KORACH

It is surprising that we ask here for our prayers to be accepted since we have made the same request in the previous blessing, "Shema Kolainu."

However, we know that there are two fundamental understandings about prayer. First, it is called "mercy," as the Talmud (Berachot 20a) explains, because its purpose is to ask for mercy.

On the other hand, it is also called "service." This the Rambam states explicitly in the beginning of the Laws of Tefillah. Concerning the words, "...And serve Him with all your heart" (Duet. 11:13), Rashi explains that service of the heart is prayer. The Talmud (Berachot 26b) also states that the prayers were instituted to take the place of the daily sacrifices which were suspended when the Temple was destroyed. The Code of Law (Orach Chaim 98:4) derives several laws concerning prayer from the laws of sacrifices.

There is a verse which reads literally, "...We shall pay the bullocks of our lips" (Hoshea 14:3). The Yalkut explains these words. "Who shall pay for the bullocks that are not sacrificed because of the destruction of the Temple? Our lips with which we pray before You shall pay for them."

Thus, prayer is also service in place of the service of the sacrifices in the Temple, and probably for this reason we say at the end of the Amidah prayer, "May it be Your Will... that the Temple shall be built speedily in our days... and there we will serve You...."

It seems that this is the difference between the requests which are made in these two prayers. In "Shema Kolainu -- Hear our voices.... Blessed are You G-d who hears prayer," we are asking Him to accept our supplications which we have laid out before Him throughout the thirteen blessings of the intermediate section. These thirteen blessings are all requests to fulfill our needs, and this blessing, "Shema Kolainu -- Hear our voices...," is the last of that section. This is the aspect of "mercy."

On the other hand, when we pray that He should desire our prayers in the first blessing of the last section called "Retzaih," and we pray there that He should return the Divine Presence to Zion (i.e., the Temple) and the service of the Temple, then we are asking for our prayers in the aspect of "service" to be accepted.

Furthermore, according to this differentiation, in "shema kolainu" we ask Him to accept our prayers with mercy, wheres in "retzaih" we only ask that He should accept our prayers willingly.

(Avodat Levav)

A man once entered the room of the Mezritcher emotionally pleading, "Rebbe, I have come here from very far away. I don't have any children. That is why I came. Promise me that I will have a son."

"Pray yourself to G-d, and He will save you," the Rebbe said to the pleading Jew.

He answered, "My prayers do not help."

"If that is the case," the Rebbe said, "it would be better if you would ask me to teach you how to pray. Then you will be able to pray for yourself, and you will not need to travel so far to see me."

When the man heard this answer he left the room broken hearted with tears flowing from his eyes. Afterwards, some of the disciples asked the tzadik, "Rebbe, why did you not promise to pray for the man like you promise all the other Jews who come to you."

The Mezritcher answered, "When another Jew comes to me, in his heart he trusts in G-d, but he comes to me to pray for him because he knows that my prayers are more acceptable. Then it is my custom to promise to pray for him. However, this Jew traveled so far to see me here because he was trusting only in me. I answered the way I answered in order that he should despair of hoping in me. In that way he will trust G-d, and I am sure that the moment he trusts G-d, he will be saved."

Women and daughters of Israel, go out and see (tzena ur'ena)! For thousands of generations our people have lived with the Torah. Millions of men and women, spiritual giants and women of valor, have drawn their emotions, concepts and outlooks on life from this faith of fire. The national treasure for which we have labored and strived all these generations has been the study of Torah.

The purpose of the Bet Ya'akov school system has been to assure fulfillment of the Torah among women, and to inspire our daughters' spirits with it. This goal cannot be accomplished by merely erecting beautiful school buildings and large libraries. It can only be done if Israel is studying the Torah, spreading the waters of the wellspring wider and wider, and inspiring the hearts. Only then can the Torah remain engraved as the way of life. And this can only be done, in my opinion, through true, Jewish schooling for our daughters who are faithful to the Jewish people and their tradition.

I used to travel far and wide, from city to city and town to town, crying at the top of my voice, "Jews, How long will you sit complacently with folded hands while your houses are being destroyed? How can you bear to see your daughters sitting at the shabbos-table reading books of goyim and dressed immodestly?

"Mothers of Israel, how long can you be unperturbed watching your daughters stray farther and farther away from you, day by day? And are you, yourselves, not being carried away by the same ugly trend?"

Schools for girls which are faithful to the Torah and our tradition, in which our daughters can receive an authentic Jewish education while they are still young girls -- these are the only life-savers!

I know that in the present circumstances of our times, it is very difficult to create these schools.... Nevertheless, with strong and courageous will-power we can overcome all the obstacles.

Awake, my sisters, in these critical, historical times, prove what it is that you really want, and rightly so, for the sake of this exalted purpose: to educate the daughters of Israel to serve G-d, to fulfill the statutes and the mitzvot with dedication and inspiration, with all their might and all their soul, until their last breath.

They are the daughters of a nation whose existence and foundation is not based on their Land only, as other nations who are bound only to their land. But the way of these nations is not the way of the House of Israel whose existence is based on the exalted idea of the Holy Torah. Only through it, and because of it, are we a nation.