What happens to our faith when our most heartfelt prayers go unanswered? Rabbi Oren Hayon explores Moses’ 515 prayers to enter the Promised Land and God’s painful “no.” Drawing on midrash, the movie Bruce Almighty, and Stephen Colbert’s reflections on grief, Rabbi Hayon invites us to see prayer not as a machine for granting wishes, but as a way of staying in relationship with a God who sometimes refuses our requests. At the center of that relationship is the Sh’ma, a call not to ask more loudly, but to listen more deeply, even in the silence that follows a denied prayer. Even when the answer is “no,” the bond between God and the Jewish people holds fast, and the Sh’ma remains our most precious declaration of belonging. Watch and reflect with us on how unanswered prayers can still lead to comfort, covenant, and connection.