[Avodah] Praying for a miracle

[Saul Mashbaum via Avodah]

On 18/01/17 01:51, Saul Mashbaum via Avodah wrote:

>  one cannot pray that
> the outcome of an event which already took place should be favorable.
>

RZS:

>>Of course one can.  The only thing one can't pray for is that the past
event should *not have >>happened*.

We're getting bogged down in language usage here. One cannot pray that the
child a pregnant woman is carrying is a boy, or a girl, because the sex of
the child has already been irreversibly determined. I called the desired
sex a "favorable outcome" of the event of the woman's pregnancy. Similarly,
if one knows that someone's house was damaged in a fire, he cannot pray
that it was not his house. I called the fire occurring elsewhere a
"favorable outcome"  of the already established fact of the fire
(obviously, from the point of view of the person involved). *Perhaps*
"desired outcome" would be a better formulation than "favorable outcome";
at most it is only marginally so.

Saul Mashbaum
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