what does God pray for?
Jan. 6th, 2004 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
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.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-07 05:29 pm (UTC)(Although sadly I have nothing particularly intelligent to add)
Please do keep writing about these discussions!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-07 07:03 pm (UTC)