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What is the logic in prayer?

שו”תCategory: philosophyWhat is the logic in prayer?
asked 9 years ago

Quite often, a person’s prayer comes in response to suffering that he has experienced or in order to prevent future suffering. I asked what the logic is in prayers of this type? After all, God created the world so that humans would experience all kinds of experiences in it, and suffering is one of them. If someone prays that God would save him from his suffering, he is actually asking God to do something against His original will (that humans would experience suffering, among other things). In other words, I assume that God had some reason why He created the world with all kinds of seeds of suffering that were not for us, that is, it is part of His will. So, what is the logic in asking God to do something against His will?


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מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago
Hello Oren. Some will tell you that He created suffering so that we would pray (God desires the prayers of the righteous), and therefore there is no problem in praying and removing the suffering. Alternatively, after we have prayed, we no longer deserve the suffering. But all of this is not necessary in my opinion. I don’t think He intervenes in the world today, so in my opinion there is really no point in praying for it (except in extreme cases where He may intervene. But it is not worth building on it). At the same time, from the same perspective, it is incorrect to say that He wants us to suffer. This is a side effect of the laws of nature. —————————————————————————————— Asker (another): Hello Rabbi, I saw that in the Rabbi’s reply he wrote that he does not believe in a major intervention by God in the world, and I wanted to ask why the Rabbi thinks so? And doesn’t this contradict the rule that everything God does is for the good, which clearly stems from the assumption that everything that happens in the world is a derivative of God’s will, and there are many other sources in the Gemara that indicate that God directs everything in our world… —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: Sources in the Gemara are also necessary, since the Gemara has no authority on intellectual matters, only on Halacha. Intellectual matters usually deal with factual claims and not norms, and the Sages, as human beings, could make mistakes in their understanding of reality. But the Torah itself speaks of this (and I will give you your rains in their season, etc.). I have already written on my website more than once that this practice has apparently changed, and just as miracles and prophecy have disappeared, so too has the Holy One’s involvement in the world. He is disconnecting himself from us. See here:
חיפוש אחר אלוהים בעולם
In my book on theology (currently being written) I expand on this matter greatly. —————————————————————————————— Yair: Doesn’t this contradict a lot of things in Judaism?
-In the Bible, they prayed for healing.
-In prayer, in many places, people pray for healing for all the sick.
-The Gemara says that they prayed about it.
-“Let him not withhold mercy” —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: I’ve answered this here several times already. I’ll copy here an answer I wrote just today to the same question (which is completely contradictory):
Sources in the Gemara are also necessary, since the Gemara has no authority on intellectual matters, only on Halacha. Intellectual matters usually deal with factual claims and not norms, and the Sages, as human beings, could make mistakes in their understanding of reality. But the Torah itself speaks of this (and I will give you your rains in their season, etc.). I have already written on my website more than once that this practice has apparently changed, and just as miracles and prophecy have disappeared, so too has the Holy One’s involvement in the world. He is disconnecting himself from us. See here:
חיפוש אחר אלוהים בעולם
In my book on theology (currently being written) I expand on this matter greatly. —————————————————————————————— Yair: As someone who wants to receive your answer, how am I supposed to continue coming to synagogue and praying and following a renewed worldview that says that God probably won’t do anything with the sick person I’m praying for or the livelihood I’m asking for, etc.? —————————————————————————————— Rabbi: Hello Yair.
First, to accept or not to accept my answer is not a question of will (do you want to accept it or not), but of conviction and thought. If you agree – accept, and if not – do not accept. If you have come to the conclusion that this is indeed the correct picture, the question of the meaning of the prayer may arise.
I also deal with this in my aforementioned book. In short, I say that the part beyond requests is not problematic. Even confessions can be made for the creation of the world and its laws that allow us to function here. The problematic part is requests. Here I would really be very minimal, and focus only on the mandatory wording that the people of the NWO established (which would be difficult to change, and can be adjusted for the people who need it. See below) and not on personal requests. Personal requests have a place, perhaps, in cases where all extremism has been exhausted (there is no natural solution) or when it is very, very important to you. As I mentioned, there are situations in which He may indeed intervene (I don’t know), and perhaps that is something that can be requested. But as I said, don’t base your decision on that. In my opinion, it is usually not answered (as it has been said: a prayer that returns empty is presumed. Sorry for the cynicism).
This is of course contrary to the conventional education that requires asking for everything, and everything depends on it. On the contrary, we are taught not to turn to it only when we are exhausted all summer, but for everything. So that’s what I think, no.

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