what does God pray for?

[cellio]

(Because someone asked:)

According to the talmud (B'rachot 7a), God prays. The qeustion of "to whom?" does not appear to be addressed (at least here). As for "what", the gemara says that God prays for mercy over judgement: "May it be My will that My mercy conquer My anger, and that My mercy overcome My [sterner] attributes, and that I behave toward My children with the attribute of mercy, and that for their sake I go beyond the boundary of judgement".

(In a baraita [1], God is said to have also asked a certain rabbi for a blessing.)

Because God is omnipotent, clearly he can apply mercy over judgement at will. So I guess he's explicitly asking himself to will it? (I know we're going to discuss this more when we next meet in two weeks.)

[1] A baraita is a teaching contemporary with the mishna that was not written down as part of the mishna.

Comments

for what it's worth

[mishtaneh.livejournal.com]

Everyman's Talmud states that He prays to Himself (p. 7 and 18 in my copy; it's even in the index under "Prayer --- offered by God". (The second mention includes the specific prayer... and is followed by the rabbi's blessing you mentioned.)

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the point is that even for God, mercy is specifically an act of will, and that He has to remind himself of that fact. Or perhaps He chooses to do so, lest He forget the consequences of losing His temper (the story of the flood springs to mind).

[cellio]

Judgement is inate but mercy must be cultivated? It certainly seems to be true for humans; not sure about for God. Hmm.

Speculation (goody, more research threads!)

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

There's a bit of litany in the Methodist church (which a quick google check superficially suggests is a holdover from the Anglican/Episcopal church) where the specific language is "[...] God, whose property is always to have mercy [...]" (For those who are curious, it's in the context of throwing ourselves upon said mercy.)

I'm not sure what the provenance of this language is (the wording always struck me as odd because, with contemporary use, it sounds like you're describing a chemical) but this may have been an intentional counter to whatever school of thought inspired it, arguing that (as onthechin observes), mercy is a very intentional choice.

Re: Speculation (goody, more research threads!)

[cellio]

"[...] God, whose property is always to have mercy [...]"

That's similar to something in Jewish liturgy. The prayer "Eil malei rachamim" [1], said in the context of mourning [2], begins: "Oh God, full of mercy, who dwells on high, grant proper rest...". ("Rachamim" means "mercy".) I think this phrase frequents the Yom Kippur liturgy too, though I can't cite specifics from memory.

In general, Judaism asserts that God has several sometimes-contradictory attributes, including mercy. (There's a list in Torah, when Moshe asks to see God and God says "stand behind this rock and I'll walk by but you can't see my face".) Different parts of the liturgy cite these attributes, or sometimes just the ones we want God to especially remember during that point in the prayers. :-)

[1] If you go googling for it, you will encounter some spelling/transliteration variation: "eil" or "el", "malei" or "molei" or "maley" or "moley". The last word should be stable. :-)

[2] At funerals (I think), during shiva minyan, during Yizkor. Yizkor is a memorial prayer recited communally four times a year.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

This isn't something I've encountered before. Does this imply a fallible aspect to God? It seems like they are arguing with theirself about trying not to let a baser instinct win out... but if God prefers a certain balance between mercy and judgement, wouldn't they behave in that way all the time? Does God have regrets?

[cellio]

It seems like they are arguing with theirself about trying not to let a baser instinct win out.

I suppose you don't have to consider one attribute baser than another; I believe tradition holds that God has judgement and mercy in equal quantities, and it's just a question of which should dominate when. But it's a little troubling to consider that justice comes naturally but mercy requires extra help.

Does God have regrets?

An excellent question. If God is outside of time, then it's hard to argue that God can be surprised, let alone have regrets. I still hold to the possibly-misguided notion that we can surprise God, though -- that omniscience means knowing all possible outcomes, maybe along with their probabilities, but that by giving us free will he has voluntarily given up knowing how everything's going to turn out. I don't know if we can extend that idea to God's own actions, though.

Does God regret the Mabul (flood)? The plain reading of the text suggests that he does (or did at the time), but I haven't chased commentaries on this point yet. An interesting question warranting further research...

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

This is new information for me, and very very interesting.
(Although sadly I have nothing particularly intelligent to add)


Please do keep writing about these discussions!

[cellio]

Thanks for the feedback. Sometimes posts like this spawn long comment threads, so it's worth checking back from time to time. :-)