(c) Apr 18 2001 RashiYomi Inc. MY COLLECTED & INDEXED MAIL JEWISH POSTINGS-Ver #1
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From: Russell Hendel <rhendel@saber.towson.edu> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:24:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: RE: Lying in PRayer A short comment about lying in prayer. I heard that some people(Rabbi Goren?) advocated changing the "blessing of the new moon" prayer that says "Just as I dance but CANNOT TOUCH THE MOON" (In light of the astronauts landing on the moon it was suggested this be changed). Thus we see that change is OK if the statement in the prayer is blatantly false. By contrast the Nachem prayer makes SUBJECTIVE statements which are not blatantly false. Sure things are better now for Jerusalem. But lets face it, alot of powerful forces want us to give it back--it is still dangerous to walk in certain parts of Jerusalem, and we have an Arab Mosque on our Temple. It therefore is ADMISSABLE to say that "Jerusalem is still in ruins". If anything we COULD change the prayer (to everyones satisfaction) but NOT by omission. We could simply say "God, EVEN THOUGH WE NOW HAVE OUR OWN STATE NEVERTHELESS comfort us...for Jerusalem is still--FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES--in ruins..." In other words we can change the prayer by ADDING phrases without taking anything away. Comments? Russell Jay Hendel; Phd ASA Moderator Rashi is Simple http://www.RashiYomi.Com/ Surfing the Talmudic Sea