Q&A: If I understand correctly, the Rabbi doesn’t believe that God is very involved in this world—so why does he pray to Him if He’s not involved?
If I understand correctly, the Rabbi doesn’t believe that God is very involved in this world—so why does he pray to Him if He’s not involved?
Question
If I understand correctly, the Rabbi doesn’t believe that God is very involved in this world—so why does he pray to Him if He’s not involved?
Answer
You can search the site for my view on the meaning of prayer.
Discussion on Answer
See, for example, column 280 and the end of 298. You can search the site generally about the meaning of prayer, and specifically about requests.
i was reading but i dont feel like u are answering this question
I definitely answered it there and in other places as well. I said that one should not rule out sporadic involvement by the Holy One, blessed be He, and therefore there is no justification for changing the prayer text (since something established by a quorum requires another quorum to permit changing it). Therefore, one should have in mind those who are in a situation with no natural solution, and hope that perhaps sometimes they will be answered. In any case, I would not pray beyond the fixed prayers except in hopeless cases.
Beyond the request itself, there is praise and thanksgiving, and I explained those. Praise is not problematic at all, and thanksgiving for a miracle is only an opportunity for us to give thanks for the world and everything in it.
I looked at a couple of your posts. If I understand correctly, your answer seems to suggest the opposite—that it’s not really going to help. So why do we pray? Why do we ask God to heal us ("Heal us") or provide us with livelihood ("Bless this year for us")? I'm specifically referring to the Shemoneh Esrei (Amidah) prayer