yiri@ucf-cs.UUCP (Yirmiyahu BenDavid) (12/18/84)
The practice of selling prayers remains repugnant to me in spite of the arguments which have been forwarded in its defense. There remains, in my view, several flaws in the practice. The notion that God blesses those who are honored to aliyot above others who are in need is certainly not self-evident to me. The question of why those who have not been called to aliyot should be noticed by God is then a moot question. The call to aliyot is supposed to be an honor, not a special-request to God pipeline. The question of whether it is indeed an honor also needs to be examined here. Honors are earned, not sold. The very fact that aliyot are sold, in my mind, precludes them from being the honor they should be and are supposed to be. There is a divergence here from the intent and the practice. As far as those being called to aliyot being especially deserving of honor... if such were really the case, they would be unselfishly pleading to God on behalf of those in need of His help and that question too would be moot. I still think the practice is perpetuated by the motivation of loot.