אות - רלג

The Rebbe once spoke to one of his disciples about clothing.

He said, “You must pray for everything. If your garment is torn and must be replaced, pray to God for a new one. Do this for everything. Make it a habit to pray for all your needs, large or small.

“Your main prayers should be for fundamentals – that God help you in your devotion, that you be worthy of coming close to Him. Still, you should also pray even for these other things.

“God may give you food and clothing and everything else you need even though you do not ask for them. But then you are like an animal. God gives every living thing its bread (Psalms 147:9) without being asked. He can give it to you this way. But if you do not draw your life through prayer, it is like that of a beast. A man must draw all necessities of life from God through prayer alone.”

I once had a slight need for some insignificant thing. When I mentioned it to the Rebbe, he said, “Pray to God for it.”

I was quite astonished to learn that one must pray to God even for such trivial things, especially in a case like this where it was not even a necessity. Seeing my surprise, the Rebbe asked me, “Is it beneath your dignity to pray to God for a minor thing like this?”

He then told me a short story along similar lines, involving a man from Medzeboz. The main lesson is that you must pray for every single thing.This is also explained in Sefer HaMidot ( The Aleph-Bet Book , Prayer A37) .