Brachot 7 – God Prays

How do we know that the Holy One Blessed is He, prays? – From Isaiah, “I will make them rejoice in the House of My prayer” - and not “their prayer,” which tells us that the Holy One Blessed is He prays. What is His prayer? “May it be My will that My mercy conquer My anger... and I will go beyond the boundary of judgment with My children.” Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, a High Priest, told that once on Yom Kippur he entered the Holy of Holies to burn incense and saw Achteriel God of Legions sitting on His throne, and God told him, “Ishmael, My son, bless Me.” He blessed God with “May it be Your will that Your mercy will conquer Your anger...” and saw God nod, demonstrating His approval. From here we saw that even a blessing of an ordinary person should not be unimportant in your eyes.

God also gets angry every day, as in psalms, “God is angered every day,” for a moment (“rega”) that lasts a quarter of a second. Bilam knew how to pronounce a curse at exactly this moment. The sign of this moment is a rooster standing on one foot, with a pale comb. Rabbi Yehoshua once took a rooster and tied him to his bed, in order to curse someone who was harassing him. However, when the time came, he dozed of, and said, “We see from here that it is not proper to curse, since 'God's mercy is on all his creations'.”

Moses asked God, “Why bad things happen to good people?” God answered, “A righteous who is the son (reincarnation) of a bad person may have it bad, but a righteous son of a righteous will have it good.”

In many instances the name of a person foretells his deeds. How do we know that a name actually influences one? – From the psalm, “God has made devastations (“shamot”) in the world.” Do not read “shamot” but “shemot” - names. Thus, names are put into the world to influence people.

Art: Caravaggio - The Seven Acts of Mercy (detail)