Prayer and Providence

Thank you very much for the answers, and for the speed.

This is my prayer from a philosophical perspective. From an experiential perspective, I don’t look at it that way; during prayer I pray in such a way that I believe that what I ask for will happen. What changes here for me is what I feel. Like R’ Hasdai Karshakash who claims a deterministic view on the subject of providence but says that we choose how to feel about the thing that happens to us or the thing that we do.
How do you see prayer?

Rabbi Karshakash is very strange in many ways. First of all, the way we relate to things is also a kind of (mental) event in the world, and therefore according to him, God knows this in advance. So what was the use of his whole method?
And in general, I do not accept a demand to work on myself, and/or to say things that are not true for various reasons.
I have a serious problem with some of the requests in prayer, and I turn them over to those who are in special need, perhaps God will intervene in their favor. I am all island and maybe.

Of course, I also have this question about R’ Hasdai Karshakash.
I am aware that in some way I am “working on myself”, and it doesn't matter to me in the slightest in terms of religious experience. I am unable to live only according to the analytical (and it's not that I am unable to live like that because reason tells me so, but that's how I feel). It's clear to me that it doesn't work for you, and that, for example, the conversation that followed you yesterday didn't touch you at all (nor me), but for me it feels empty.

I am not arguing about anything in the therapeutic realm. A person can do what is beneficial to him, however strange it may be. But prayer is not here.
If you go one step further, you could say that faith is also actually a kind of therapy because it is convenient for you (and not because you really believe in it).

Why is it possible to say, as Isaiah Leibowitz did in his article on prayer?
Because we were commanded.

http://www.leibowitz.co.il/leibararticles.asp?id=1

Rabbi, you claim that “there is no way but to conclude that the Holy One's policy has changed”
In my opinion, it is a grave mistake to say so because in this claim we sin by personifying God. At the same time as I write these words, the words of Maimonides” in the Torah Foundations “and He does not change, for He has nothing that can cause Him to change”
This does not mean that God is some fixed object. Rather, it means that the concept of change, as well as the concept of fixation, belong to humanity, which is related to a body and a psychophysical system that is fixed or changing.

Therefore, the concept of a changing policy only applies to psychophysical creation in nature.

To Neria,

Because, as I wrote above, according to Leibowitz, prayer is a meaningless mantra. He suggests saying words whose content is a request from God, even though we understand that the requests will not be answered. This is a lie. He can indeed suggest doing this even though there is no content to the prayer, just because of the authority of the Sages who determined that one must pray, but this is not giving content to the prayer but suggesting saying it even without content. However, specifically with regard to prayer, this is also problematic, since prayer is a commandment of speech, and speech is not merely moving the lips, but moving the lips that expresses content. If I do not intend to express content, then I do not speak, and in any case I do not pray.
And these are the words of Chazal on the 7th day of the month of Juma:

When Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "Why is it called the name of the men of the great assembly who restored the crown to its former glory?" Moses said, "The great God is mighty and awesome." Jeremiah said, "Foreigners who cry out in His temple, where are His terrors?" He did not say, "Terrible." Daniel said, "Foreigners who enslave their sons, where are His mighty acts?" He did not say, "Strong with Him, is He?" They said, "On the contrary, this is the greatness of His mighty acts, who conquers His inclinations, who gives long-suffering to the wicked, and these are His terrible acts." If it were not for the fear of the Holy One, blessed be He, how could one nation exist among the nations? And our rabbis, you are my servants, the most righteous and upright, Moses, said, "Rabbi Elazar, out of the knowledge of the Holy One, blessed be He, that He is true, therefore they did not deceive Him."

And carefully.

As for your second question, there is no difficulty in this. He also changed his policy in that the miracles disappeared and prophecy disappeared. His providence changes over the years, whether you like it or not. And if for some reason you are bothered by changes in him (a question that doesn't bother me as much as a garlic peel) you can always say that this was his plan all along.

Everyone who asks for his friend – will be answered first.
Behold, I will do all your works, at that time; and I will save the lame, and I will gather the driven, and you will become a name and a name, in all the land of your shame. At that time I will bring you, and at the time I will gather you.
In that day, says the Lord, the lame will be gathered, and the driven, I will gather; and as for me, I will destroy. And I will make the lame a remnant, and the exile a great nation; and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from now on and forever.
I did not understand Mr. A’ the words of R’ Hasdai Karshakash, then what does it matter how we feel about what we do or what happens to us - what is it supposed to express? Do our feelings change anything? What?
The prayer should be in such a way that it reflects your specific desires for the purpose of doing His will, may He be blessed. And then so that you feel better and money and all that and all the materialism.
The blessing of healing is special because it includes the health of the body and soul, because without the health of the soul how will we worship Him (and worship Him with a whole heart and a willing soul) desire for what? Desire to do His will, may He be blessed.
Regarding the blessing of rain, it is a matter of And I will give you rain in its season, i.e. at the right time in the right amount. And not so that we can invent things and all, if we were closer to Him and do His will in a more “loving” way like Abraham our father, then His providence, may He be blessed, would be stronger over us and the fall on the Lord your God and everything would be fine.

To the rabbi,
But I really don't take this step, but rather believe philosophically. Maybe I also know the contribution of religion and faith to humanity, but that's not what leads me to hold on to this belief.

If I believe on a principled level that my prayer can be accepted, arouse God's mercy, and change something in reality? Yes. If I think it will happen? Not really.
But isn't there something in Chazal's perception of prayer that puts me in a state of surrender and standing in the face of infinity? Wasn't that one of their goals, that we feel some kind of dependence, and not even just on a therapeutic level?

Faith was just an example that came to illustrate the difference between psychological “therapy” claims and factual claims. You did not claim that your faith is therapy, but rather I illustrated to you the meaning of your perception of prayer if you apply it to faith.

I do not know what it means to believe that it can happen but not think that it will happen. It is clear that God can answer, and that He has the power to deviate from the laws of nature. But if you do not think that He will do so, then your prayer is not prayer. A person does not ask when he knows that he will not be answered.

Regarding surrender and standing before infinity, I was talking about this therapy. You say words that you do not intend to (because you think that your requests will not be answered) in order to create an experience of standing before infinity and surrender, etc. If it is beneficial to you (which I do not understand how it is possible, by saying words that you know are not true) – for your health. Prayer is not. Their goal may have been to reach surrender and stand before infinity, but the way to get there is through prayer from the perception that you are indeed in the hands of the Almighty (because that is how they understood reality). Once that has changed, I would recommend that you study physics or biology (as Maimonides says in the Torah Foundations), it leads to much more surrender and stand before infinity than mumbling words you don't believe in as a kind of mantra.

I don't think he will do this because it is not God's way to be convinced by every crisis I have. But I do pray that he will hear me, with complete faith that he can.

But no matter, we are repeating the same point.

And indeed, from the slight touch I have in these areas, I perceive the greatness of God.