The Man Who Kept Calling Out
Tefillah
A story ofRav Yisroel Meir HaKohen Kagan of Radinהרב ישראל מאיר בן אריה לייב קאגאן
The Chofetz Chaim once told his talmidim about a man he had seen on the street with a wagon piled high with apples, calling to passersby to buy. No one went near him. When the Chofetz Chaim passed by again two hours later, the man was still in the same spot, still calling, and still had no customers.
He approached and asked why the man kept shouting when no one was buying. The man replied that he did call out all day, but that when he reached home in the evening and tallied his earnings, he found, baruch Hashem, that he had enough to live on.
The Chofetz Chaim asked his talmidim whether they understood. A person has to cry out, he said. If we call to Hashem a first time, a second and a third, and then keep on calling, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will answer, without a doubt. Surely we are no less worthy than that Jew, and all that is required is to cry out and plead for Hashem’s reply.