Menashe Accuses Yeshayahu HaNavi of False Prophecy

A passage of Talmud in Yevamos (49b) relates an incident that occurred between Yeshaya HaNavi and his evil grandson King Menashe. King Menashe accused his grandfather Yeshaya HaNavi of being a false prophet and thereby deserving of the death penalty. One of his contentions was that it says in the Torah (Devarim 4:7) “For which is a great nation that has a G-d Who is close to it, as is Hashem, our God, whenever we call to Him?” Yet Yeshaya HaNavi stated (55:6) “Seek out Hashem when he can be found.” The implication of the latter verse is that there are only certain times that prayer is appropriate, whereas the first verse indicates that we may always call out to Hashem in prayer. Menashe reasoned that since Yeshaya HaNavi contradicted the pasuk in the Torah, he was a false prophet. Yeshaya knew that Menashe would not accept his answer in any case, so he didn’t offer one. Instead, he chose to flee. The Gemara does provide us with the resolution. Prayer is always appropriate. However, a communal prayer has increased effectiveness. That is true throughout the year. An individual prayer, on the other hand, only has that same increased effectiveness during the Ten Days of Repentance. Those ten days are such an auspicious time that even prayers recited individually are powerful enough to abolish an evil decree.