I am arguing that even when He was involved, it may still have been a divine need—that is, a divine need for people to pray. I do not understand what that need is—bringing Him satisfaction, I don’t know what—just as I do not understand, regarding all the commandments, what that divine need is because of which the Holy One, blessed be He, wants us, say, to put on tefillin.
And indeed, in the past God answered prayers, but that was not the main point. It wasn’t that prayers were a tool for obtaining things, but rather some kind of divine need that people ask and pray. And that need remains even today, although in reality prayers are not answered. (It seems to me that Rabbi Shimshon Pincus says, regarding Onkelos’s translation of “a speaking spirit,” that rain did not come down until man prayed for it, because God “needs” the prayers…)
What do you think?

With God’s help, 4 Nisan 5782

To Simcha—greetings,

Even if God does not answer a person’s prayer, a person should not lose hope. So many Jews prayed to return to Zion, and it seemed that God did not answer, and only individuals managed to go up to the Land. But the constant prayer kept the people from sinking into despair; hope was not lost, and therefore when “a window of opportunity opened,” many were found who ascended with self-sacrifice and little by little increased the Jewish settlement in the Land.

“To pray” means “to hope,” so “to pray” means “to fill oneself with hope,” “to be charged with hope,” and not for nothing is a significant part of the prayer devoted to the request for redemption and the revival of the nation, and afterward to accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven universally: “and all the living shall thank You forever,” following which there will be peace for the people and for the world.

We ask for things far, far off—and the Holy One, blessed be He, “causes salvation to sprout” little by little, in accordance with the progress of the people and the world, which usually does not come in giant leaps. Persistence in prayer for distant goals spurs the person praying to act in that direction. And when a person acts, God “helps, saves, and shields.”

With blessings, Yiftach Lahad Argamon-Bakshi

And the tefillin you mentioned are also meant to be a “sign” of the mission of the people and of God’s kindness toward them, and as “frontlets” as a sign of honor, in the way the diadems worn by the kings of Egypt signified nobility that obligates.

Man has a higher need to worship idolatry.
Prayer in place of sacrifices.
Sacrifices in place of idolatry.

Simcha, I don’t understand. Are you suggesting that we say words we do not mean because the Holy One, blessed be He, wants us to mutter? He could have had us recite the phone book (as in Leibowitz’s example). Jewish law says that prayer requires intention, including intention regarding the meaning of the words. What exactly can one intend when making a request that we know will not be answered and do not intend to be answered?
The question is not what the purpose of prayer is. It is certainly possible that it has additional purposes beyond having requests answered. But still, if the wording of the prayer is a request, a request presupposes an answer. Without that, there is nothing to ask for.

To Rabbi M.A.—greetings,

A “request,” by virtue of being a “request,” assumes both the possibility that the one being asked will comply and the possibility that he will not comply. Moses our teacher prayed 515 prayers and was not answered, while Lot made an improper request for the saving of Zoar and was answered. The Holy One, blessed be He, has His own system of considerations…

With blessings, Y.L.A.B.

And there are requests that are answered after hundreds and thousands of years, such as Rachel’s prayer for her exiled children, of which only in our own generations have we begun to see that “the children shall return to their own border.”

Lot’s prayer regarding Zoar did not take into account at all that Abraham knew that fewer than nine righteous people cannot save a city. And Lot and his two daughters save Zoar; even Lot’s prayer was improper, since the angel had promised him that he would not overturn the cities until he reached a safe place in the mountain.

It seems that prayer from the depths of the heart, even without logic and without many merits, can “break the rules.” All the more so when the “rule” is: “He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them,” and all the more so in our generation, when we see the realization of the prayers of the generations for the return to Zion and the revival of the nation.

With blessings, Y.L.A.B.

Obviously.

Yiftach Lahad, I love the things you write, here and elsewhere. Thank you very much!! Please don’t hold back your pen from writing. And of course you too are wonderful, Rabbi Abraham.