Question

Hello Rabbi, I heard and saw from you in several places that there is really no point, or perhaps it may even be forbidden, to pray for requests. The Rabbi brings a source for this from the Talmud, which says that it is forbidden to pray for the sex of the fetus to change after 40 days of pregnancy, because the sex has already been determined and therefore this is a prayer about the past. According to this, it would follow that if all of science today is deterministic, then it is impossible to ask for anything at all in prayer, because everything has already been determined. I don’t understand why the deterministic force applies apart from human choices, because for example, if I see a lion trying to prey on a deer, it is possible that the lion will succeed and possible that the deer will escape and it will not succeed. In such a case, one could pray for the lion’s success or for its failure. Why not? The same applies to the sex of the fetus before 40 days, when during that time there is supposedly a struggle over which chromosome will prevail. I would appreciate clarification, thank you. Hello Rabbi, I heard and saw from you in several places that there is really no point, or perhaps it may even be forbidden, to pray for requests. The Rabbi brings a source for this from the Talmud, which says that it is forbidden to pray for the sex of the fetus to change after 40 days of pregnancy, because the sex has already been determined and therefore this is a prayer about the past. According to this, it would follow that if all of science today is deterministic, then it is impossible to ask for anything at all in prayer, because everything has already been determined. I don’t understand why the deterministic force applies apart from human choices, because for example, if I see a lion trying to prey on a deer, it is possible that the lion will succeed and possible that the deer will escape and it will not succeed. In such a case, one could pray for the lion’s success or for its failure. Why not? The same applies to the sex of the fetus before 40 days, when during that time there is supposedly a struggle over which chromosome will prevail. I would appreciate clarification, thank you. Hello Rabbi, I heard and saw from you in several places that there is really no point, or perhaps it may even be forbidden, to pray for requests. The Rabbi brings a source for this from the Talmud, which says that it is forbidden to pray for the sex of the fetus to change after 40 days of pregnancy, because the sex has already been determined and therefore this is a prayer about the past. According to this, it would follow that if all of science today is deterministic, then it is impossible to ask for anything at all in prayer, because everything has already been determined. I don’t understand why the deterministic force applies apart from human choices, because for example, if I see a lion trying to prey on a deer, it is possible that the lion will succeed and possible that the deer will escape and it will not succeed. In such a case, one could pray for the lion’s success or for its failure. Why not? The same applies to the sex of the fetus before 40 days, when during that time there is supposedly a struggle over which chromosome will prevail. I would appreciate clarification, thank you. Hello Rabbi, I heard and saw from you in several places that there is really no point, or perhaps it may even be forbidden, to pray for requests. The Rabbi brings a source for this from the Talmud, which says that it is forbidden to pray for the sex of the fetus to change after 40 days of pregnancy, because the sex has already been determined and therefore this is a prayer about the past. According to this, it would follow that if all of science today is deterministic, then it is impossible to ask for anything at all in prayer, because everything has already been determined. I don’t understand why the deterministic force applies apart from human choices, because for example, if I see a lion trying to prey on a deer, it is possible that the lion will succeed and possible that the deer will escape and it will not succeed. In such a case, one could pray for the lion’s success or for its failure. Why not? The same applies to the sex of the fetus before 40 days, when during that time there is supposedly a struggle over which chromosome will prevail. I would appreciate clarification, thank you. Hello Rabbi, I heard and saw from you in several places that there is really no point, or perhaps it may even be forbidden, to pray for requests. The Rabbi brings a source for this from the Talmud, which says that it is forbidden to pray for the sex of the fetus to change after 40 days of pregnancy, because the sex has already been determined and therefore this is a prayer about the past. According to this, it would follow that if all of science today is deterministic, then it is impossible to ask for anything at all in prayer, because everything has already been determined. I don’t understand why the deterministic force applies apart from human choices, because for example, if I see a lion trying to prey on a deer, it is possible that the lion will succeed and possible that the deer will escape and it will not succeed. In such a case, one could pray for the lion’s success or for its failure. Why not? The same applies to the sex of the fetus before 40 days, when during that time there is supposedly a struggle over which chromosome will prevail. I would appreciate clarification, thank you.