[Avodah] effects of religous worship on health

[Arie Folger]

On Monday 08 December 2008 22:46:46 Micha Berger wrote:
> I suggest people read RAF's blog entry (and not simply because he quotes
> me) about tefillos that don't seem to get answered.

Thank you for the honour - I never expected such an extensive treatment.

> I disagree with his playing fown the role of simply turning to Abba.
> Extrapolating from the Gra, I formulated Jewish prayer as being three
> distinct mitzvos:
>     - qeri'as Shema
>     - tefillah -- the reflexive, hitpa'el, of lehispallel, that RAF
>       describes
>     - tachanunim -- the raw crying out to one's Father, to the Beloved,
>       when in pain. As in those books of Yiddish techines many of our
>       grandmothers had. Or "kol ha'oseh tefillaso qeva, lo asa tefilaso
>       tachanunim."

The issue I addressed is prayers for a particular outcome - for instance, on 
behalf of the Mumbai hostages who were subsequently murdered. Your comments 
do not address that kind of prayer. However, you are right that prayer need 
not be limited to Rav Chaim Volozhin's model. One could imagine it coexisting 
with tachanunim.

Krias Shma', OTOH, I do not consider to be a prayer. I tend to call it 
"letting G"d speak to you through your vocal chords." We hear the Shma' (which 
we pronounce - mashmi'a leoznav), we do not address G"d with it, but 
ourselves.

One more comment, which deserves its own essay: IIRC Rav M. Broyde once wrote 
an essay about the meaning of the abbreviation 'ayin he, which, as the author 
claims, isn't 'alav hashalom, an expression that comes from Arabic (and 
therefore, Arabs), but 'eved haShem. Calling one an 'eved haShem is according 
to IIRC the 'Hizquni, the greatest praise one can heap upon a human being.

In that sense, I do not consider that stressing prayer as service of G"d is 
stressing the ka'avadim of the Hayom harat 'olam text. There, 'avadim means 
those who are lowly servants utterly dependent upon the undeserved grace of 
their master, as opposed to children, who are right at home in the palace and 
are being treated mercifully on account of being children. Here, 'eved is 
almost like a close confidant, almost a friend. (I say almost, because 
obviously, our relationship with HQBH cannot be one of equals. For a lack of a 
better word, I used confidant and friend, but these words are obviously found 
lacking)

Kol tuv,
-- 
Arie Folger
http://ariefolger.wordpress.com
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com