Still Waiting for an Answer to Your Prayers? Remember This

When we pray again and again yet still see no change, it can be difficult to keep hoping. But it is precisely at those moments that the words we say each day in the Shemoneh Esrei, “For Your salvation we have hoped all day,” can take on deeply personal meaning.

The Pele Yoetz teaches that these words are not only about waiting for the ultimate redemption. They can also shape the way we approach the private struggles and hardships in our own lives.

What Does It Mean to Truly Hope for Salvation?

This is what the Pele Yoetz writes under the entry “Hope”:

“It is known that one of the questions asked on the Day of Judgment is, ‘Did you hope for salvation?’ This is a matter entrusted to the heart. It is not enough for a person to say with his mouth that he hopes for salvation; he must hope for salvation with a whole heart and complete faith. Just as each day a person draws closer to death, so too, each and every day brings redemption closer. And if it tarries, we will wait for it, for it will certainly come, without any doubt.”

Hope, the Pele Yoetz teaches, is something that must exist within the heart. It is not enough simply to say that we are waiting for redemption. We must genuinely believe in its arrival and continue anticipating it, even when it seems delayed.

He then extends this idea beyond the ultimate redemption:

“And one should not sit and wait only for the redemption, but for every type of trouble that may befall a person, one should await the salvation of Hashem in the blink of an eye.”

Whatever personal hardship a person may be facing, he should continue to hope for Hashem’s salvation, believing that circumstances can change in an instant, even when no solution is currently in sight.

Bring Your Own Struggles Into the Prayer

The Pele Yoetz then connects this idea directly to a familiar line in the Shemoneh Esrei:

“They have already written in the name of the Arizal, that every day, when one says, ‘For Your salvation we have hoped all day,’ one should intend that he is waiting for salvation from every hardship he is facing, and this is especially effective.”

When we say, “For Your salvation we have hoped all day,” we can bring our own struggles to mind and consciously direct our hope toward Hashem’s help. According to the teaching cited in the name of the Arizal, there is particular spiritual significance in having this intention while saying these words.

Not Only Our Own Salvation

But the Pele Yoetz adds another dimension to this prayer:

“And when saying, ‘For Your salvation,’ one should intend that he is not concerned only for himself, but rather for the pain of Heaven, for in all their suffering, He suffers; and he should hope that Hashem will act for the sake of the honor of His Name—specifically for Your salvation. And because he hopes for salvation, he should be careful to avoid anything that delays salvation and to do every good thing, for our entire focus is on the salvation of Hashem and the redemption of the Shechinah.”

Our prayer, then, should not focus solely on relief from our own difficulties. When saying “For Your salvation,” the Pele Yoetz teaches us to think about the pain of the Shechinah and the honor of Heaven as well. And hoping for salvation is not meant to remain only a feeling. It should inspire us to stay away from actions that delay redemption and to increase our good deeds.

The next time we reach the words, “For Your salvation we have hoped all day,” perhaps we can pause for just a moment. We can bring to mind the hardship that has been accompanying us, place our hope in Hashem, and remember that the fact that we cannot yet see the way forward does not mean that salvation cannot come.