Without the Key, You Cannot Start the Car

About five years ago, I was asked to officiate a wedding ceremony in one of the halls in the north of the country. Immediately after arranging the wedding ceremony, a man approached me and requested that I bless his brother who was suffering from a well-known illness. Of course, I happily agreed and approached his brother, who seemed to be on the brink of death, barely opening his eyes. I blessed him deeply from my heart that the blessed Creator would send him a complete recovery. And inside, I felt it was hopeless, as unfortunately, my eyes saw, and according to the logic I was accustomed to.

After a few moments, I realized that the blessing would not help at all. Likewise, I understood how lacking my knowledge was in the power of the great and terrible Creator, who gives life at this moment to billions of different body systems that are healed every moment from all sorts of bacteria and cancer cells. He creates millions of new children every day. Does He lack the ability to heal the Jew standing before me? At that moment, I remembered what our Rabbis taught us: "Prayer without intention is like a body without a soul." And also what King Hezekiah of Judah said to Isaiah the Prophet when he was told he was about to die, "Even if a sharp sword rests upon a man's neck, he should not despair of mercy."

I went out to the hall's courtyard and spoke with Hashem in my own words: Father in heaven, I know you can heal all the sick in the world at this very moment, and even if my small mind cannot understand or see it, I know you are "All-Powerful." And I repeated this several times until I felt I believed in what I was praying and then entered the hall and approached the sick man and asked to bless him again.

How Far Does Trust Extend?

Another incident made me realize that before we pray, we must have true and complete knowledge that the blessed Creator can fulfill our request without any difficulty. A scholar approached me and told me about his dire financial situation, reaching the point of lacking bread. The scholar told me his wife earns about two thousand shekels a month and he receives a stipend from the Kollel amounting to one thousand eight hundred shekels, and all their combined income barely covers the rent and utilities, leaving them with no money for food. He asked for advice and a blessing. I asked him if he believed that in the next month he would earn ten thousand shekels. A smile immediately appeared on his face and he said, "How exactly am I going to earn such an amount?"

I replied to him, even if I pray for you day and night, if you do not believe in the Creator's ability to send you the money, without any limitation, then the prayers are in vain. So I suggested to him to enter a room alone, and to shout one hundred times "Hashem is All-Powerful," and each time he shouts to imagine in his mind how Hashem feeds and sustains billions of creatures on earth as it is said, "You open your hand and satisfy every living thing's desire." And if Hashem arranges so much food for an elephant every day, He can surely provide for you as well.

A few days later, the scholar returned to me and said that now he believed that Hashem could send him his sustenance in abundance. So I blessed him deeply from my heart that the blessed Creator would send him his sustenance in abundance. I felt in my heart that now he believed that the Creator can do anything. Later that month, the blessed Creator had mercy on him and he received an offer for an important Torah position, solving his livelihood problem.

The Keys Are in Your Hands

According to these things, we can explain the verse "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on'" (Exodus 14:15) after Moses cried out to Hashem to save the Israelites standing before the Red Sea, with the Egyptians pursuing them from behind to kill them. The blessed Creator replies "Why do you cry out to Me?" The question arises, don't Jews in distress have the most need to cry out to Hashem? So why does the blessed Creator answer Moses "Why do you cry out to Me?" He should have answered "I have received the prayer," tell the Israelites to move on. This can be explained according to the Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the parashah of Beshalach, that at that moment the Israelites were divided into four camps. One said "Let us return to Egypt and submit," another said "Let us fall into the water and die," a third camp said "Let us wage war against the Egyptians, and the fourth said, "Let us scream against the Egyptians, maybe they will panic and flee."

What is common to all is that they did not believe in the blessed Creator who would split the sea for them, letting them cross the sea as if on dry land. Therefore, the blessed Creator answered Moses "Why do you cry out to Me?" Prayer will not help if they do not believe in My ability to save them miraculously. "Tell the Israelites to move on" - only if they show Me their faith by entering the sea, then I will split the sea for them. Indeed, only when Nachshon ben Aminadav jumped into the waters, reaching his nose, and screamed "the waters have reached one's soul," did the blessed Creator split the sea into twelve parts. We learn that before every request or wish, we must empower the blessed Creator as it is said, "Give strength to God." How can we, small beings, give power to the Almighty Creator? By believing that He can do everything.

This can be explained with an analogy of a great man standing in the middle of the street pleading with a small child for help to start his car. Naturally, a large crowd gathers around, trying to understand why such a strong man needs the help of such a small child, until it becomes clear to everyone, the key is in the child's hand, and without it, the giant cannot start the car. Just so, the blessed Creator, who reigns over His world with no difficulty doing as He pleases, has given us the key to success. If we believe in His ability to do "everything" for us, only then will He fulfill the desires of our hearts.

Based on this, we can understand the statement of our Sages, "A person's sustenance is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea" and another statement of our Sages, "A person's match is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea." At first glance, it's puzzling, is there anything too difficult for the blessed Creator to do? Rather, the difficulty stems from the person himself who thinks, how will I be able to support myself, I have no desirable profession, I do not know anyone who can set me up with a respectable job, and even a person who is already in stable employment, but the salary is insufficient, asks himself, where will the extra money I need come from? So too with regard to matchmaking, a woman wanting to marry muses, where will I find a husband to my liking? And if I find him, maybe he will not want me. In all these matters, the blessed Creator answers and says, everything is in My hand, I can send money in any way in the world and even beyond nature. Similarly, I can find a suitable match for a woman or a man at any moment, just believe that I can.

"And Sarah laughed within herself" is brought in the Midrash Tanchuma (Shoftim 12) where Sarah looks at her body and says, can these worn-out organs bear a child? And immediately the blessed Creator answered Abraham "Is anything too difficult for Hashem?" The Midrash Rabbah 19 explains through an analogy to a person holding two chains of iron that have parted, and taking them to the blacksmith, asking, can you fix them for me? The blacksmith answered, what do you think, to make them originally I can, but to fix them I cannot? Just so, the blessed Creator said to Abraham, to create man from beginning to end, I can create, to restore him to his youth I cannot?

"Is anything too difficult for Hashem?" This is a phrase we should clearly and prominently display before our eyes, and for every need we have, ask ourselves: Is anything too difficult for Hashem?