Originally published in Modern Judaism 2: 3 (October 1982), 297-310. Republished in L. Jacobs, Judaism and theology: essays on the Jewish religion (London; Portland, OR: Vallentine, Mitchell, 2005), 144-158. Religious individuals who believe in the efficacy of petitionary prayer and in blessings and curses, whatever their theological understanding of the phenomena, are faced with a…