Demeaning is related to diminished, which is what happens to prayer when it is reduced to a commercial slogan
IS it hypersensitivity to feel discomfort at the multicolor notices blaring out that certain fine organizations will pray for you at the kever of tzaddikim “For Free”? (“For Free,” in case you missed it, is usually in capital letters.)
This implies that this is a special opportunity, and that most of the time, prayer is not free but comes with a price tag.
Is it too fastidious and finicky to find such notices redolent of advertising gimmickry, and a a denigration of Jewish prayer — tefillah — a cheapening of something that is sacred and holy?
In my naivete, I always presumed that the gates of prayer are constantly open, that no fees are required, that our Father welcomes us into His precincts and expects nothing in return except a sincere heart ( and if one is so moved, an optional gift to tzedakah — but not as a quid pro quo).
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