Torah: Tetzaveh – Inscribing each other’s fears & hopes on our hearts

The great Hassidic Rabbi Judah Zvi of Stretin (1780-1844) was once asked how he was able to remember the seemingly endless requests for prayers on behalf of the hundreds of supplicants who flocked to him weekly. How could he recall each and every concern to accurately enumerate them in his prayers to God? The Rebbe answered that for each person, for each request, he opens-up his heart and carves a special scar to reflect that person’s pain. And when he prayed, he would simply bear his scarred heart, the detailed engravings of the agma’at nefesh, the suffering of His children to God.