The Secret To Getting Your Prayers Answered On Pesach

0:04Hashem told them, "Listen, you are praying to Me, you're crying to Me, but you're still holding on to the idols of the past. You still have all the sins of the past; you still haven't changed. You say, 'Oh, Hashem, I love You, I love You, I put a kippah on, I put on tefillin,' but you're still not really committed to Hashem. You're still holding on to the idolatrous beliefs. Hashem says, 'You want salvation?'" Move forward. Move forward. Do something about it. Show me you believe. So when Nachshon ben Aminadav went into the ocean, sacrificing his life, he was the pillar. He was the example. He was the leader from whom Mashiach comes, actually. And after he went, several others followed him, and the ocean was split into 12. One for each tribe. Here we see, Rabotai, that Emunah is one of the things that people like to talk about, but Emunah requires a person to change their actions.

1:18First and foremost, all of this stimuli that we have around us, whether it be news or people chit-chatting, and all of these fortune-telling types of things, you have to abandon them like they're a plague, because they're going to hurt your emunah. Second of all, if there are bad things happening in your life, review what you're doing. What can you do better? Everyone can pick at least a few things they can do better. Look at the Torah, look at what you're doing. Are you doing everything in the Torah? No. Okay, so pick something, change it. You did it, it didn't work, do something else. Maybe Hashem wants something else. Don't just cry to Hashem, "Why, why, why?" You have to do something about it. Prayer is sometimes not enough. Sometimes we didn't pray enough. Sometimes prayer itself is not enough, and sometimes we didn't pray enough. We prayed once, and we think that one prayer, and, uh, you know, everything changes. The prayer has to be connected to teshuva, to personal change and growth, in order to give Hashem a reason, because, technically, Hashem does not change His mind. Therefore, how does prayer actually work? Prayer works when you genuinely pray, as it is supposed to change you as a human being. When you pray to Hashem, saying, "I'm sorry, Hashem," and promising to do better, that internal transformation is key. Sometimes we didn't pray enough. But the point is that prayer by itself does not work. It requires action. We have to change things. There are many people that come to me and say, "Oh, listen, can you pray for my dad? Can you pray for my son? Can you pray for this one? Can you pray for that one?" Sure, I can pray for them. But if they don't change and do teshuva, my prayer is not going to work by itself. The prayer has to be connected to an action, to teshuva.

2:47...has to be connected to show it. Give Hashem a reason why. Because technically, Hashem does not change His mind, doesn't change His mind. So, how does prayer actually work? Prayer works where, when you pray, really pray, that prayer is actually supposed to change you as a human being. You are now praying to Hashem. You're saying, "I'm sorry, Hashem." You're saying, "Hashem, I promise You, I'm going to do better." Not, Hashem, please, please, give me, give me, give me, give me. It's not an ATM machine. You have to say, Hashem, I'm sorry for what I did. Everything that You did to me, You are right. That's what it says in our Tachanun. All of the bad stuff You brought upon us, You're right. You're a tzaddik, we're reshaim. But I promise You I'm going to change. A promise is not enough. I'm going to take action. From now on, I'm going to attend at least one shiur a week. From now on, I'm going to two shiurim a week. From now on, I'm going to pray on time every day. From now on, I'm going to keep Shabbat. From now on, I'm going to become modest. From now on, I'm going to do this, that, and the other. That prayer, you have to bring it to life. So now, Hashem doesn't change His mind, but how come He's going to answer you now? Because now that you've changed your actions...

4:09Now that you change your actions, you are no longer the same person. So Hashem says, wait a minute, hold on a second. Gavriel, Michael, Refael, what's going on over here? This guy is sick, why is he sick? Hashem, there was a decree on him, no, no, no, the decree of sickness was on somebody else. This guy's a tzaddik. Look, he's keeping Shabbat. He said his wife's gonna be mad at him from now on. He's committing to learning Torah; he's a different person after this prayer. Hashem, that was 20 minutes ago. He goes, no, the prayer. He promised he did a bunch of things as a different person. Take off Raphael, make him healthy. Michael, give him a new job. Gabriel, do something, find him a shidduch or something. Different person, not the same guy. Why this prayer became something tangible, not just words. That's what HaKadosh Baruch Hu was saying to Moshe Rabbeinu and to Am Yisrael. You have to move forward.

5:14Daber b'nei Yisrael v'Yisau. Speak to Am Yisrael and move forward, journey forward, do something. Don't just scream to Me. Do something about it. Everybody has something to do. As a rabbi, I must emphasize that this mitzvah is mandatory for every Jew as it ensures all members of Am Yisrael can properly celebrate the holiday with dignity and joy.