Berakhot 29
Today’s text returns to the themes of intention, attention and what is in one’s heart. “We learned through tradition that a good person does not become wicked.” Shmuel HaKatan is forgiven for the transgression of forgetting a blessing (standards were high 2,000 years ago in the Rabbinic community) because he was a good person. The passage is full of tolerance and compassion for human beings who are less than perfect, as long as they have a righteous heart. It is a reminder that we are all human and make mistakes, but still as long as we have the right intentions we are worthy of studying God’s words. The guiding principle in many places of the Talmud is “The Torah was not given to ministering angels.”
It is nice to see mention of a woman with a voice. It’s brief and fleeting, but Hannah has a voice when she mentions God’s name nine times.
The theme of intention and attention comes back again in the discussion of whether one is truly praying if he does so without emotion or as an automatic response to an expected obligation. The introduction of a “novel element” allows one to pray from one’s heart and with true intent, rather than going through the motions with wooden feet. It is also a reminder that whatever we do in life, we can not simply coast and must engage with our full attention.
Today’s reading provides advice on how to pray in a place of danger where there are “groups of wild beasts and robbers.” The answer is to say an abbreviated prayer, and the abbreviated text includes a clipped “Carry out Your will in the heavens above…” Still, the abbreviated prayer might be longer than a fast “help, get me out of here” and hopefully a flight from the danger.
I have been thinking a lot the diaspora and the many mentions of Jews who live far away from Israel. Versions of this text appears in many places of our readings: “And gather our scattered people from the four corners of the earth.” Please forgive the liberty I am taking here in extending the concept of diaspora, but can this Facebook group where we have come together from so many places around the globe for this crazy idea of entering a seven-year reading of the Talmud function as a virtual homeland? Have we come home through this community?
I am traveling overseas this week. The inclusion in today’s text of the traveler’s prayer comes at an opportune time and I will refer to it in my travels. I hope it helps to protect me from all the “ambushes” I may encounter along the way (including being exposed to a dangerous virus.)