Then Their Cry Rose up to Hashem

Shabbos Stories for Parsha Shemos

וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל־הָאֱלֹקִים

"And their cry rose up to Hashem.”

When the Beis Aharon (June 6, 1802 – June 23, 1872), of holy memory, moved from Karlin to Stolin, the Chassidim undertook to rebuild and expand their own shul. In the interim, they davened in the city synagogue, using the Karliner nusach, with loud and impassioned voices, as was their custom.

One of the synagogue’s gabbaim approached the Alter Rebbe, the Beis Aharon, and said:“If the Chassidim do not stop shouting during davening and making such a commotion with their voices, I will no longer allow them to enter the shul—because I am in charge here.”

The Alter Rebbe, of blessed memory, replied:“You are the gabbai in the shul only up to the roof. But the Chassidim’s davening rises higher than the roof—it breaks through all the way to Heaven, as it says, ‘And their cry rose up to G-d.’ And there, you are no longer in charge.”

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וַיֵּאָנְחוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָה וַיִּזְעָקוּ וַתַּעַל שַׁוְעָתָם אֶל־הָאֱלֹקִים מִן־הָעֲבֹדָה

As the holy Rebbe, Rabbi Yochanan of Stolin–Karlin, of saintly and blessed memory, explained concerning this pasuk:

“ ‘And the Children of Israel groaned because of the avodah’—the avodah refers to tefillah, prayer, as Chazal teach: avodah shebalev zu tefillah.

‘And the Children of Israel groaned because of the avodah’—meaning, they davened with geshmak, with feeling and emotion. And yet, it did not help.

Why? Because it still had to be ‘vayiz’aku’—that they let out a true cry. Only when there was a genuine cry, from the depths of the heart, was it fulfilled:

‘Vata’al shav’asam el ha’Elokim’—then their cry rose up to Hashem.”