Q&A: The Rabbi’s Logic
The Rabbi’s Logic
Question
Hello Rabbi,
The main argument in your books, as I understand it, for observing the commandments is that if there is a God, then He must give us instructions for how to act—and from there the logical path is that our Torah is true.
Regarding prayer, you make two claims:
A) God almost never intervenes at all, except in rare cases.
B) According to the Sages, it is forbidden to pray for miracles, and according to scientific knowledge this includes every request we make in prayer, such as for healing.
From this you conclude that, in your view, one should not pray, and you only continue doing so because you lack the authority to make changes.
But I think that even if the logic is correct, this is self-defeating. How could the Holy One, blessed be He, have led us astray for at least hundreds of years into praying the Amidah? This is not a mistake in some marginal matter, but in the very core of our service of God. If you claim that it is reasonable that the religion is true (at least in some of its parts) because God must give us a guide for what to do in the world, how can you simultaneously claim that when it comes to prayer He simply let us be mistaken and did not guide us until you came along?
With great respect,
Yair
Answer
That is not a fully accurate formulation of my position. My claim is that if God created the world, then He presumably expects something of us, and therefore it is to be expected that He would give us instructions about what to do.
And regarding prayer, that is also not precise. My claim is that there is no ongoing involvement, and perhaps none at all. But I am not certain of that, and therefore I have no basis for canceling the Sages’ enactment of prayer. If I were convinced that there is no involvement, I would not make requests in prayer (the other parts of the prayer do not require assuming divine involvement). Authority cannot force me to mumble words I do not believe in.
You are deciding that prayer is the very core of the service of God. I know that this is a common view, but I completely disagree with it. Prayer is in any case a rabbinic enactment (and even according to Maimonides, who holds that it is Torah-level, this refers to some form of prayer without any specific definition per day).
And even if you were right about everything, the Holy One, blessed be He, is not causing us to stumble. We are causing ourselves to stumble. We insist on remaining with old conceptions that are already known to be false. That is entirely our fault. Do you expect Him to save us from ourselves? He even allows us to sin and does not save us from that.