Call Upon Me

Call upon Me-The Power of Prayer The prophet Yirmiyahu says, "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3). When I first heard the following story from my student Shani Borg Lavi, I was speechless. It brought to my mind the power of tefillah that I witnessed throughout my grandmother's life. Certainly, whenever you daven at the Kotel, you leave with this esoteric feeling that your prayer has been answered. Even though we don't know the day or the hour, we know that Hashem hears and answers all prayers. However, in this instance it was what we would call a direct hook-up with instant results. The Power of Tefillah A young man was driving from Brooklyn to Monsey, New York at two-thirty in the morning when he saw a pickup truck in his rear view mirror, racing towards him. He immediately sped up to avoid being hit, but the truck was approaching too fast. Before he could take a deep breath and brace himself, the truck hit the side of the car, causing it to swerve across two lanes of traffic and smash into the side rail barrier. The car bounced over the barrier, then slid across three lanes to the other side of the highway. After the car came to a stop, the young man saw that the engine was smoking. Frightened and not yet fully cognizant of what had taken place, he kicked opened the door, jumped out of the car, and ran into the middle of the highway. In shock and oblivious to his surroundings, he saw headlights shining directly in his face. There was a loud bang, and he was flung ten feet into the air. As he flew through the air he saw the Verrazano Bridge (between Staten Island and Brooklyn) before passing out. He regained consciousness a few moments later on top of his car, where he had landed. He rolled off his car and hit his head on the ground. He only realized what had happened when he heard everyone screaming, "Call 911 Is he okay?" The young man slowly got up and limped to the side of the highway. Everyone was quiet and stared at him as if he were a ghost. Not even in your worst nightmare would you have imagined this scenario. What happened next is a miracle He was rushed to the emergency room, where they took every test and x-ray that exists. Unbelievably, they could find nothing wrong with him, Baruch Hashem, aside from the muscle spasms that he would have for a while after his accident. The doctors gave him medication for the pain. Several days later he was on the telephone with his sister, who was learning in seminary in Jerusalem. He related the entire story to her. After a moment of dead silence, she told him that at the exact time of the accident, she had been davening at the Kotel. She explained to her brother that she was rarely at the Western Wall at ten-thirty in the morning, but her school had been on a tiyul (tour) in the Old City that day. As you may have surmised, she had davened for her brother at the Kotel that morning. Her brother concluded their conversation with these words: "Thanks for your prayers, Sis. All I can say is that God has a purpose for my still being around. So whatever the reason, I had better make the most of each day." What a profound lesson in hashgacha peratis. And what a wonderful motto for each of us, "To make the most of each day," with Hashem's help Shlomo HaMalech says in Koheles 3:1 "To everything there is a time and a season to all things under heaven." He also states in mishlei 4:7: "Teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart to know wisdom. Wisdom is the principle thing get wisdom but in all your getting get an understanding." We don't know why this incident happened to this young man, but what we do know is that through the power of his sister's prayers at the Kotel his life was spared. As David HaMelech said in Psalms 119:5 "These are my prayers: may my ways be firmly guided to keep Your Statues."