[Avodah] Praying to angels

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Dov Kay _dov_kay at hotmail.co.uk_ (mailto:dov_kay at hotmail.co.uk) 

>>As  we get stuck into our Selichos, I was wondering what listmembers do 
about the  selichos which involve petitioning things/entities other than G-d, eg 
machnisei  rachamim, the pizmon of the 13 middos, in which we petition the 
middas  horachamim of HKBH....  I, on the one hand, have R. Toby Katz's 
accusation  of arrogance ringing in my ears.  On the other hand, I have my Goldschmidt  
edition of the selichos, which quotes both the Rambam and Ramban decrying the 
 practice of davening to angels.... 
 
 
>>>>>
To avoid any problem of "arrogance" or of being  disrespectful to prominent 
rabbanim and poskim who do say these  Selichos, aseh lecha rav -- ask a shaila 
of an actual rav whom you respect and  whose psak you are prepared to abide by.

 


As for the question of praying to angels, I know that this has been  
extensively discussed on Avodah but I will reiterate my own opinion  anyway:  when you 
ask an angel to do you a favor or to please carry  out the mission he is 
anyway contracted to do, that is not "praying" to the  angel any more than saying 
to a friend "Please put a kvitel in the kosel for me"  is praying to your 
friend.
 
I said it in the context of singing Sholom Aleichem on Friday night.   The 
Gemara says that if the house is Shabbosdig when the men come home, the  angels 
who accompany them bless the home.  When you say to the malachim  "Borchuni 
lesholom" you are just validating in song form that you have made your  home 
Shabbosdig and would now like them to carry out their mission as they said  they 
would do (and they will do it even if you don't sing Sholom Aleichem, but  
it's friendly and polite to welcome and acknowledge the angels who came to  visit 
you anyway).
 
I understand all references to malachim in Tanach and in the liturgy in a  
similar way.  You are only asking them to do what they would do anyway (or  
maybe wouldn't and won't do, if you are not deserving).  Think of  this:  every 
mitzva you do, and every word of tefillah or of Torah that you  utter, creates 
its own malach who flies Upstairs and becomes another sanegor for  you.  (And 
you create the other kind of angels, too, who become your  mekatragim, but we 
prefer not to think about those.)   
 
Like witnesses in a human court, these angels, these spiritual beings or  
agents, can influence the outcome of the case but they do not have the authority  
to pass sentence on you or to carry out the sentence.  Only the Judge has  
that authority.  Unlike human witnesses, these angels cannot perjure  themselves 
-- they do not have free will and ultimately can only do what Hashem  tells 
them to do.  Your prior knowledge that you are /going/ to be saying  to the 
angels, "Please go up and put in a good word for me" ideally will  influence your 
actions all year long, because you know that those  angels can only do you 
any good if you yourself have so behaved as to earn their  aid.





--Toby  Katz
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