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Meaning in Mitzvot -
Lesson 13

Siman 19 - Additions to the Amida Prayer - Siman 20 - The Prayer Leader's Repetition of the Amida

21.09.2014
Text file

 

1. PRAISES AND REQUESTS FOR RAIN (se'ifim 1 - 7)

 

Many different considerations contribute to form the somewhat complicated rules regarding the seasonal requests for rain.

 

i. At the most fundamental level, we should both request rain and praise HaShem for bringing it during the rainy season - starting at Sukkot and ending at Pesach.

 

ii. However, it would be unseemly to even mention rain at Sukkot when we are exposed in our sukka booths, so we wait until Shemini Atzeret when we return to our houses.

 

iii. Even then, it would be inconsiderate to REQUEST rain, since it will take a couple of weeks for the pilgrims to return to their homes, and travelling in the rain is difficult and unpleasant.

 

iv. And in Bavel (Babylonia - modern-day Iraq), the rains don't start until a few weeks before the solstice, so it seems inappropriate to request them earlier.

 

The final ruling is that we start PRAISING HaShem as the giver of rain starting at Shemini Atzeret (se'if 1), but we only start REQUESTING rain on the seventh of Cheshvan in Israel and on the fifth of December in Bavel, which by extension sets the rule for everywhere else in the diaspora (se'if 5 - the ruling for Israel is not mentioned in the Kitzur).

 

Both praising and requesting end at Pesach.

 

2. CUSTOMS WHICH DON'T RELATE TO OUR CURRENT REALITY

 

In the time of the Temple, refraining from praying for rain until Cheshvan carried a message of consideration, but today there are no pilgrims.  And even if there were, they would be travelling in closed motor vehicles protected from the rain.  Consequently, this custom seems to lose its ethical meaning.  Furthermore, in most places in Europe and in America there is rain all year around, so it seems unrealistic to continue with the customs of Talmudic times.

 

In reality, while during the time of the Temple this custom carried a message of consideration, today the custom has a DOUBLE meaning - the ethical message remains and a historical message has been added.  In the time of the Temple, one who asked why there is a delay in requesting rain would have learned an important lesson - we have consideration for the pilgrims.  Someone who asks the question today receives the same lesson, plus an ADDITIONAL one since we explain to him the former glory of Israel in the time when the Temple stood and pilgrimages were made three times a year.

 

Likewise, formerly one who asked why in the diaspora (which was then synonymous with Babylonia) the request was delayed until close to the winter solstice would learn that rain does not come until then anyway.  Today, the questioner learns that our current exile is really just a chronological and geographical EXTENSION of the Babylonian exile.

 

The exile to Egypt was not a punishment for our sins; it was not a national exile at all, but rather the exile of individuals, since the Jewish people as a nation only came into being through the very exodus from Egypt.  Exile as a punishment for the sins of Israel - and as a repair for the state which brought these sins about - begins with the Babylonian exile at the destruction of the first Temple and continues until this day.

 

Jewish exile has many dimensions.  At one level, it is a punishment for sin - on the whole life has been good for us individually and collectively in the land of Israel, while the hardships and unfamiliarity of exile are an affliction.  At another level, it is a natural consequence of sin, just as illness occurs naturally to a person who abuses his health.  The Land of Israel can not endure sin, and it expels those who are not spiritually worthy of the Holy Land.  Finally, exile is a remedy; somehow the exile itself is supposed to bring about a state where repatriation is possible.

 

Ironically, because of the state of confusion which led to our misdeeds, it is only through the alienation of exile that we may come to realize our true selves. This is what occurred in Bavel.  Until the exile to Bavel, we were a prophetic people, a nation with an ongoing experience of communication with God. At the Red Sea (1) and at Mount Sinai, every member of our people experienced prophecy; afterwards our many prophets (2) were constant leaders and guides in matters large and small, from deciding whether to make war to locating lost objects.

 

Unfortunately, this experiencing of God's presence led to an experiential approach to religion in general.  But idolatry also provides an exhilarating spiritual experience - a polluted one - and it became a terrible temptation for the Jewish people (3).  In this state of confusion, it was necessary to separate ourselves from the religious EXPERIENCE and establish our connection to God on the basis of firm and unyielding PRINCIPLES.  This occurred in Bavel, the birthplace of the Babylonian Talmud.

 

Our sages compare the Talmud of Bavel to "sitting in darkness" (4).  This analogy appears in the Babylonian Talmud itself!  A blind person, or one sitting in darkness, can not rely on visual information.  He needs to carefully measure every aspect of his surroundings.  He is not fooled by illusions nor distracted by decorations.  Likewise, the Babylonian Talmud approaches the entire Torah on the basis of careful definitions and measurements.  This was a necessary supplement to the experiential aspect of Torah, and as a result it is the Babylonian Talmud which became the authoritative source of law for Judaism everywhere - even in Israel.

 

Our mentions of rain in the Amida prayer serve as a reminder that our IDEAL state in the land of Israel existed only at the time when the Temple stood and pilgrims came from far and wide for the holidays; and that our IDEAL state in the diaspora involves devoting ourselves to Torah study and elucidating the unchanging principles of our religion, to enable us to EXPERIENCE God's presence without going astray.

 

3. MISTAKES IN "MORID HA-GESHEM" AND "TEN TAL U-MATAR" (se'ifim 2, 6)

 

Rav Ganzfried rules (se'if 2) that one who finished the second blessing of the Amida in the winter and forgot to say the words "morid ha-geshem" (Who makes the rain fall) must start the entire Amida over. Likewise, Rav Ganzfried rules (se'if 6) that one who forgot to pray for rain in the ninth blessing, for the year's produce, and also forgot to make it up in "shome'a tefilla", needs to go back  again to the blessing of years.

 

It is important to know that as long as the SUBSEQUENT (third or tenth) blessing has not begun, it is as if the current blessing has not been finished, and it is possible to make up the mising phrase: 'morid ha-geshem" or "ten tal u-matar li-vrakha al penei ha-adama" (grant dew and rain for a blessing) respectively (5).

 

4. YA'ALEH VE-YAVO

 

On Yom Tov and on Rosh Chodesh we say the prayer "ya'aleh ve-yavo."  The essence of this prayer is that our prayers should ascend on high so God may hear and respond to them.  The stages that our remembrance is supposed to go through - ascend, and come, and arrive, and be seen, and find favor, and be heard, and be acted upon and remembered - remind us of someone who writes a letter of request.  In order for his request to be answered, the letter must be posted and collected, must arrive and be noticed, be accepted and read, and finally be responded to.

 

The metaphor of prayer as a message which needs to be delivered, and which can get mislaid along the way, is an ancient one in Jewish literature.  We may speak of the "gates of prayer" (6), of angels who give backing to our prayers (7), and so on. 

 

This idea is actually very intuitive.  We all understand that it is not enough to merely want something from God, it is necessary to EXPRESS our desire in words of prayer.  Even once our prayers have been uttered, HaShem has warned us that if our behavior is improper, he will not hear our prayers (8).  Part of the idea of prayer is that by virtue of our Divine image, that our personal will is an aspect of God's will, it is appropriate that He should carry out our desires (9).  But if our behavior demonstrates that we are far from Godliness, it is logical that our prayers have no influence.  Furthermore, even when HaShem hears our prayers, it is obvious that he can not be compelled to fulfill them; perhaps there are obstacles unknown to us.  So we see that the expression, arrival, and fulfillment of prayers involve a process, which depends on the moral and spiritual context.  Just as we can pray for any private request, we can pray that this process of the acceptance of our prayers will be completed (10).

 

The memory of Jerusalem mentioned in the prayer presumably refers primarily to the Temple service.  Perhaps it is for this reason that the prayer is said on the days when there is a special musaf sacrifice, commemorated to day by the musaf prayer (11).

 

 

SIMAN 20 - THE PRAYER LEADER'S REPETITION OF THE AMIDA

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The idea of the prayer leader as a representative of the community as a whole, and of his prayer as the prayer OF the community, and not merely ON BEHALF of the community, was discussed above, in siman 12 se'if 7 and at the beginning of siman 15.

 

KEDUSHA (Seifim 4, 11, 12)

 

Even though it is very important that the congregation LISTEN to the entire repetition of the Amida (se'if 1), in saying kedusha they must actually PARTICIPATE.

 

The kedusha prayer itself, as it is said in the individual's Amida, comes to remind us that even though HaShem is involved in the material world, through his promise to guide and protect the descendants of the Patriarchs (first benediction) and through providing sustenance for the entire world (second benediction), He is still holy - separated and elevated above the material, sanctified above the angels, sanctified above all (12).

 

But the kedusha prayer of the congregation has an additional theme: our likeness to the angels. This is expressed in straightening and joining our legs, like the angels who have one straight leg, in saying the phrase "kadosh, kadosh, kadosh" (holy, holy, holy) like the angels, and in elevating ourselves towards heaven like the angels (se'if 4), and in addition by the opening line of the benediction, which differs from community to community but always likens our sanctification of HaShem to that of the angels.

 

It is as a congregation - manifested in the requirement for a quorum of ten men - that we are able to be like the angels.  Transgressions and shortcomings which are relevant on the individual level, do not come to bear on the community.  In addition, each individual by attaching himself to the community  demonstrates his ability to transcend his personal material limitations (13).  Hence, this kedusha is recited only in a congregation, and every individual must listen and respond.

 

 

Endnotes:

 

(1)  Yalkut Shimoni Beshalach (246) says that even simple people at the crossing of the Red Sea experienced a greater level of prophecy than the prophet Yechezkel.

 

(2)  According to Megilla 14a, more than a million prophets have existed.

 

(3)  The gemara (Sanhedrin 64a) relates that the sages of the second Temple killed the idolatrous urge. When they did so, a fiery lion fled from the Inner Sanctum of the Temple! The animating spirit of Divine service is burning and fierce like a fiery lion, but this same spirit can feed the idolatrous urge as well.

There is a close parallel to interpersonal relations.  Romance is a positive and necessary element in marriage to strengthen the bond between the partners, but if it becomes overemphasized, one partner may easily conclude that he or she will have even more success with some romantic stranger.  An occasional period of separation as indeed Jewish law mandated (as we will learn in siman 153), compels the couple to concentrate on the foundations of their relationship which alone are capable of giving meaning to romance, 

 

(4)  Sanhedrin 24a.

 

(5)  Shulchan Arukh OC 114:6 and MB s.k. 3.

 

(6)  Berakhot 32b.

 

(7)  Sanhedrin 44b.

 

(8)  See Yeshayahu 1:15.

 

(9)  Avot 2:4.

 

(10)  But the Machzor Vitri (siman 231) does not view these expressions as stages of a single process.  Instead, it views each expression as belonging to a particular remembrance: "ascend" for Jerusalem, "come" for Israel, "arrive" for the Moshiach, and so on.

 

(11)  The Sefer HaManhig (p. 83) cites Rav Paltoi who explains that in some places this prayer was recited only on Rosh HaShana, during the "Zikhronot" ("Remembrances") prayer. Of course this fits in very well with the numerous mentions of "zikhron" and "pekida" - remembrance and visitation. Sofrim 19:5 explains "just as we extol Him on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, so we extoll Him on Yom Tov. How do we extoll Him, by saying . . . ya'aleh ve-yavo." Here also there is an idea of extension from the Days of Judgement.

 

(12)  Kuzari, III:17.

 

(13)  See Olat Reiya on the kedusha.

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