The hunger for God persists even in machines. A recent New York Times article noted that people are “confessing their secrets and searching for something omniscient” in chatbots. As Jews prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, that same hunger echoes in the Yehi Ratzon prayers: “May it be Your will.” But whose will are we really invoking: God’s or our own?

These prayers, recited with symbolic foods, ask for sweetness in the year ahead, an end to enemies, release from toxic ties, and the wisdom to lead with merit and good deeds. Each begins: “May it be Your will, God, and the God of our ancestors … .” Yet in truth, these are actions we must discern and enact ourselves.

Are we not the ones who recognize our adversaries, our shortfalls, and our merits? So why frame the prayers as pleas

See Full Page