תהלים, פרק ל״ה, פסוק י״ג

A profound gap often exists between the deep love a person offers and the bitter ingratitude they receive in return. When adversaries faced times of severe illness, distress, or war [מאירי], they were not met with vengeance, but with the devotion of a loyal friend. This empathy was so intense that it took a personal toll, a concept that leads the Sages to teach that a scholar must share in the sorrow of others to the point of feeling physically ill themselves [תורה תמימה].

During these difficult times, the response was akin to traditional mourning, complete with wearing sackcloth and fasting. This was not merely a random act of self-denial. Rather, by observing the specific, established fast day declared by the sick person's own relatives, the individual joined their ranks, acting exactly as if they were an immediate family member [רד״ק, אבן עזרא].

Yet, such selfless actions can easily be twisted by suspicion. The primary approach among commentators is that the individual had to clarify their intentions to fend off false accusations. Enemies might suspect that these secret prayers and fasts were actually malicious requests for their condition to worsen. To prove the absolute purity of their intentions, the individual openly asks that whatever good they requested for their enemies should be fulfilled for themselves.

The physical and emotional nature of this prayer is understood in several complementary ways. Some explain that the prayer was kept hidden deep within, offered in total privacy rather than as a public display of righteousness [מלבי״ם]. Alternatively, it describes a physical posture of deep submission, where the person bows so low that their face is directed downward toward their own chest [אבן עזרא]. The ongoing nature of this plea is also viewed through the lens of persistence, meaning the requests were offered time and time again [מלבי״ם, מאירי]. Conversely, another perspective suggests an immediate response from God, where the prayer was accepted and answered before it even left the person's heart [אלשיך].