How to Pray on Rosh Hashana

By Rabbanit Coty Bitton

We are very close to Rosh Hashana, the day on which we will be judged. Then come the Aseret Yeme Teshuba, the days of repentance, which end on Yom Kippur. Our Teshuba has to be accompanied by Tefila, our prayer asking HaShem to forgive us and give us the chance to remain in His book of life.

I would like to share a few thoughts about Tefila. As a Jewish woman, I have always taken pride in our matriarchs. One of them was Chana, the mother of Shemuel, the first prophet of Israel. In the Haftara of Rosh Hashana we read Chana’s story and Chana’s Tefila.

Having children did not come easily to Chana. It was a problem almost all our matriarchs shared. Our Chakhamim reflected on this and said that “HaShem desires the Tefila of the righteous.” That is why He sometimes presents good people with very hard challenges. Chana is the classic case. Her situation forced her to be creative. And she composed one of the most beautiful and eloquent Tefilot ever written. Let us look at it.

Chana was desperate. She had Elqana, a husband who adored her, but she could not have children. It was painful every time she saw Penina, Elqana’s other wife, who made no effort to hide how busy she was with her seven children. Penina talked of nothing else, and she was not sensitive to Chana’s pain. In Shilo, where Elqana and his family went to visit the Mishkan, Chana prayed to HaShem with great fervor to grant her a son. From this Tefila our Sages learned many technical details that we apply to nothing less than our own Amida (saying the Tefila standing; moving the lips without raising the voice; not drinking alcohol before praying, and so on).

And we also learn, perhaps mainly, from Chana’s eloquence.

When she prayed, Chana did not simply “ask” HaShem for a son. She “presented” her case before HaShem with intelligent, solid, creative arguments.

1. Chana was the first to use a new name for HaShem. She addressed the Almighty as “God of hosts.” Our Chakhamim explain that “hosts” here means the hosts of heaven, the stars and the galaxies, which, like a human army, move with precision and harmony, obeying the orders of their commander in chief, HaShem. Chana said to HaShem: “You, God of hosts, who created billions of stars and gigantic celestial bodies, what does it cost You to grant me one small baby?”
2. Chana also said to HaShem: “I am a woman. You gave me breasts and the organs of reproduction. But what use is my woman’s body if I cannot conceive and nurse a child?”
3. According to the Midrash, Chana also argued: “I have kept the three Mitsvot of a woman (the name Chana is an acrostic of three Mitsvot: Challa, setting aside a piece of the bread dough for the Kohen; Nidda, family purity; and Hadlaqat haNer, lighting the candles before Shabbat). Do I not deserve, then, that You give me a son?”

From Chana we learn that when we pray to HaShem and ask for what we need, we have to be persistent. And, with great respect, to use every argument we can to show that we deserve a positive answer to our request, just as Chana did.

Finally, we learn one more lesson from Chana, and a very important one. As we know, in the end HaShem grants her a son. And then Chana prays again. This time with more devotion and far more eloquence. Because now Chana prays to thank HaShem. From here we learn that just as we pray to HaShem with all our heart, begging Him to give us everything we need and want, we must not forget to pray to HaShem to thank Him for everything He has given us and gives us, and especially when our requests are answered.

During these Yamim Noraim, let us take Chana’s Tefila as our model. Let us pour out our hearts to HaShem, begging Him to inscribe us in the book of life. And let us not forget to thank Him for everything we receive from Him.