Pay as You Pray

How mortifying: When he prayed for people, he never sent them a bill. Now that is a real tzaddik!

For some reason, I was always under the impression that the gates of prayer were open 24/7, and that everyone was welcome to enter those gates. “Ki yemincha peshutah lekabel shavim —Thy right hand is outstretched to accept returnees.” The very term “free” when coupled with “prayer” is a grotesque oxymoron. Are there prayers that are not free, but expensive? Does there exist a “pay as you pray” plan? In Melachim II 4:33, when the mother of the dead child frantically asked Elisha the prophet to pray for the boy, did Elisha demand payment for his services?

Of course, no one intended to demean this tzaddik. Rather, what has happened is that we have lost our sensitivity to language and its subtleties. Both the publicity writer and many of us — inured to such indignities — do not see the unseemliness of the phrase “free prayer.” In this intersection of marketplace shtick and sacred practice, the ad writer allowed his PR training to overpower his good taste. He was taught that terms like “free,” or “70% off,” are irresistible lures. It follows therefore that if you want large crowds to come to the grave of a tzaddik, use the word “free,” and they will appear in their multitudes. One shudders to contemplate that the future might feature morsels like: Special! Prayers available for 70% off, this week only…. Buy two prayers, get one free… as long as supplies last.

Vulgarity and infinity, it seems, are twins: There is no limit to either of them.