[Avodah] Praying for a miracle

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Mon Jan 30 12:05:20 PST 2017


On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 04:06:49PM +0200, Saul Mashbaum via Avodah wrote:
: 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...

To get back to the original question:

Barring a miracle. Eg Dinah.

So, as the OP asked, does this mean that one shouldn't pray for a miracle?

Perhaps this is as per Taanis 24a-b telling one not to get hana'ah from
nissim because it uses up zekhuyos.

Li nir'eh the answer to the OP is: Yes but no.

When R' Chanina ben Dosa decided to tell his daughter to light vinegar
for Shabbos (Taanis 25a), it was because He Who causes oil to burn could
cause vinegar to burn.

But then there is the question about how he was okay getting hana'ah
from a neis.

R' Tzadoq haKohein says that RCBD was not violating the bit about hana'ah
from nissim because as the gemara says, he didn't perceive this as a neis.

This would also work for Dinah. Perhaps for Leah, Hashem changing the
gender of the child she was carrying wasn't seen as any more miraculous
as the rest of pregnancy. And so she was permitted such prayer.

So it seems to me a plausible answer would be that one is not permitted
to pray for a miracle, but for someone who is on a madreiga where it's
all normal, that's not called praying for a miracle.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             People were created to be loved.
micha at aishdas.org        Things were created to be used.
http://www.aishdas.org   The reason why the world is in chaos is that
Fax: (270) 514-1507      things are being loved, people are being used.



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