And, behold, I will bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which there is a breath of life from under heavens; and everything that is on the earth shall die. (Bereishis 6:17)

The Zohar tells us that the explanation of this verse is found in the haftara “Mei Noach Zos Li” (the waters of Noach (referring to the flood)). This means that Noach was to blame for the flood. The reason that he was to blame was that he should have prayed for the wellbeing of the people in the world, just as Avraham prayed for the people of Sdom. But, since he didn’t pray for the people’s wellbeing, he is considered as if he caused the flood.

This concept is something that must be understood. If they deserved to have a flood, how would his prayers help changed what they deserved? I would like to examine the purpose of prayer in general, and after we have an understanding of prayer, we may have an answer to this question.

Rav Shraga Grossbard (1916-1993) explains that a punishment is given by Hashem to rehabilitate the person. This means that that the punishment itself is what rehabilitates the person. This is as opposed to a punishment given by a secular court, which is given to either give retribution for a negative action, or to ward off further infractions of the law. Through prayer, a person doesn’t push off a decree, rather he is actually supposed to undergo a change. The Maharal explains the words we say on Rosh Hashanah, “UTeshuva, Utefillah, Utzedakah…” each one of these things changes the person to a degree that he is no longer the person upon whom the bad decree was issued. Therefore, he is released from that punishment.

So too, tefilla has the power to even effect a change in others. Had Noach prayed for the people in his generation, he would have elevated them to a place that the decree would be irrelevant for them.

As we go into the winter and the euphoria of the yomim noraim fades in our minds, I believe it is necessary to strengthen ourselves in regard to prayer. My Rosh Yeshiva in America once told me that he was asked by an irreligious man, “How could you pray the same thing three times a day, every day?” He answered that this is an excellent question, but it is irrelevant to us because we pray every day for the needs and the situation that we find ourselves in at that moment.  And being that we and our lives are forever changing, no two tefillos are ever exactly the same.

To me it is obvious that the Rosh Yeshiva’s immediate response was borne out of a true feeling of connecting to Hashem every time that one opens the siddur. If we would feel that way as well, then we would feel elevated every time that we daven to Hashem. Just the opportunity to communicate with Hakadosh baruch hu, discussing with him who we are and what we would like to accomplish, should be an invigorating enough experience to make us better people.

May our tefillos be accepted by Hashem and cause change enough to enable the complete redemption to come speedily.