Sanhedrin (44b) Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The verse should be understood in a slightly different manner: A person should always pray for mercy that all heavenly beings should strengthen his power of prayer, and that he should have no enemies causing him trouble in Heaven above.
Rashi (Sanhedrin 44b) לעולם יבקש אדם רחמים שיהו הכל מאמצים את כחו - שיסייעוהו מלאכי השרת לבקש
רחמים ושלא יהו לו מסטינים מלמעלה והכי משמע היערוך שועך אם באתה לערוך שועך כזאת
תערכהו לא בצר שלא יהו לך צרים ושהכל יהו במאמצי כחך:
Rashshash (Sanhedrin 44b) גמרא
לעולם יבקש אדם רחמים שיהו הכל מאמצין א"כ כו'. ועי' פירש"י. ומזה יש
ללמד זכות על פזמון דמלאכי רחמים וכו' חלו נא פני אל וכו' ונוסח מכניסי רחמים
הכניסו כו' וכיוצא באלו אשר רבים גמגמו עליהם. אך י"ל דהכא דוקא ביחיד וכמו
דמחלק הש"ס בסוטה (לג) ועי' באחרונים באו"ח ס"ס ק"א:
Yerushalmi (Brachos chapter 9:1) Rebbi Judan said in
his own name. Flesh and blood has a protector. If someone is in trouble, he
does not enter the protector’s place suddenly but rather stands at his door and
calls his slave or familiar and that one will say: the man X is standing at the
door of your courtyard. Maybe he will make him enter, maybe he will let him
stand. But the Holy One, praise to Him, is not like this: If a human is in
trouble, he should cry neither to Michael nor to Gabriel, rather he should cry
to Me and I shall answer him immediately; that is what is written (Joel
3:5): “Every one who calls on. The sentence is slightly ambiguous; one could
also translate “who invokes the Name”; that is the meaning given to the verse
in the next paragraph. the name of the Eternal will escape.”
I've never been comfortable with those last few paragraphs in Selichos or the folks who go and "betten" at graves of tzadikim. If God is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-present then how is an intermediary any use? If I go, for example, to Uman or Lizhensk and beg either of those Rebbes, neither of whom ever met me, to intercede with God on my behalf, how will that change anything when He is personally keeping track of me and waiting for my direct connection?
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