The Gates That Would Not Open
On the day the Beis HaMikdash was dedicated, its gates stayed shut against all of Shlomo's prayers until he spoke of the kindness of his father.
The Beis HaMikdash stood complete, and Shlomo HaMelech went to bring the Aron into the Kodesh HaKodashim. But when he reached the gates, the Gemara tells, they clung to one another and would not open. Shlomo poured out twenty-four songs of praise and prayer, and still the gates stayed shut.
He called out the words of Tehillim: lift up your heads, O gates, be raised, you everlasting doors, so that the King of glory may come in. The gates rushed at him, the Gemara says, as if to swallow him, and demanded: who is this King of glory? They thought he meant himself. Hashem, mighty and strong, Shlomo answered, Hashem, mighty in battle. He said the verses again, and still there was no answer.
Then Shlomo prayed: Hashem, do not turn away the face of Your anointed one; remember the kindnesses of Dovid Your servant. At once the gates swung open, and fire came down from heaven onto the altar. In that moment, Chazal say, all Israel knew that Hashem had forgiven Dovid, and his detractors were put to shame.
The Gemara learns from this why Shlomo wrote in Koheles that he praised the dead more than the living. All his own songs had not opened the gates; the merit of his father, who had passed away, opened them in an instant.
Source: Gemara, Shabbos 30a and Moed Katan 9a (Talmud Bavli); Divrei HaYamim II 6:41–7:3; Tehillim 24:7–10. English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz); The JPS Tanakh (Sefaria).
Shlomo was the wisest of men, yet the gates opened only when he mentioned his father's kindness. Before you daven for something that matters to you this week, add one sentence in your own words: in the merit of my father, or my mother, or my grandparents, who served You. Then name one good thing they did. If they are no longer living, consider learning a mishnah or giving a coin of tzedakah in their memory that same day.