Wednesday, December 12, 2007
22b: Where God Hears Prayers
I think it is sometimes easy to forget that our "God is everywhere and hears everything" theology does not quite square with the Temple first theology often espoused in rabbinic sources. Consider the story about the people in the diaspora who would, in seasons of excessive rain, ask their representatives in the Temple to pray for them, in order that, "their houses not become their graves." The clear assumption of this story is that prayers in the Temple have a better (or perhaps the only) chance to be answered. I always find it interesting that stories with elements such as this are passed on the rabbis, especially in the Babylonian Talmud. Maybe the thought it that now that there is no more Temple that type of theology is not as problematic for diasporic Jews. It is interesting though to imagine a Jewish world which assumed that one place is a better spot for connection to God than any other.
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3 comments:
But don't you think that is still the assumption among the majority of the Jewish world? That's why people put notes in the kotel and davka go there for special prayers? Certainly the rabbinical rhetoric has become more Shmot than Devarim on this one, but I think that most Jews would say that yes, God is everywhere and hears prayers everywhere, but there is a special power about the kotel that makes prayers there more likely to be heard.
Yes, but those people are idol worshippers. Not really, but it does feel like that sometimes. I'm not a kotel guy myself. I know some folks love it, but really, it doesn't move me one bit (except possible away).
That's fine, but we shouldn't let our conception of the Kotel prevent others from having a meaningful experience there. On the trip to Israel I just took with the 10th graders, I was shocked by how taken they were with the kotel. We went there five times! They kept wanting to go back and daven there. These are kids who don't daven much at all. Our last Shabbat, I offered a vatikin at the Kotel Shabbat morning option -- I couldn't believe it, but 27 out of 44 kids showed up at 615am to daven at the kotel! Despite my own ambiguious feelings about the place, I was reminded of the power it has for your average worshipers.
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