Ashrei: Birchat Avraham: A Mother’s Faith

The 12th of Sivan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Avraham Weinberg, Slonimer Rebbe, the Birkas Avraham (1981). The son of Rav Noach Weinberg, talmid and nephew of the Divrei Shmuel.

As much as I love his Torah on the Parsha in the Nachal Eitan, I prefer to share my great-uncle’s comments about his mother and prayer: Our mother A”H lived and breathed her faith with all her heart and with her entire being. We observed in her the living expression of the Sage’s teaching, “With each and every breath, you shall praise God.”

She believed that everything that happened was for the good, but that we had to pray for it to become immediately good. She would pray over everything she did, “God should be the One Who makes this happen.” “God is correct, and His judgment is always right!” She often prayed that her suffering should be so that her descendants should not suffer.

The verse says, “He fulfills the desire of those hwo fear Him, and He hears their cries and saves them.” Why must they cry, if He does all they desire?

The first part of the verse is that God gives desire to those who fear Him. One who fears God sublimates his will to God’s. He will not cry on his own for anything, for he focuses only on God’s will, not his own.

Therefore, God gives him the desire for what he needs to serve God and grow. The desire leads him to cry out, and God responds to his cries.