Several times in the course of this Blog, I have been concerned with the nature of prayer as envisioned by the Talmud. We have already seen rules governing every aspect of prayer – what is said, when it is said, who says it, what circumstances prohibit prayer, how to bow when we pray, which we face, etc., etc. Prayer is turned into a form of ritual. On the one hand, the rules around prayer turn it into a communal experience. On the other hand, prayer can become rote – more rhythm than meaning.
Today we continue our investigation of the rules of Shemoneh Esrei. We dig deep into the proper way to recite Shemoneh Esrei and create more and more rules. Before we do so, however, we continue a story that was briefly started yesterday. Rabbi Gamliel inaugurated the nineteenth blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei because he wanted a prayer against heretical thought in Judaism. We learned yesterday that Shmuel HaKatan wrote the prayer against the heretics. Interestingly, I believe that Shmuel HaKatan would be translated into English as Samuel the Small. I am not sure why he is called the Small. If anyone knows, please let me know. Also, this blessing was inaugurated in the first century of the common era. I wonder if the heretics were early Jewish Christians.
Remember when Shmuel HaKatan wrote the blessing, there was no printing and paper and ink were precious. Apparently, Shmuel HaKatan wrote the blessing against the heretics, but did not write it down. Later when he is asked to recite it again, he cannot remember it. Despite his forgetfulness, he was not removed as prayer leader. The Talmud tells us that we do not remove a leader for mistakes, unless the mistake is in the prayer against heretics. A mistake here may be intentional and a way to spread blasphemy. Shmuel HaKatan was not removed, however, because he wrote the blessing. This leads to a discussion of whether good people can turn bad.
We then turn to the laws of the Shemoneh Esrei. Why do we only say seven blessings on the Sabbath? Why do we say nine blessings on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year)? Why do we say twenty four blessings on fast days?
If you remember the Mishnah with which we ended yesterday, the Rabbis were debating whether we had to say the whole Shemoneh Esrei (all 19 blessings) every time. Rabbi Yehoshua thought we could say an abridgment. After all, reciting the whole Shemoneh Esrei (particularly for those not fluent in Hebrew) can take fifteen minutes or more and we are supposed to say it three times a day. The Talmud wants to know what the abridgment is. The Talmud says we can say the first three blessings and then compress each of the middle thirteen blessings by reciting only their opening and concluding lines. We then end with the final three blessings (including the nineteenth prayer against the heretics). The compressed middle blessing is referred to the Give Us Discernment prayer (it starts with “Give us discernment”). In Hebrew this is said Havineinu.
We start with a discussion of why we cannot say the abridgment in the evening service of the Sabbath and festivals. On those evenings, as the festival is ending, we say a prayer called Havdalah, which literally means separation – thanking God for the ability to separate the sacred from the profane. After a detour to discuss how the Havdalah prayer is incorporated into the Shemoneh Esrei, we also learn that the Havineinu cannot be said in the winter months because we have to add special words to pray for rain in the winter. We then discuss what to do if we err and forget Havdalah or the prayer for rain. Do we start over? The answer depends on whether we are praying alone or in a Minyan. In a Minyan, the prayer leader will repeat the Shemoneh Esrei out loud after everyone prays it individually to themselves. We have a prayer reader repeat it out loud for those who are incapable of praying by themselves. The reader’s repetition clarifies that not everyone was educated enough or religious enough to pray on their own.
The Talmud is clearly worried about the issue of prayer becoming routine. We get a discussion about people who view prayer as a burden. Indeed, Rashi discusses those people who just want to get the Shemoneh Esrei done and pray at a rapid pace. Some Rabbis insist that we innovate in prayer by introducing some new statement. Nevertheless, the Talmud so far is much more interested in the details and rules than the intention of the person praying.
We do learn that when we are travelling in a dangerous place, we pray a very short prayer instead of the Shemoneh Esrei. We do so because we will not be able to concentrate appropriately on the Shemoneh Esrei. We then get several alternative short prayers that we can pray instead of the Shemoneh Esrei when we feel that we are in peril. Finally, the Rabbis settle on this text, “The needs of Your nation Israel are many – but their mind is limited. May it be Your will, Lord, or God that you give to each and every one enough for sustenance and to each and every body what it lacks. Blessed are You, Lord, who hears prayer.”
We then learn that the prophet Elijah taught us to avoid sin we should not become angry and avoid intoxication. He also taught us to beg leave of God before we set out on a journey. We thus get the wayfarer’s prayer. This is different than the short blessing we say when we feel in danger. That blessing is in lieu of saying Shemoneh Esrei. The wayfarer’s prayer is said at the start of every journey (we will get into detailed rules tomorrow about knowing when we have the start of a journey), regardless of whether it is safe or dangerous or whether we say Shemoneh Esrei or not. The wayfarer’s prayer goes, “May it be Your will, Lord, my God, that You lead me toward peace, emplace my footsteps toward peace and uphold me in peace. May You rescue me from the hand of every foe and ambush along the way. May You send blessing in my handiwork, and grant me grace, kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see me. Blessed are you, Lord, Who hears prayer.”
Amen!