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Prayer

שו"ת › Prayer
0 תן קול הסר קול
שאל לפני 9 שנים

Hello Rabbi, I want to thank you for agreeing to listen to what is going through my mind. I want to warn the Rabbi that sometimes what I will bring up will be anti-emotional that developed as a result of the yeshiva and the crisis of trust that I have with Judaism and not an argument for the matter. I apologize for that in advance.

I have many questions that started in yeshiva and only multiplied when I started at the Technion. Today I no longer know the validity of the miracles that happened to Israel, especially the event at Mount Sinai, whether it really happened, what is unique about the Tanakh (isn't it simply the first book that gained a lot of sympathy), whether it is a historical or religious book, why do I have to obey the halakha, why do I have to demand that others obey the halakha.

For all these questions, I lack the historical and scientific background (for example, the Big Bang or Darwin's theory and its effects on Judaism. Or in the Gemara on Shabbat there is a discussion about lice that are created by sweat and a scientific discovery that refutes it. What I remember is that one should listen to religion because there is a chance that science will come up with an opposite theory in a few years. Even when I was in yeshiva, I thought this was a bad reason) to answer them, and the questions are growing at a faster rate than the rate of my book reading, and the pressure of the Technion is not helping. If you could refer me to the appropriate books, I would be happy. The last book I read that really disturbed me was The History of Humanity by Yuval Noah Harari. The questions that arose are – is our religion true? Why is the Jewish people special? Is it special? (The fact that we remained separate from other nations is supposed to indicate something? Read in some book that there is historical evidence of the separation of the people of Israel that the religion is true. Even if that is true, what did people do in the first generations, when there was no history yet?) Isn't our religion essentially just another culture among many?

For some reason, I'm not annoyed with the belief that there is a God in the world.

I'll start with the first question, which came to me back in the yeshiva, and that evening you arrived at the yeshiva, I asked you – What is the place of prayer? What does it help with? I don't think I'm a good enough lawyer to convince the Kabbalah, who knows everything about me, to do me a favor and fulfill my request. Even if I were good enough, why would He do that?

I read some answers on the subject, some who said that the prayer was defined so that the Kabba would answer anyone who said this phrase and that the Kabba wants our prayers. This just sounds completely narcissistic on the part of the Kabba and I find it hard to accept. There were those who said that the person redefines themselves and the decree that was on them before will not apply to the new person created by the prayer. I didn't connect with that either.

When I heard that there were opinions that said that praying was like reading a phone book, I generally considered it a waste of time.

What do you think about the topic?

thanks.

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0 Answers
0 תן קול הסר קול
מיכי צוות ענה לפני 9 שנים
Hello X. There are a lot of questions in your words, and as you suggested, we will begin the discussion with the last one you brought up for discussion. This one also contains several questions. I will discuss them briefly because it is difficult to write so much. My starting point is that God's providence does not generally exist in our time. The world, as it is, operates according to the laws of nature. There are many reasons and arguments for this view, but it seems completely simple to me. If someone takes paracetamol, their fever will go down even if they are a criminal, and if they do not take paracetamol, it will not go down even if they are not a criminal. When we observe nature, we do not see any deviation from the laws of nature, nor does it see any dependence of nature on our spiritual state. In general, in the scientific view, the laws of nature are the causes of what happens, but a cause by definition is a sufficient condition for the surrounding. So if the necessary conditions are met, the result will occur regardless of my spiritual state. And if they are not met, then it will not occur, and that too regardless of my spiritual state. It is possible that there are exceptions, that is, points where God nevertheless intervenes. But even if this happens (I don't know), it is something very sporadic and rare. I wouldn't count on it. The Torah's description of our situation depending on the commandments (if you do my commandments, etc.) is, in my understanding, a description of the situation in ancient times when there was prophecy and miracles and visible providence. Today, this has changed, and providence has also disappeared (and rightly so. It did not become hidden, but it does not exist). People find it difficult to accept this, but everyone agrees about prophecy and miracles. So why not providence? After all, every event of providence is an intervention by God, in other words, a deviation from the laws of nature, in other words, a miracle (talk about providence within nature is complete nonsense on a logical level. There is no such animal: every intervention is a miracle. A hidden miracle is at most a miracle that we do not notice, but a miracle is always a deviation from the laws of nature). So if miracles have disappeared, so has providence. And simple. And hence to prayer. It has several parts (both in the prayer itself and in its goals and direction): confession, praise, request, connection with God, the Almighty, and standing before Him. The request is intended for Him to intervene in my favor, that is, to perform a miracle. I only do this in a place where there is no natural way out, and even then I don't count on it being answered. As mentioned, in most cases this doesn't happen. But you can try. I am not acting as an advocate when I convince him, but rather I am making an act of connection with him that will cause him to intervene in my favor. Some have explained that I change with prayer and then I deserve intervention. This is roughly what I am suggesting here (with minor differences. I am not talking about actual changes that occur to me as a result of prayer). He is worthy of praise. If he doesn't intervene, then what is the praise for? But here there is a difference. After all, he created us and the laws of nature, and therefore he is in fact responsible for everything that happens here. He is praised for that. That actually seems fine to me. Beyond all, there is the standing before Him. Without prayer facilities, we would not do it (it is difficult to do this spontaneously). Therefore, there is a kind of skeleton here for our religious life. Think about it, you will see that without it they would not exist. Therefore, even if the Sages thought that prayer was beneficial and led to intervention, and some of them (certainly not all) thought that everything depended on God and His providence, they were wrong about this. Just as they were wrong about many other things (in reality, in Halacha, and in thought). But this regulation is still valid for two reasons: 1. Formally, as long as the law is not changed, it is the law. A regulation that is void of its own accord needs a court to nullify it, and we do not have one today. 2. The need for a framework for standing before God, and so on. Even if this was not the original intention of the Sages themselves. Leibowitz's formulation as if there is a rule here to say phone book is aimed at this perception, but as usual he takes it to too great an extreme (Leibowitz's problem is that most of his arguments are correct, and he always continues them beyond their validity. He takes them to an extreme that makes them foolish). Goodbye, Michi By the way, for this reason I use the prayers on Shabbat (which are long and annoying) to read and study. It turns out to be very useful. I don't cancel them and say what is necessary (at least what is halachically obligatory), but at the same time, without any qualms of conscience, I use the time and so on. This is the explanation for the proliferation of leaflets in the synagogues, and therefore they are unable to deal with the phenomenon (even though it involves several prohibitions). The only reason why people read these nonsense (most of them) is boredom. It's just that people don't admit it outright. I would significantly shorten the prayer, but I wouldn't eliminate it because you need a framework for standing before God (see previous email).

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