[Avodah] Praying to angels

[Richard Wolpoe]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 12:09 PM, Zev Sero <zev at sero.name> wrote:

> The problem with this is that mal'achim are not supposed to have
> bechira.  Indeed, the definition of shituf is the belief that the
> powers above, such as the sun and moon or the mal'achim, have the
> bechira not to convey Hashem's blessings to us, and therefore have
> to be cajoled, or even bribed, in order to do so, just as is the
> case with a king's ministers and servants.




> Zev, ditto.


Actaulyl we debated this. There are those who say taht mal'achim do NOT lakc
behira but lack a yetzer horo. So they have a choice, jsut that they will
never do anything BAD or out of a sense of temptation. In fact we see the
mal'achim beating Hashem re: the giving of thTorah nad the saving of Israel
at the yam Suf.  It is therefore not a lack of bechira but a lack of
temptation that sets them apart. A Mal'ach might refuse to send a prayer out
of asense of midas hadin jsut as Mal'achim opposed saving Israel [hallalu
ovdei AZ  v'chulei]  E.G. it says that G-d does not hear th eprayer of
someone wearing sha'atnexz, maybe this is the mal'ach's job is to block
certain tefillos as passul. But HKBH's middas Harachahhmim can over-ride
this at certain junctures.

So a Mal'ach can do not harm unless Hashem asks him to do harm, but a
Mal'ach might have bechira within certain parameters of yetzer tov.

However, it can STILL be assur to adress a Mal'ach even so. machnisei
Rachamim deals with this and see my apologetics for this point in my Avodah
Post of year 2000 and re-posted to Nishmalbog recently.



-- 
Gmar Chasima Tova
Best Wishes for the New Year 5769
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
see: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/
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