[Avodah] 13 Middos

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 11:43:35AM +0300, Marty Bluke via Avodah wrote:
: Not really, Hashem is perfect and all knowing, you can't bribe him. Why
: should you need to remind him of anything? Hashem knows exactly who you are
: and how close you are to him.

That's ust an inherent limitation in the mashal. (Any mashal where the
nimshal is G-d, is going to be limited for the same reason you give.)

Lemaaseh, He may Remember everything, but I don't. Going through the
exercises keep my own beliefs more conscious and reinforces them.
Setting up a pointless reminder to remind Him has function in that it
reminds me.

Which is how I understood RMYG's original answer: that reciting the
13 middoes is "more of a symbol of Hashem's love for His people: 'If you sin,
even if you're not up to doing the Teshuvah that you should be doing,
here's a 'ticket' of sorts that I'm giving you _now_ to show my love for
you...'"

We need to remember the closeness, to keep it real in our minds, which
then deepens our belief in it.

Which is why I then said that this in itself is a minimal teshuvah, and
not merely reciting words. IOW, if someone said the 13 Middos and didn't
even think "these are G-d's 13 Middos of lovingkindness that He gave
us", would they still be guaranteed not to leave empty-handed?

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
micha at aishdas.org        but it is my chief duty to accomplish small
http://www.aishdas.org   tasks as if they were great and noble.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                              - Helen Keller

GCT!
-Micha