Prayers, Tears and Feelings can have considerable cosmic influence
- If Noah had asked G-d for mercy, there would have been no flood (Kedushat Levi : Noach, first article)
- On three occasions G-d accedes to Moses’ requests not to destroy Israel (Exodus 32, Numbers 14, Numbers 16)
- Jeremiah tells the exiles: If you had cried even once in Zion, you would not have been exiled (Midrash Tehilim 137:1)
- Rabbi Meir’s prayer leads to the repentance of criminals (Babylonian Talmud, Brachot 10a)
- Rabbi Eliezer’s sorrow about being shunned wreaks destruction, which is only contained by Raban Gamliel’s prayer. (Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metziah 59b)
- “The blessing of an ordinary person should not be taken lightly…The curse of an ordinary person should not be taken lightly” (Babylonian Talmud, Megilah 15a)
- The unintended tear of a neglected wife leads to the death of her husband (Babylonian Talmud, Ketuvot 62b)
- “For the upper world is not stirred to act until an impulse is given from the lower world.” (Zohar, Lech Lecha, 77b)
- The deeds or repentance of an individual may save the whole world from destruction (Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Hilkhot Teshuvah, 3:3-4; Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 40b).
- “One tear, one prayer can change the course of events.” (The Baal Shem Tov, see Eli Wiesel, Souls on Fire, p. 26)