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Posted May 16, 2008, by Rabbi Judy Abrams. Please refer to Maqom's home page for information about previous passages.

BH

SIGN OF THE TIMES AND A PRAYERFUL RESPONSE FROM THE YERUSHALMI
© Judith Z. Abrams, 2008

Some of our greatest spiritual lessons can be learned, I believe, in the grocery store. Yesterday, I was in the checkout line behind a woman as she tried credit card after credit card to pay for her groceries. Each one was declined. Eventually she left the store without her groceries.

The Yerushalmi offers this prayer in times of trouble:

Answer us, O Lord, answer us, in this time and season. For we are in great trouble. Hide not your face from us and forsake not our supplications. For you are the Lord who answers us in times of trouble, who redeems us and saves us in all our times of distress. As it is written, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress (Psalm 107:28)." Blessed are You who answers us in a time of trouble. (Y. Berachot 4:3)

The Yerushalmi sees this as a prayer that is said in a communal setting on a public fast day.

Discussion Questions:

1. Is it appropriate to say this prayer privately?
     
2. Should I have paid for her groceries myself? (The bill was $170 odd dollars.)
     
3. How can we help people who are backed into a credit-card corner?