3

In similar but slightly different light to this question: If one is mentally drained, should a person still daven? Even if that person cannot concentrate?

What is the halacha for one who is very angry, or very upset, or very emotionally shaken? Should they daven? There are sources that state otherwise, but I have heard in the past that they may not apply now, due to our lowly generation who doesn't guarantee concentration in any circumstances anyway.

Should one learn? Perhaps the study will help calm him down?

To avoid simple answers like "stop being angry", lets say that it's a situation where the distress is beyond a person's current "level" of self control, and they can't quickly calm down at the moment. They can try harder in future to improve their self control, but now is not the time for that.

9
  • 2
    @AlBerko I don't see it that way. It's a very practical question (about emotional situations, but the question itself isn't emotional). Not going to insist though. I just want to be convinced, ideally by some meta post or stronger argument? I never said it applies to me, there's no reason to believe that. See my edit. If still not good enough, may I recommend, to be fair, you also suggest the quoted question also be closed, or at least explain to me how I can improve it to match its level of "non lifnei iver" according to your reckoning
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Sep 10 at 18:45
  • 1
    Well, I feel it in my bones. People [and like I was, and like you sometimes post] study with particular rabbis who fail to mention that their Psakim do not cover the variety of Judaism. Then they go online and post, while suffering from confirmation bias (picking only the sources that support their views) and being absolutely sure that they speak the final truth about Judaism. I know that I hurt several people and was hurt myself. Therefore (following @doubleAA's advice) I try my best to reflect this complexity in my questions and answers.
    – Al Berko
    Commented Sep 10 at 19:16
  • 2
    @AlBerko and RabbiKaii Questions that are asking for personal guidance are out-of-scope per judaism.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic . There's an adjacent grey area of questions that look a lot like the intent is to get personal guidance, though they are formally in third person. We've had a bunch of discussion about those in Meta, e.g. judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2125 and judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3760 (and follow links from there). This post doesn't look like that at all to me. (1/2)
    – Isaac Moses
    Commented Sep 10 at 20:36
  • 3
    That said, an answer along the lines of "The right approach to this would be highly dependent on the nature of the individual asking, as indicated by this source and this rabbi story." could be a legitimate response (2/2)
    – Isaac Moses
    Commented Sep 10 at 20:38
  • 1
    @IsaacMoses and I indeed would accept such an answer if it met my other expectations. That criteria would not affect my decision.
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Sep 10 at 20:41

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .