Please Pray For…

Received via email:

Please say Tehillim for Naftali ben Gila, one of the students wounded in the Mercaz HaRav shootings whose condition is drastically worsening.…

He suffered a stroke yesterday...15 yrs old.

Comments

[SnipeFu]

May G-d grant Naftali ben Gila and all of the sick and wounded of Israel a speedy and complete recovery.

[yidandahalf]

Will do.

[Baal Hatureem]

whoa are you suggesting that Tehillim has actual magical healing powers??

if we can cast spells then isn't the message of Guru Schneeson valid? i say this since he and his followers claim to be experts in highly efficacious spell casting.

i'm shocked to see 'tehillim' referenced here as a valid interventional modality for a serious medical situation.

[Shmarya]

It's valid for those who believe in it and who have no other way to help, and in have no way to do a "valid interventional modality for a serious medical situation."

[chief doofis]

Saying T'hillim is a form of prayer, those of us who believe in a Deity, may find it efficacious.

Relying upon a guru (Jewish or otherwise) is just that. Unless a Rabbi knows me, loves me and cares about me, how sincere can his prayers really be?

[one of many]

pray for Naftali ben Gila
May G_d stregthen him.

[one of many]

actually let us pray these horrific things dont happen again.
there is no peace really
pray for peace and all of Israel

[Simon Rose]

May G-d bless Naftali ben Gila and all of the sick and wounded of Israel a speedy and complete recovery.

[Yochanan Lavie]

We are not Christian Science so we don't do prayer alone. We are warned not to rely on miracles. But miracles do happen, and prayer couldn't hurt. It may help.

[chief doofis]

Perhaps if we all unite, temporarily forget our trivial differences, and pray for this poor kid... Could Ahavat Chinam cure him? Can't hurt!

[TheAdlerian]

Step back, pretend that you never heard about the subject of this blog, then read the events and ideas reported. You will soon discover why there is no peace.

Step back in.

How are you feeling?

[Frank]

Tehilim, Psalms? What possesses anyone to imagine that uttering hebrew words or any words for that matter can change the course of events! If you really believe in the powers of Psalms, it should have been recited before the dastardly & cowardly event

[Acher acher]

It is a mechanism to get multiple minds focused and on the same page (so to speak). Yes, it is annoying that not much scientific effort goes into measuring the effects. Would people here be interested in carrying out some informal studies?

[yidandahalf]

A rabbi once told me I was born on a holy day and that I shoud study cabala. I declined this advice, but I can tell you I have witnessed miracles and other 'supernatural' events too many times to count. Pray for the kid already.

A study has been done that measured the after-the-fact effect of prayer. Doing any other study would be considered invalid as a result of "tempt/test not thy G-d".

The study showed that there were actually slightly LESS recoveries among the patients who WERE prayed for. However, since the difference was not scientifically significant, they considered it a 50/50 tie.

It can be argued, however, that G-d knew that they were going to perform this study in the future, thus invalidating this study as "testing" G-d, who changed the results so as not to "cooperate" with a scientific study....and the debate goes on...

Either way, may all victims of any tragedy or illness have an immediate and complete recovery.

[George Carlin]

When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!

But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up.

Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.

No woman could or would ever fuck things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a shit. Doesn't give a shit, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results.

So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some spooky incompetent father figure who doesn't give a shit, I decided to look around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.

And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know? So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us.

Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite.

I've often thought people treat God rather rudely, don't you? Asking trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday -- His day off. It's not nice. And it's no way to treat a friend.

But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know, your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested for defecating in a mall. But most of all, you'd really like to fuck that hot little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you'd have to. And I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about the Divine Plan?

Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan. What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayerbook can come along and fuck up Your Plan?

And here's something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your prayers aren't answered. What do you say? "Well, it's God's will." "Thy Will Be Done." Fine, but if it's God's will, and He's going to do what He wants to anyway, why the fuck bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me! Couldn't you just skip the praying part and go right to His Will? It's all very confusing.

So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't fuck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with.

For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that cocksucker out with one visit. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.

So I've been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.

And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might want to look at the Three Little Pigs, that's a good one. Has a nice happy ending, I'm sure you'll like that. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood, although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I like the best? "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was. In fact, I'm gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody's okay? All right, tell you what, I'll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is a God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I've got a little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I'm blind. I'm blind, oh, now I'm okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci. Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!

[TheAdlerian]

Yes, but George Carlin is in infidel, so how what he says matter?

I don't get it?

Yasher koach, Shmarya, for the post. I see that your skepticism has not negated your Jewish instincts whether it is prayer for a Jewish victim or providing food for yom tov for the needy. May your instincts be a zechut for Naphtali ben Gila.

Y. Aharon

[meyer apfeldorf]

his name is naftali ben gila rachel
נפתלי בן גילה רחל שיטרית
.
he was release for pesach with his family in an apt in jerusalem [they are from sderot], but returned for rehab.

tefillot may be said for achenu bnai yisroel who are still traumatized and suffering physical and psychic pain,especially the survivors, friends and families of the Mercaz Harav family.
chag sameach

[George Carlin]

I would like to rescind and repeal my above posting of Gerge Carlins' rant about G-d, religion and prayer.

As much as I am anti-superstition, and find that although I believe in a creator, the randomness of illness, disease, and disaster makes one wonder if there is, in fact, an interventionist G-d that cares about the individual, and who will actually change one's destiny because of prayer and praise. The statistics for wealth, poverty, health and disease, death and "miraculous" recovery seem to be statistically the same among all people, regardless of location, religion, prayer, etc.

Yet every time I say something skeptical on the subject I am inflicted with guilt and fear of divine retribution for my heresy and questioning.

I am sure that this is a conflict that many (and from your blog, you included) deal with on a daily basis.

[TheAdlerian]

George,

I was making fun of Jewish fascism, which is what the disgusting religion is, by calling you an infidel. Everyone who believes in the nonsense posted on this blog ought to be deeply ashamed of themselves.

Meanwhile, I believe that the owner of this blog tacitly finds the religion sinister as well. Here's to you becoming an agent of change!

[one of many]

heres my words worth.
how about this...
you can I speak in general,
you can change your situation if you want to if you want to...
and prayer helps it doesnt hurt.
the will power!
If you want to and you believe it,
then nothing is impossible, nothing!!
think about it.

[one of many]

I thought this topic was prayers for Naftali ben Gila it should only welcome just that.
thank you
peas

[Mordie]

Shmarya:

Do you think that, perhaps, your constant attacks on Torah, Rebbes, rabbis, and flawed Jews of all types has anything to do with the spiritual and physical health of our people?

Maybe if you would stop your viciousness, the overall health of our people will improve that much more. I think you bring illness into the world.

[Shmarya]

Did you ever think that it is the constant covering up, the lies, the deceit, the criminals honored by shuls and rabbis, the rabbis who are themselves criminals, the poor and oppressed crying out to God for help – did you ever think it is all of this that brings illness to the world?

Because, Mordie, there are lots of Torah sources about what comes from oppressing the poor and weak. Try learning.

[yidandahalf]

Any news on how the kid is doing now?