R’ Yosi was disturbed. “I am telling you things that are factual and significant; and you are telling me of the supernatural, that from Heaven they will have mercy on you [meaning that R’ Chanina is relying on a miracle]. I would be surprised if they don’t burn you and the Torah in the fire.”

R’ Chanina said to R’ Yosi: “Where do I stand in regard to olam haba?”

So R’ Yosi replied, “Did you ever find yourself placed in a challenging situation?”

The gemara states in Avodah Zarah 18a: “Tanu rabbanan … Our rabbis taught that when R’ Yosi Ben Kisma became ill R’ Chanina ben Tradyon came to visit him.

R’ Yosi said to R’ Chanina: “Chanina, my brother, don’t you know that from Heaven it has been decreed that the Roman nation should be rulers over us? They have destroyed the Bais Hamikdash, burned the Kodesh Kodoshim, killed the righteous ones, and caused His wise men to perish. And yet this ruler continues to exist.

I would like to suggest that there are numerous chesed opportunities for one to get involved in – an organization, a yeshiva, a hospital, shidduchim, and particularly any chesed that one could do specifically for our brethren in need in Eretz Yisroel.

Perhaps the most important effort we can make on a personal level is to do teshuvah, to utilize this time as a period of introspection in which we examine our behavior bein adam laMakom and bein adam l’chaveiro.

We learn that any time rain was needed, the chachamim would come to Aba Chilkiyah, the grandson of Choni HaMagol, and ask him to daven. Once there was a great famine, and the chachamim sent two rabbis to ask Aba Chilkiyah to daven for rain. They first went to his house; but he was not at home. They later found him working in the fields. When he reached his home, he said quietly to his wife, “I know that these rabbis came to ask me to pray for rain. Let us go to the attic and daven.

Tefillah, as we learned above, has to be one that emanates from the depths of the heart. It must be a tefillah that moves us to tears, to beg Hashem for full Siyata d’Shmaya in defeating our enemies. The power of everyone’s tefillah is not to be underestimated. Even the tefillah of one individual can have a major impact on the heavens.

The pasuk tells us in Yeshayah (1:27): Tzion b’mishpot tipodeh v’shoveho b’tzedakah – tzedakah and good deeds will bring our redemption. The performance of every good deed has a powerful influence in Shamayim.

Over the last few years, world attention has been focused on our Holy Land. Anti-semitic remarks have been made throughout the world from leaders of the UN, to people who are insane, to admired Hollywood stars. It is impossible for us to continue with our regular daily activities as we grasp the enormity of the transpiring events.

For example in Pirkei Avos (6:2) R’ Yehoshua ben Levi says “b’chol yom vayom bas kol yotzeis mehar chorev umachrezes v’omeres: oy lohem labriyos mei’elbonah shel Torah – Every single day a heavenly voice emanates from Har Chorev, and calls out and says: Woe to creation because of the insult to the Torah.”

The Tiferes Shlomo explains that one should not feel that chas v’sholom the tefillos of Klal Yisroel are not accepted. However, when the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed, the main tefillah of Klal Yisroel is to cry out about the exile of the Divine Presence, the Shechinah. Our main concern is to pray for Hashem. When a person is mispallel and cries over the galus haShechinah, then the gates of tears are not closed.

R’ Elozor said: Since the days when the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed the Gates of Tefillah have been closed, as it says, “Yes, when I cry and I call for help, He quiets my tefillah.” But though the Gates of Tefillah are closed, the Gates of Weeping are not closed, as it says, “Hear my tefillah, Hashem, and give an ear to my cry, please be not silent at my tears.” (Brachos 32b)

In the evening he began to reflect on his first day of life with the middas ha’emes. He was pained and full of sorrow when he realized what he had done and the untold agmas nefesh he had caused so many sincere individuals. How would he ever be able to repair what he had destroyed that day?