Excuse me, Please, Thank You
Excuse me. I know that this may not be the most interesting post. I will be rehashing some of my spiritual pet peeves. I have a problem with my prayer. Not actually mine but with the idiots all around me who won't shut up when I am trying to pray. I find that prayer is meditative for me. I like quiet and to concentrate. I know many Orthodox Jews find it repetitive and boring. I feel sorry for them but it doesn't mean they have to talk when I am doing it.
I think prayer became more important to me when I learned what the Rambam wrote about it in the Guide of the Perplexed.
I will paraphrase
Anyone who prays to g-d thinking that g-d will intervene on their behalf and change their destiny is stupid ( the word stupid is a quote)
I always had a hard time with the concept that g-d wants us to pray to him and that sometimes, if we pray hard enough, he will answer those prayers. The flip side is that sometimes he won't. Very convenient if you are g-d. It just didn't make sense to me. G-d doesn't need us to pray to him and in my worldview ( and the Ramabm's and others) doesn't react to everything we do.
Heresy
Not really just a different understanding of Hashgachat Pratit ( divine providence). It is not that I don't believe in a type of that , I do . I just don't believe that if I stubbed my toe it was because I did something wrong.
Back to Prayer
So according to the Rambam, prayer is not for g-d but for us. It is for us to focus on our lives, hopes , desires , faults etc.It is meditative.
SO I NEED QUIET
It is also because I have self diagnosed ADD and every little distraction , well, distracts me.
So I have noticed that there are basically 3 types of shul talkers ( these are the main groupings, there are many sub groups)First , you have the person who doesn't really talk. Hello , how are you?Next the guys who don't really talk but if people are talking they will join in (FOMO) Last, are the ones who come just to talk. They have little regard for those around them and for some reason can't figure out that if they just went to the lobby to talk, it would be a win/win for everyone. To top it off in my shul those in the last group are the ones who get all the honors. It is a thing in Israel in General, the louder you are the faster you get served.
Two weeks ago there was a bar mitzvah and the family hired a Chazan to come and lead services . He was great ( I knew this when he did tunes from The Godfather and Pulp Fiction).Almost everyone was enjoying it. Yet there were three guys ( always the same ones) who needed to talk.
But they had a problem
A chazan likes to project his voice. To sing loudly.
Not a problem. They just spoke louder.
The idea that this was disrespectful to the bar mitzvah host never crossed their minds. The fact that it was disrespectful to this great chazan ( who is most likely used to it) never crossed their minds.
I am not going to mention the rest of in shul. That never matters to them.
I wondered if this was a play or a movie theater would they act the same way. Surprisingly, I got an answer to this when one of the people was at a movie I was at. He talked. It actually made me feel better.
I can continue for ever but I won't and will continue the story
So I decided that I have had enough and that for Saturdays only ( when it is at its worst ) I will try a different shul. The one I went to last week is called the Chai Center. The Rabbi is Chabad but they pray Sephardi. There are certain customs that Chabad does, and they weren't done there.( this becomes relevant in a second)
The Prayer was very enjoyable. Too many kids for my liking but for the most part people were quiet at the times they should be as well as respectful.
I was happy. I found a new shul.
When the prayers ended, I realized that they did not say the prayer for the State of Israel. Surely this was a mistake . This was not a Haredi Shul. It was full of Israeli's. I know that most Israeli's don't care either way about this prayer but I find it very meaningful.I asked someone there what this story was. Did they forget.
No
It seems that Chabad ( which the Rabbi is but the shul is not) does not say this prayer. They will say the prayer for the Israeli soldiers but not the one for the state.
This is a thing for a lot of hardei people. When the state was established and the chief rabbinate, which at the time was controlled by Zionist rabbi's ( as befitting the Zionist country) , went to great pains to develop a prayer for the new state and the fact that this was a game changer for the Jews. Although they tried to appease all sides ( were they high?), they put in three words that Hardeim refuse to acknowledge
ראשית צמיחת גאלתנו the dawn of our deliverance
See religious Zionists believe that the creation of the State of Israel is the first step towards fulfilling the promise of our redemption. It starts with the in-gathering of the exiles.
So Haredim don't think that g-d has anything to do with the creation of the State of Israel and that it is not part of the divine plan ( not sure how that works with divine providence but go figure) but religious Zionists do. I am curious to know how the haredim explain, that for the first time in Jewish history , Jews from all over the world are returning to the land.
Must be coincidence. (does that exist?)
I am off topic. Anyway this prayer is very meaningful to me and I decided not long after I moved here that given a choice I would not pray in a place that did not say it. Too bad.
Just one more quick story sort of related ( but not really) .
Every shabbat I buy the weekend edition of the Jerusalem Post , a right wing paper, and Haaretz, a left wing paper. I read the same stories in both and figure the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Today I went to a store to get them and they did not carry Haaretz , so I bought The Jerusalem post. There was one woman there with a shopping cart full of groceries and the owner motioned to me to pay as she was putting them on the counter. She started screaming that this was not right. She was there before me. I said to the owner, she is right, please give me my money back I will come back later. He just gave me my change and wished me a Shabbat Shalom. As I left I heard her still complaining of the stolen 45 seconds.
An hour later I went to get the other paper at a different store. Same story . Full shopping cart . Me with just the paper.
I had learned my lesson.
" would it be OK if I pay for the paper, it is all I have"
"Sure no problem"
"Thank you"
"Shabbat Shalom".
"Shabbat Shalom."
Many of you may think that the first woman was more representative of people here. I like to think it is the second. After all, we are in the midst of our redemption.
Shabbat Shalom