Q&A: Why Prayers Are Not Accepted
Why Prayers Are Not Accepted
Question
Hello Rabbi,
For years I have been thinking about a possible explanation for why our prayers are not accepted (without special reinterpretations, like saying it will help next time).
In ancient times, thinking was very mixed together with imagination, so a prayer that was accepted did not upset the balance of free choice; therefore prayers were accepted more often, and yet to an observer it still would not really have looked like an overt miracle.
By contrast, in our times, when the intellectual distinction between imagination and reality is very clear, if some prayer were accepted it would look like an actual overt miracle and would cancel out the power of free choice.
What do you think of this idea?
Answer
Possibly. But the opposite explanation is also possible: because that intermingling diminished, the distinction between imagination and reality became sharper (scientific thinking). And of course it is also possible that neither is correct. I have no way of knowing which of the explanations is right.
I have suggested in the past that this is a policy of the Holy One, blessed be He, to withdraw from the world, the way a parent withdraws from supervising a child who is growing up.
Discussion on Answer
🙂
I'm not sure that's my heart's desire.
I certainly do not think this can be verified one way or the other with scientific (philosophical) tools, but it fits very well for me with the principle that the Holy One, blessed be He, minimizes doing overt miracles.
The difficulty with your suggestion is that our heart's desire is to return to the mode of divine governance that existed in the time of the prophets. (That is the conventional way of thinking, although personally I am almost convinced that our condition, which can be defined as knowledge, is greater than that of the prophets, whose prophecy was more vague.)
And let us end with a joke:
According to what I said, it turns out there is a wonderful charm for having prayers accepted, namely, to blur the line between imagination and reality—and indeed many have done so and were saved.
Have a happy and kosher holiday (including legumes).