Tefillah

The title of this editorial is Tefilá. However, the idea is to share and try to explain an incredible phenomenon that occurred in La Plata a few days ago.

Tefilah is generally translated as prayer, indicating, more particularly, the most intimate moment of prayer, the amidah, which means "standing," where the person stands before the King of All Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, making their requests.

Now, God is immutable. This means, among other things, that He does not change. His will does not change, and His essence does not change. As we say in the prayer itself, "You are [the same] before the creation of the world and You are [the same] after the creation of the world," that is, He did not change.

A detailed explanation of this idea is beyond the scope of this editorial; it would require several dozen paragraphs with complex concepts and examples that illuminate and simplify the complex.

Assuming this is the case (and it is one of the foundations of Judaism), a famous question arises: if God does not change, what difference does it make whether I pray or not? Will my prayer change His will for me to be one way or another? What effect and meaning does prayer have?

One explanation is that it is the individual who changes through prayer, not God's will. For example, if there is a spring of clean, drinkable water flowing from the depths of the earth, could one die of thirst? Apparently not, but what if one doesn't approach it and drink? The spring exists, but one must approach it and drink its water to be revived.

The same applies to prayer. God is the Source of all Life, from Whom flows health, happiness, financial well-being, children, etc., but what happens if we don't "take" God and "drink" from Him?.

That is the basic concept of Tefilah, the approach to God, to take His infinite blessings and materialize them.

Just over a month ago, a man from La Plata suffered a very serious brain aneurysm. He went into a coma, and his condition was very critical. After hospitalization and consultations with the best doctors in the field, it was determined that there wasn't much to expect... medically speaking, there was no hope for a happy outcome (to put it mildly).

Immediately his family sought God's help, organizing psalm readings in his honor and gathering people to pray for his physical and spiritual well-being.

Miraculously (a term used by doctors!!!) after about 45 days in a coma with complications, etc., and no hope of improvement, this man from La Plata woke up... and began to show signs of consciousness and the ability to communicate.

There's no doubt (neither for the doctors nor the family) that it's a miracle. They said that only one in a thousand people in a similar situation survive...

The big question isn't why the miracle happened, since God has the ability to change the rules of nature so that what He decides should happen, but rather, why him? Why is he one out of a thousand? Why didn't it happen to someone else?

The answer is: Tefilah. Connection.

We have the tools to improve our own situation. We have the channel through which we can ask for and achieve miracles (literally). All that is expected of us is that we use it...

For all those who wish to continue praying for the speedy and full recovery of this resident of La Plata, his name is Iaacov Nisim ben Aída.