Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Online with Hashem

I've discovered blogs in which people are actually writing letters to Hashem. Blogosphere mail to the Almighty! Is this what we call progress?

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is a well-known Judy Blume novel; I'm pretty sure that nearly every pubescent/adolescent girl has checked this book out of her library, or bought it via a Scholastic Books order. And I can't help but think of that book title when I read peoples' online pleas to Hashem or praise for Hashem.

For me, anyway, any words I have for Hashem are private and are generally meant to stay that way. Yes, I'll daven in a kehilla, but I move my lips quietly when I say the prayers; I'll make the brachot over the Shabbos candles and might say the words aloud, but my added prayers for family members and friends are said quietly or silently, using my mind to transport my words high above.

Some of my early journals have written pleas to Hashem or thanks to him embedded within their entries, but again, these are private, for my eyes only.

That's why I can't help but think that some of these people who are outrightly praying online are in some way desecrating the purer ways of communicating to Hashem. I'm sure they are engrossed in regular davening and learning, but perhaps they think that any means possible will get their prayers answered faster?

But the question they really need to be asking is: How often does Hashem check his e-mail?

(I hope by writing this entry that I'm not doing any major desecrating....)