Rav Moshe Feinstein Zt’’l said (אגרות משה יו’’ד ח’’ג ע’’ו), “After all the efforts that parents put in to raising their children they must daven to Hashem that they should be successful and that their efforts bear fruits.”

The Gemara (ברכות לב) tells us that davening is one of four things that constantly need chizuk. The more important something is, the more the Yetzer Hora tries to prevent us from doing it properly. Chinuch Banim and davening for our children specifically are so important, the Yetzer Hora is always trying to get us to let it slide, and with our busy lives and responsibilities, sometimes we do. Therefore, we are launching an EPIC opportunity to remind parents to pause and contemplate our privilege and responsibility of parenting.

A famous story is told about the mother of the Chafetz Chaim. She was once asked what was the technique of her pedagogy that she had such a world-renowned Talmid Chacham  and Tzadik. She replied “It must have been that before my wedding my mother gave me a siddur and told me I should always daven for my children; and that is what I did. Whenever I had a chance I cried and davened to Hashem that my Yisroel Meir should be a Talmid Chacham and Tzadik.” (Her tear stains are still visible on the pages of her siddur.)

The Steipler Zt’’l was known to say that you see many times that from a simple house can come out a tremendous Talmid Chacham and Tzadik. This is because the person’s grandparents poured out her heart and cried to Hashem that they should merit to have children who are Talmid Chachamim and Tzadikim, and if it doesn’t help for their children  it will definitely help for their grandchildren.

Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan is truly an EPIC time for tefillah. As the Shelah Hakadosh writes, “We are obligated to daven for all of our needs since everything comes from Hashem. A person must be especially diligent and expeditious to daven that his children be upright and have all their needs met.”

Why Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan? The Shelah continues, “ …My heart tells me that the most appropriate time to daven for this is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan since we received the Torah in Sivan and we are called the Children of Hashem.”

A father listens to his children and we want to take advantage of Hashem (our father) listening to our tefilah. But it goes deeper than that. Sivan is the month that Hashem gave us the Torah and we became His children. By calling us his children it shows how much Hashem loves us and wants us to succeed. So we call out to Hashem, we also have children, who are also your children, please listen to our Teffilos and help them grow to be upright and succeed! At the time that you called us your children and you showed us how much you love us and want us to succeed, remember that now once again, show us your love and help us succeed!!

As parents we are our children’s advocates, the greatest act of advocacy that we can do is to daven for their success. The extra minutes parents put in today will empower their children for years to come. 

This is why Yedidim (a project of EPIC Families) is launching International Parenting Day. We are setting aside time to help us internalize our priorities towards our children and give us a chance to pause, calibrate, and prepare properly to harness the special koach of davening for our children on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan.

With a few minutes of inspiration from our speakers, Rabbi Nissan Kaplan and Rabbi Dovid Kaplan, and a special women’s only event with Rebbetzin Slovie Jungreis-Wolf and Rebbetzin Dina Schoonmaker,  we will be able to storm the heavens with our heartfelt tefilos and harness the tremendous power of the Tefilas Hashela together with parents from all around the world who are also taking advantage of this opportunity!

Every half hour, for 24 hours, no matter what time zone you are in in the world, join the tefillah now!

There is so much to daven for. Let us take advantage of this time and daven for our children’s hatzlacha, health, shalom, happiness, and zivug. Let’s daven that they should be upright people with outstanding middos with the fear and love of Hashem and whatever else they need. May Hashem answer all our tefillos with tremendous tova!

Let us harness this tremendous power of tefillah by spreading the word, sharing the link and inviting as many parents around the world to take advantage of this special time.

To join the video stream or to download a copy of Tefillas HaShlah,  go to https://yedidim.org/parentingday/ right now!