I am hungry for more information about the organizers, All Jews As One and can't find much. Much of the writing smacks of something that I wouldn't want to associate with, see some of the comments on facebook (and I am all for Jewish unity). Sadly I think these efforts do not really help the professional development of davening for young people - as Mosiach hasn't come since the event and the (just) 35 word prayer is all about Mosiach only. Don't get me wrong, I am for brevity, but this is just overly simplistic fluff. Isn't this notion stealing from the idea of what Yom Kippur is all about? Most Jews around the world stopping to pause, not at the same moment, but on the same day, united in fast and tefillot? (full disclosure: I couldn't make it to the end of the video - it was that bad for me).
I am open to other perspectives on this initiative, especially from someone who participated. But please get back to me before Mosiach comes, because once s/he does arrive, I am pretty confident that I will be shutting down this blog.
It wasn't that popular in my circle of facebook friends. I got invited, and I think 3 or 4 of my friends said they would be attending the event. I didn't rsvp, since I generally feel that the route to Moshiach is via teshuva. I didn't realize that there was a specific prayer to say.
ReplyDeleteWhen the day came, somebody posted a status about it, which prompted me to realize I had not davened yet, which made me think that if a group of people had mobilized to daven about a specific issue at a specific time, who am I to say it will probably be ineffective and therefore I won't do it? So I davened and concentrated especially in shemona esrei on the brachos about kibbutz galiyos, Tzemach Dovid, restoration of justice, and destruction of wickedness, all of which are associated with the Messianic Era.
I was not surprised when Moshiach was not immediately announced. This felt to me like a misguided attempt and typical of the desire for shortcuts rather than a complete and sincere re-commitment to torah.
However, I do recall that Rachel was barren for nearly 7 years, and the pasuk says that Hashem remembered her and listened to her. I think Sforno comments that he listened to her tefilos. Surely this does not only refer to the tefilos right before she got pregnant, but all of them over the course of the years? Perhaps there was a cumulative effect?