[Avodah] You can't make this stuff up!

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger quoted
> a group of notzrim looking to pray for financial success
> went to the famous statue at Bowling Green ...
> To quote, "We are going to intercede at the site of the
> statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a
> shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will
> be the 'Lion's Market,' or God's control over the
> economic systems."

There may have been more that was said there, but from just this quote, it is clear to me that their prayer was directed specifically to G-d, and not to the statue. They ascribe no power to the statue itself, and are only making a reference to what the statue represents.

To me, this sounds comparable to occasions when Jewish groups pray at the UN's Isaiah Wall, specifically because of the message that it bears. OTOH, granting importance to a statue may in itself be a violation of something; I'm not really up on my Hilchos Avodah Zara. (But if that is indeed a problem, we'd better stay away from the statue of Liberty.)

Akiva Miller


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