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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Richard Wolpoe" <rabbirichwolpoe@gmail.com><BR>>>It
seems that many conflate making a request from a Mal'ach with PRAYING
to<BR>a mal'ach<BR><BR>This is a gray matter. if the mal'ach has ZERO bechira
why even request from<BR>a mal'ach?<BR><BR>There are those who say that a
mal'ach HAS bechira but merely lacks a yetzer<BR>horo. Then reuests [as
opposed to prayers] are reasonable. If a mal'ach is<BR>a machine it is
silly.<BR><BR>Imagine plugging in a vacuum cleaner and askig it to suck up some
dirt.<BR>silly. There is no bechira. The correct request would be to HKBH,
may my<BR>vacuum do its job well<<</FONT></DIV><FONT
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<DIV><BR>>>>>><BR>My understanding is that a malach is an
intelligent being -- in fact, a HIGHLY intelligent being -- and not a machine or
a robot. A malach lacks bechira only because it (he?) knows Hashem so
intimately that having any will or desire other than what Hashem wants is simply
logically and intellectually impossible for such an intellectually and
spiritually superior being. You can ask a malach for something that is in
the malach's power to do -- for example, it is in the malach's power to bentsh
you, if and when Hashem wants you to be bentshed. This is no
more davening to the malach than asking your mother for a glass of water is
davening to your mother.<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on <A title="http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850" href="http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850" target="_blank">AOL Money & Finance</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>