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Rav Neventzal (Sichot L’Yom Hakippurim, pp. 95-104) asks a simple but insightful question. Hashem did challenge Noach’s neighbors to prevent Noach from entering the ark and the Egyptians from allowing Bnei Yisrael from leaving. Each was naturally capable of preventing the event. However, why would Bnei Yisrael think that they could prevent Moshe from dying?
One could answer based on the Midrash Tanchuma (Vaetchanan 6) that Hashem offered Moshe that he could enter the Land, but the price was that Bnei Yisrael would have to be destroyed, an offer Moshe rejected. Perhaps Bnei Yisrael would have taken a drastic step of agreeing to have a plague or the like to take responsibility for its shortcomings, thus forcing Hashem to allow Moshe to live.
In any case, Rav Neventzal cites a different answer in the name of Rav Chaim Shmulevitz. Had Hashem allowed them to do so, Bnei Yisrael could have prayed in an extremely sincere, impassioned manner for Moshe’s survival, which would have kav’yachol forced Hashem to accept their prayers. We find a similar concept in the gemara in Ketubot (104a) regarding the death of Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi). He was suffering greatly as he was on the verge of death, as the righteous of his generation prayed beneath his home for his survival. Seeing his situation, his servant prayed that the heavenly beings who wanted Rebbi should overcome the people who wanted him to live, but the people were praying too strongly, and he thus did not die. The servant threw a jug near the crowd, with the explosion silencing the prayers for long enough for Rebbi to die.
We see from these sources how exceptionally strong the power of tefilla is. Of course, not every prayer is intense enough to be a formidable force for Hashem to reckon with. As Rav Neventzal points out briefly (and we, even more briefly) not every wish should be prayed for and not always does one get the response he desires. But every proper prayer is noticed and leaves some kind of mark in the Heavens and the earth.
When we say that "repentance, prayer, and charity can remove the harm of the decree" these words are literal and powerful beyond our natural expectations. Let us take them seriously and make the most of the powerful tools we were granted.
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
