rosends

Today is the 4th day of Channukah. Sending out earnest good wishes to all to whom this day and holiday are significant.

If you have any sincere Channukah questions, I can try to help with them.

The fast of the 17th of Tammuz is observed this year on this coming Sunday (though the date is actually Saturday, we push it off so that we do not fast on the Sabbath).

This begins a 3 weeks period of mourning and introspection culminating in the fast of the 9th of the month of Av (also, pushed to a Sunday).

The first fast is a "dawn til nightfall" fast on which only eating and drinking are forbidden. The 9th of Av is a 25 hour fast which has additional limitations on behavior.

This is a reversal of the month of mourning after the loss of a family member. In that time of personal mourning, our sadness lessens slightly over a month so the restrictions get less and less. In this communal mourning (over the lass of the temples in Jerusalem and a host of other tragedies) the limitations increase.

Judaism views prayer as a necessary component to Jewish practice but it breaks prayer into separate categories. Only one small section of prayer is equated to "ask." Prayers are more often either praise of recognition/thanks (or, in another sense, permission).

A prayer therefore can be structured as "thank you for being you, God" or "I have this obligation to do something so I'm recognizing that I have this obligation" or "I know that the whole world belongs to God so before I do ____ it is important for me to acknowledge that."

That leaves that small section of "please grant me _____" and even those are for more general ideas, not for specific items. Though individuals can add in private requests, we "ask" about big concepts, not things. But even on that level, because asking for big ideas is not appropriate on the Sabbath and holidays, those sections are omitted so the prayer can just be about praise and recognition/thanks.

People outside of Judaism seem to see "askling" as a central and intrinsic part of prayer and they therefore measure their prayer by "getting an answer." But if you see prayer as not about asking, then you don't judge its efficacy by some discernable response.

There are a variety of holidays and observances occurring at this time of year. I am in the midst of Passover (the intermediate days, between the holy-days at the beginning and end of Passover) and wanted to wish everyone here "happy whatever it is you find worth celebrating."

Today (outside of Jerusalem) is the holiday of Purim. We celebrate the events retold in the Scroll of Esther and the miraculous saving of the Jewish population of Persia/Medea from the machinations of our enemies.

Freedom from oppression and the concern that there are those who collude to destroy us are still current concerns so we remind ourselves that faith, combined with action is the path we must follow.

Wishing happiness and peace to all.

I have seen the phrase used to point to God. I can't find a source/explanation for the phrase other than the KJV, but the KJV seems inconsistent in how it translates the corresponding Hebrew word (in Judges 6:16, as one example, it translates the same word "will be"). So what is the source for the decision to use "I am" in Ex 3:14? Is it in order to connect to the John 8:58 use of the word "eimi" in the Greek?