Adapted from: Parashas HaMahn by Dov Weller

When we need help for parnassah it is so easy to look around and blame our boss, the client, the market, the political atmosphere, ourselves, our family, and everyone around us. But we need to remember that there is one gear that powers it all. That is tefillah. 

Rav Shimshon Pincus once said, “If I accomplished anything significant in my life or managed to overcome challenges, it is all because of one thing that I trained myself to do continuously: to speak to Hashem throughout the day as a person speaks to his friend. I poured my heart out to Hashem and told Him everything that was bothering me, upsetting me, making me happy… everything, good and bad.”

In a letter addressed to a young man struggling for direction, Rav Shimshon writes:

It appears you are trying as hard as you can… and you have done all that you can. Now you are at the point where you need help from the outside, and therefore, I will give you the name and the address of someone who can help you to overcome your challenges and rise to the goals you have set for yourself.

He is called Hashem. He is very powerful, He created everything, and I know that He loves you, personally, dearly. He waits with longing for you to turn toward Him. It is not difficult to find Him or His address. He is everywhere, and even at the very moment you are reading this letter you can turn toward Him… Go directly to the One Who can truly help you, and grab onto Him and do not let go…. (Nefesh Shimshon, Letters, p. 43).

Rav Pincus relates an extremely powerful story that provides us with guidance and inspiration to tune into the awesome power of tefillah and relying on Hashem:

The ICU was in desperate need of a doctor to cover the upcoming night shift. They managed to locate a doctor who was still doing his residency. Although inexperienced, he had the necessary qualifications. The ICU was unusually full that night, and the young doctor was nervous about singlehandedly taking responsibility for each of these critically ill patients. The hospital administrator tried to allay his fears. He told him that hopefully the night would pass quietly. “But,” he said, “if you need something, if you are overwhelmed with crises, pick up the emergency line and we will make sure that a doctor from another department will come to assist you within moments.”

The night began quietly. The patients’ vital signs were all stable. Then the peace was broken; a patient needed emergency assistance. The doctor ran over and began doing what was necessary. While he was busy with that, another patient’s alarm began to ring. The doctor stabilized the patient he was with and ran to the next patient. Then three other patients needed emergency attention. The young doctor ran valiantly from patient to patient but, as night began to turn to dawn, there was a tragedy. He didn’t get to one of his patients in time, and the patient passed away.

Sometime later, the young doctor was summoned to court. He was being sued for negligence. He defended himself by saying, “I made heroic efforts to treat every single patient in the ICU that night! Why am I being sued and punished for my heroic efforts?”

The judge responded, “You were instructed to pick up the phone and call for help if you needed it. No one asked you to handle the situation alone, without help. You were given a simple instruction: Call for help in case of need. Since you did not call out in a time of need, you are being sued for negligence.”

This is exactly what Hashem tells each of us. “No one asked you to shoulder all the burden of providing for your family. Call out to Me, daven to Me, reach out to Me at any time, in any language, and I will be there to assist.” This is tefillah. We need to understand and internalize that we need Hashem and we cannot manage on our own, that we have a Father Who is capable of anything. Let us make the call, make the connection, and shift the weight from our shoulders to Hashem, Who is waiting for us to reach out to Him.