Taanit 15 – Not everyone's prayer is equal

An important person should not "fall on his face" - prostrate himself in prayer, unless he is sure to be answered – just like Joshua did. Otherwise, his public spectacle will make him an object of ridicule, and people will doubt his inner worth.

Similarly, one should not put on sackcloth, like King Ahab did. In his case, he was answered. Here is the story: a woman was crying, asking for help from the King. He asked her what the matter was. She told him that she agreed with her friend to boil and eat her son, and then the friend's son the next day, but now the friend hid her son. When the King heard that, he was so overwhelmed with the realization of how bad the famine was that he put on sackcloth and started to pray and, even though he was not righteous, his prayer was answered in one day – flour became plentiful and cheap.

How did they conduct the seven most strict fasts? They brought the Torah into the town square. They put ashes upon the Ark, upon the head of the leading ruler, and the heads of the Court members. Then everyone else put ashes on his own head. A Sage among them tried to captivate their hearts, starting with "Brothers, remember the people of Nineveh: God looked not at their sackcloth and fast but at their good deeds and stopping to do evil."

They added six special blessings to the regular eighteen, and thus the prayer leader says the twenty-four blessings in his prayer. The extra ones deal with redemption, remembrance, and answering prayer.

Art: The Irish Famine by George Frederick Watts