Torah attests that our tefillah WAS heard, and, that tefillah is what accomplished the most incredible ge’ulah in history – yetzias mitzrayim (2:23-25).

Living Inspired

Why did Hashem make the illusion at first that our tefillah was not answered? In order to teach us that thus is the nature of galus. It will often look like we were not answered, but in reality, every tefillah is – although perhaps not the way we expected. We should learn from our past this truth, and utilize it to prevent us from ever feeling discouraged in our present or future; Hashem was teaching us that we will all experience this illusion in galus and we must train ourselves to see and work through it.

These days as well, there will be times when we daven for something with all of our heart, and we still won’t get exactly what we asked for. It might even look like things got worse. It’s happened to all of us - where we davened for something and didn’t see it answered openly.

At the same time, is there anyone alive who can say that they never had something that they davened for come true?? Every single one of us have had something we davened for come true, at least once, if not many times more.

May we use those opportunities where we davened for something and received it, to remind ourselves, that the reality is that Hashem is ALWAYS listening. Although He may not answer our prayer right away, or in the way that we expect, not a single prayer goes unheard nor without accomplishing something – it always brings us closer to Hashem, perfects our character, and accomplishes something even in This World, whether we see it or not – just as our prayer did back then in Mitzrayim (and as it did in the above true-story). While it looked for a short while like our tefillah in Mitzrayim was ignored, and things got even worse, shortly afterwards it was revealed to them, and to all of us forever, that our tefillah accomplished the most miraculous chain of events in history – and was fulfilled beyond our wildest dreams.

Let us reminder ourselves of all of this, the next time that we make the bracha in Shemonei Esrei of “baruch atah Hashem, sho’mea tefillah”: 

Hashem is always listening, always answering*, and most importantly, although it may not always be how we expect - not a single tefillah goes unanswered, no matter what things look like**.

Gut Shabbos

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*- Of course, if we ask for something that Hashem sees will not be good for us, He will for our own benefit not fulfill the request.

The Chazzon Ish explains that we cannot “force” Hashem to do anything, no matter how hard we pray, and therefore there is no guarantee He will grant our every request. Rather, we can ask, and if it is good for us, we will receive it. But rest assured, that even when we are not answered in the way that we expect, that prayer is always heard, always improves us and it brings us closer to Hashem. It never goes to waste - it always accomplish something, whether we realize it or not, or whether we get to see it or not.

There is another opinion, that if R’ Yisrael Salanter, that if you have top kavannah and betachone, it will come true.

** - After all, we have to believe what we are saying and that this is not a tefilas shav (a tefillah in vain). We absolutely believe that Hashem, at all times, hears our tefillah. Not just those of Torah Giants, nor just at times of great distress. Always and all of us (after all, the bracha is not “sho’mea tefillah shel tzadikim” or “be’es tzarah”).