This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
QUESTION:
Should one be mispallel for children even years before he's married?
ANSWER:
Certainly, he should be mispallel for his future. You should ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu that you should live long, when you're young, because it's important what happens in your youth. Sometimes chalila something happens in your youth that it'll make it impossible to live long, therefore you have to pray for a long life. Even a child should pray for long life. To pray far ahead of time for children? Absolutely! You should pray for a lot of things beforehand, and the best time to pray is before you find yourself in a fix.
When Iyov was in trouble, his friends said to him, (Iyov 36:19) ha'yaroch shuacho lo batzor, did you set forth your prayers, your outcry, when you were not yet in distress? Which means, you waited only till now to pray? You hear that accusation? Ha'yaroch shuacho lo batzor, did you cry out when you weren't in trouble? So the time to cry out is when you're well. Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, look this man is well and still he cries out to Me, so I'll see that he remains well. But if a man waits until chas v'ashalom, and then he cries out, it helps also but it doesn't have the ethichsy of crying out when you're well.
When a man is young and healthy, zchor es borecho b'mai b'churosecho, remember your borei when you're young. Of course when you're old and all your bones are aching already and your eyes are dim, and your stomach doesn't act properly, a lot of things are troubling you, and you cry out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you remember Him? Very good, it's a very good thing, but how much better it would have been when you were full of juice, and your joints were lubricated, and everything was working well, then you cried out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu....
Zchor es borecho b'mai b'churosecho, when you're young remember Him, that's the best thing. Certainly you should cry out to Hashem long before you need it.
Important Numbers
