היה רבי מאיר אומר שנים שעלו למטה וחוליין שוה וכן שנים שעלו לגרדום לידון ודינן שוה זה ירד וזה לא ירד זה ניצל וזה לא ניצל מפני מה זה ירד וזה לא ירד זה ניצל וזה לא ניצל זה התפלל ונענה וזה התפלל ולא נענה מפני מה זה נענה וזה לא נענה זה התפלל תפלה שלימה נענה וזה לא התפלל תפלה שלימה לא נענה ר' אלעזר אמר כאן קודם גזר דין כאן לאחר גזר דין
R. Meir used to say: Two men take to their bed suffering equally from the same disease, or two men are before a criminal court to be judged for the same offence; yet one gets up and the other does not get up, one escapes death and the other does not escape death. Why does one get up and the other not? Why does one escape death and the other not? Because one prayed and was answered, and the other prayed and was not answered. Why was one answered and the other not? One prayed with his whole heart and was therefore answered, the other did not pray with his whole heart and was not answered. R. Eleazar, however, said: The one man was praying before his final sentence had been pronounced [in heaven], the other after his final sentence had been pronounced.
1. What two models of prayer emerge from the source above (#2)?
2. Do you agree with either? Do either bother you?
(11) And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and here God has let me see your children as well.”
(יא) לא פללתי לֹא מְלָאַנִי לִבִּי לַחְשׁוֹב מַחֲשָׁבָה, שֶׁאֶרְאֶה פָנֶיךָ עוֹד פללתי לְשׁוֹן מַחֲשָׁבָה, כְּמוֹ הָבִיאִי עֵצָה עֲשִׂי פְלִילָה (ישעיהו ט"ז):
(11)I HAD NOT CONTEMPLATED — I had never dared to cherish the thought that I would again see your face. פללתי is an expression for thinking, like the noun in (Isaiah 16:3) “Give counsel, carry out the thought (פלילה)”.
ברכות כח:
דע לפני מי אתה עומד
Berachot 28b
Know before whom you stand
דע
There are people who maintain that prayer is a matter of emotion. In their desire to "revitalize" prayer, they would proclaim: Let there be emotion! This is, of course, based on a fallacy. Emotion is an important component; it is not the source of prayer ... One may be extremely emotional and be unable to generate that power. This is decisive: worship comes out of insight. It is not the result of an intellectual oversight. What is more, prayer has the power to generate insight; it often endows us with an understanding not attainable by speculation. Some of our deepest insights, decisions and attitudes are born in moments of prayer. Often where reflection fails, prayer succeeds. What thinking is to philosophy, prayer is to religion. And prayer can go beyond speculation. The truth of holiness is not a truth of speculation - it is the truth of worship.
לפני מי אתה
To have said before what would have contradicted the spirit of Jewish prayer. What is the most indefinite pronoun. In asking what, one is totally uncommitted, uninitiated, bare of any antipation of an answer any answer may be acceptable … If G-d is a what, a power, the sum total of values, how could we pray to it? An “I” does not pray to an “it.”
עומד
Reading or studying the text of a prayer is not the same as praying. What marks the act of prayer is the decision to enter and face the presence of God ... To pray, then, means to bring God back into the world, to establish His kingship, to let His glory prevail.
How is Hechel's notion of prayer different than what we saw in source #1?