smartcookie: I guess I would feel that it’s like davening to have good kids – while I would daven for it in the abstract, it’s not so “real” to me. Or davening for good health in my old age. Since I’m not in that stage of life, it’s hard for me to feel intense about, and if I do feel with kavana, it can sort of hurry it up b’ruchnius and that wouldn’t be the right time.
sacrilege: “V’eschanan” is the gematria of 515, the number of Tefilos Moshe Rabbeinu davened, and if he had gone into EY, then he would have built the BHMK and it couldn’t have been destroyed (or am I confusing this with something else?)
However by CHet Ha’Egel Hashem told Moshe Rabeinu to stop, so he knew it was being effective and continued davening. So how do we know what is the right thing to do?