Prayers Aloft

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While Hashem hears our prayers wherever we daven there’s something special about the ezras nashim on Yom Kippur — the feelings of camaraderie and community that flow as freely as the tears. Perhaps that’s why even during times when many women couldn’t read the words written in the machzor the ezras nashim was a cherished part of the shul. I still remember the tears. We were in the middle of Mussaf and my eyes were starting to close. Then I heard some someone sobbing her heart out as though she was crying over the loss of a close relation.

I quickly jerked opened my eyes and flipped through the pages of my machzor to find out where we were in the davening. We had already asked Hashem to remember us for life and said Unesaneh Tokef when everyone cries. What then had triggered this woman’s profound grief? When I found the place I stared at the page with disbelief.

Two of them who were the leaders of Israel were taken out first: Rabi Yishmael the Kohein Gadol and Rabi Shimon ben Gamliel the Nasi of Israel.

She was crying for the Asarah Harugei Malchus the Ten Martyrs! These were the close family members she was weeping over.