Notes from a Class on Prayer and Theology

He, may He be exalted, said: The Lord had respect for Abel and his offering (Genesis 4:4), and then Cain killed him. And if longevity in this world had any meaning, why wouldn’t he [Abel] persevere in his life in this world? But, in fact, the matter is that God wished to bring him to the true pleasure and the eternal life and hastened him to it. And see, this is also the case with Enoch, about whom it is said: Enoch walked with [God] (Genesis 5:24), but his life was short, compared to those generations. And it is the same way in our generation, regarding the obedient slave, who is close to Him, whose life is not long in comparison to that of the old, weary heretic, the one who is removed from God, who lives for one hundred years. This is the meaning. [ . . . ]

And he [Maimonides], may his Rock preserve him, said: “You should know that exactly as God’s worship is sometimes through words and sometimes through actions, such as reading the Torah and reading Shema‘ and prayer and so forth, and some of it is through actions, such as having a mezuzah and a railing [on a rooftop, for safety] and a sukkah and tzitzit and tefillin and so forth, likewise, worship through words requires action. If, for example, you say, ‘Shema‘ Yisra’el,’ etc., when you say [the word] Shema‘, you should focus your intention and thought to the meaning of Shema‘, and likewise the rest of the verse. And this is one of the actions of your mind regarding this unity, and this is the action. And this is so in each and every word and saying.”

And he said, regarding the meaning of “Forgive us, our father, for we have sinned”: “When the offences are minor, they can allow themselves to call Him, may He be exalted, ‘O our father, forgive us.’ However, when the offenses are grave, they are not His children. Rather, they call Him ‘O our king,’ for He is everyone’s king, both the obedient and the rebellious. This is [seen] in the verse: children unworthy of Him (Deuteronomy 32:5)—once they have corrupted their ways, they are not His children.” [ . . . ]

[From] our master. One of his students said to him, while they were studying the Book of Love [the volume of the Mishneh Torah that includes the Laws of Prayer] with him, “Why shouldn’t our master follow the same procedure, in these three blessings—that He did not make me a non-Jew, an enslaved person, a woman—that he did in the previous blessings, so that when one sees a non-Jew, one should say the blessing, and similarly with an enslaved person and a woman?”

And he said, “The matter here is different, for when one contemplates his whole [human] species, he can see that God made the people of Israel unique among the nations through His commandments. And it is when one acknowledges that [uniqueness] that one becomes perfect and is obligated to bless God for the benefit [of perfection] He bestowed. And [regarding] the enslaved person [a “Canaanite slave” who converts to Judaism], once he enters the religion and is obligated in more commandments than the seven in which the non-Jew is obligated, but still fewer than a woman, it is his duty to say a blessing for that, as well. And [regarding] the woman, she has many more commandments than those two, but still not as many as the man, for the man is obligated in all the commandments. And for that reason, it is his duty to say a blessing, and these blessings are not the same as the other ones.”

Source: New York JTSA ENA NS 20.2.