The power of prayer

Elisheva B. Cannon, Grade 8, Cape Town Torah High

The power of prayer

The biggest threat Am Yisroel faced in my lifetime was on 7 October 2023, but it wasn’t the first. There was the 2014 Gaza War and the Yom Kippur War. The Six-Day War, the Holocaust, and the Crusades. But the first ever affliction we experienced as a nation was our enslavement in Egypt.

The Egyptians feared that the Jews were becoming too numerous and powerful, but the Jews were actually helping to grow the Egyptian economy. Yoseph made Egypt the most powerful empire in the world. That’s the nature of antisemitism. It isn’t rational. It’s pure hatred and jealousy.

Only Hashem can get rid of it, but we always have the power of prayer, especially Jewish women. We have one of the strongest armies in the world. We have incredible intelligence and high-tech equipment, but our strongest weapon is prayer. Hashem’s help comes in the blink of an eye. He wants us to reach out and talk to Him. Just as Hashem took the Jews out of Egypt, so too will He bring home all the hostages. He will end all our suffering. He will end antisemitism. He will bring Moshiach, bimhera v’yameinu.