Anyways, looking at these cartoons and the way Calvin tries different tricks to push either "G-d" or "the forces of nature" to get it to snow reminded me a lot of some of the traps we can fall into in how we view Tefilah, or in biblical times, how Jews viewed korbanot. As many of you may have learned in Tanakh class, there are many statements in Nevi'im that seem to be very anti-korbanot. Yeshayahu (1:11) tells the people how G-d doesn't want our offerings and has had enough of them:
לָמָּה-לִּי רֹב-זִבְחֵיכֶם יֹאמַר יְהוָה שָׂבַעְתִּי עֹלוֹת אֵילִים וְחֵלֶב מְרִיאִים וְדַם פָּרִים וּכְבָשִׂים וְעַתּוּדִים לֹא חָפָצְתִּי .
Yirmiyahu addresses this issue as well, telling the people (7:21-23) that they should just eat the korbanot themselves, since G-d definitely does not want them, He just wants them to keep His Mitzvot:
כא כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֹלוֹתֵיכֶם סְפווּ עַל-זִבְחֵיכֶם וְאִכְלווּ בָשָׂר. כב כִּי לֹא-דִבַּרְתִּי אֶת-אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם וְלֹא צִוִּיתִים בְּיוֹם הוציא (הוֹצִיאִי) אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם עַל-דִּבְרֵי עוֹלָה וָזָבַח. כג כִּי אִם-אֶת-הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה צִוִּיתִי אוֹתָם לֵאמֹר שִׁמְעוּ בְקוֹלִי וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי לְעָם וַהֲלַכְתֶּם בְּכָל-הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָכֶם
The Nevi'im are not coming out against korbanot specifically, but against the dangerous attitude that can develop while bringing korbanot (and while davening as well). People start to believe that as long as they are bringing korbanot and doing all the "rituals" that they are required to do, that they are then absolved of all other responsibility when it comes to ethical and moral behavior outside of the Temple. As long as you are bringing korbanot, you have now "payed off G-d" and no longer have to worry about anything else. Plus, G-d now "owes" you and must answer your Tefilot!
This can happen with Tefilah as well. One can start to view the Tefilah relationship as one where we "control" G-d. By pushing the right buttons and saying the right prayers at the right times, we start to think that we can get G-d to give us whatever we want. This trap that we can sometimes fall into is the same erroneous attitude of the Jews living at the time of the Nevi'im and lehavdil, of Calvin and his offerings to the snow gods.
In reality, Tefilah and korbanot are trying to establish a very different type of dynamic and relationship between us and G-d. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains in his introduction to the Koren Siddur how the very essence of korbanot is about "sacrifice"; it is an "act of renunciation", where by giving something away we acknowledge how everything we have comes from G-d and reiterate our need for Him - not the other way around. Prayer is supposed to be a "transformative experience" where the external actions that we do bring us to an internal awareness of our utter dependency on G-d, whether or not He answers our prayers.
Some thoughts to keep in mind next time we daven for a snow day!
The Nevi'im are not coming out against korbanot specifically, but against the dangerous attitude that can develop while bringing korbanot (and while davening as well). People start to believe that as long as they are bringing korbanot and doing all the "rituals" that they are required to do, that they are then absolved of all other responsibility when it comes to ethical and moral behavior outside of the Temple. As long as you are bringing korbanot, you have now "payed off G-d" and no longer have to worry about anything else. Plus, G-d now "owes" you and must answer your Tefilot!
This can happen with Tefilah as well. One can start to view the Tefilah relationship as one where we "control" G-d. By pushing the right buttons and saying the right prayers at the right times, we start to think that we can get G-d to give us whatever we want. This trap that we can sometimes fall into is the same erroneous attitude of the Jews living at the time of the Nevi'im and lehavdil, of Calvin and his offerings to the snow gods.
In reality, Tefilah and korbanot are trying to establish a very different type of dynamic and relationship between us and G-d. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains in his introduction to the Koren Siddur how the very essence of korbanot is about "sacrifice"; it is an "act of renunciation", where by giving something away we acknowledge how everything we have comes from G-d and reiterate our need for Him - not the other way around. Prayer is supposed to be a "transformative experience" where the external actions that we do bring us to an internal awareness of our utter dependency on G-d, whether or not He answers our prayers.
Some thoughts to keep in mind next time we daven for a snow day!
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