Siman 89: The Appropriate Time for Tefilla

THE TIME FOR THE AMIDA

 

            The various times regulating the morning service are as follows:

 

AMUD HA-SHACHAR - dawn.  From this time on, the obligation to daven the amida can be fulfilled, and if there is a "sha'at ha-dechak" one may le-khatchila daven then.  Furthermore, one's obligation to say KS is fulfilled if one recites KS so early on OCCASIONALLY.

 

"MAKIR ET CHAVEIRO" - "first daylight."  From this time on, one may say blessings on talit and tefillin, and one may say KS even le-khatchila.

 

HA-NETZ HA-CHAMA - start of sunrise.  This begins the le-khatchila time to pray Shmona Esre, and is the ideal time to do so.

 

ONE FOURTH OF THE DAY - end of time to say KS.  Afterwards, reading KS is just like reading from the Torah.

 

ONE THIRD OF THE DAY - end of time to say the Amida "in its time."

 

NOON - after this, one may not say the Amida at all.

 

HALF AN HOUR AFTER NOON - after this time, even if one davened (improperly, since it is not permitted to daven then) one has not fulfilled the requirement to pray Shacharit and one needs to make up the prayer ("tashlumin") after Mincha, assuming that the prayer was missed due to duress.

 

CALCULATION OF THE TIMES

 

            Some people figure the time for dawn using an objective measure of when the sun gets within a certain angle (around 16 degrees) of the horizon.  Others use a fixed amount of time, usually 72 minutes before sunrise.  Likewise, "first daylight" may be considered to be a sun-angle of 11 degrees, or around 50-60 minutes (depending on the length of the night).

 

            Surprisingly, there are varying ways of calculating sunrise as well, but they differ by only a few minutes.

 

            There are two main ways of figuring the 12-hour halakhic day (and night), which then determines the fourth, third, and half-days mentioned above.  According to the Magen Avraham (MA), day is from dawn (amud ha-shachar) to dusk (tzet ha-kochavim).  According to the Vilna Gaon (Gra) and the Shulchan Arukh HaRav, (the author of the "Tanya"), we calculate from sunrise to sunset.  (It follows that according to the MA, the day is rather longer on average than the night.)

 

            It is very common for KS on Shabbat in synagogue to be later than the MA permits.  It is appropriate in such an instance to say KS before services with a condition (tenai) that if the halakha is according to the MA, then one means to fulfill one's obligation with this KS, otherwise one means to fulfill the obligation with the KS said during the service, which is better.  (It is not too uncommon in America and Europe in the spring - when sunrise is already early and daylight savings time hasn't started -  for KS in shul to be even later than the Gra permits.  Then one MUST say KS in advance, and no condition is necessary.)

 

CONFLICTS

 

            Praying on time is more important than praying with a minyan.  According to the MB, it is better to daven alone after sunrise than to daven with a minyan beforehand.  However, if there is a fixed minyan of early risers which will fall apart if a few congregants stop coming in January (when sunrise is very late), it is better to keep the minyan going.  If without a minyan others will not pray at all, one should certainly try to pray with a minyan.  It is certainly better to pray alone than to pray AFTER the time of davening - even though some congregations actually miss even zeman tefilla on Shabbat in the spring.  These minyans usually do not lack participants.

 

            Zeman tefilla versus Torah reading: not infrequently a late-comer on Shabbat faces a choice between hearing the Torah reading and missing zeman tefilla, or vice versa - praying right away and missing the Torah reading.  I don't think this is discussed in the MB.  R. Weiss, the author of Minchat Yitzchak, explains at length in a note in "Tefilla Ke-Hilkhata" that it is more important to pray on time.  This is so even though it is still possible to say Shmona Esre as "tefilla" until noon, since then it is no longer "tefilla bizmanah."

 

GREETING ONE'S FELLOW

 

"Rav said, greeting one's fellow before praying is akin to making a forbidden altar (bama), as it is written: 'Keep away from [do no rely on] man, whose life is in his breath, for what (bemeh) is he accounted?' (Isaiah 2:22) Do not read "bemeh" but rather "bama."  But Shemuel says, for what have you accounted [relied on] this [flesh and blood man], and not on God?  R. Sheshet objected: "In between paragraphs one may greet a dignitary and also return a greeting."  [Proving that one may greet even during KS itself.]  R. Abba translated [limited the prohibition of greeting before tefilla], if one hastens to his door.

 

R. Idi bar Avin said in the name of R. Yitzchak bar Ashian, It is forbidden for a man to concern himself with his business before praying, as it is said 'Righteousness shall go before him, and [only then] he will set out on the way' (Tehillim 85) (Berakhot 14a)

 

            It would seem as if there is no problem whatsoever in greeting one's friend if one runs into him on the street before morning prayers.  Only one problem exists: to go to the friend's house before davening in order to greet him; then he is guilty of accounting mere flesh and blood before his Maker.

 

            However, in our siman we learn two limitations on greeting someone even in a random meeting:

 

            The Beit Yosef mentions two explanations of the gemara which are somewhat different from our translation: Talmidei Rabbenu Yona explain that the prohibition is not because of the temporal precedence of one's fellow over one's Maker (greeting before davening) but RATHER because of the use of the word Shalom as a greeting before one has confronted the Maker of Shalom.  Any other greeting is permissible in any case.  But their Rav (presumably Rabbenu Yona himself) added, that IN ADDITION an ordinary greeting is also forbidden if one goes to the friend's house in order to greet him, and Shalom is forbidden even if one has to go to meet the friend for some other reason.

 

            And R. Yerucham explains that "giving Shalom" refers only to bowing, but any other greeting is always permissible.  But the Orchot Chaim added that IN ADDITION to regular greetings, bowing is forbidden even in a chance meeting.

 

            So the two leniencies - that the forbidden greeting is limited to saying the word Shalom, or to bowing - become stringencies: these forms of greeting are problematic even by chance, and all greeting is wrong if one makes a special trip for it.

 

            I have suggested that the stringencies are less serious than the straight prohibition - my source is MB s.k. 16; see how the rule is characterized there.

 

            It seems that NO ONE FORBIDS A SIMPLE POLITE GREETING IF ONE MEETS A FRIEND ON THE STREET BEFORE SERVICES.  In one very common situation, one may say even the specially PROHIBITED greetings - see MB s.k.16.  And certainly one must RESPOND to a greeting.

 

            It seems that many people are aware of the prohibition to greeting one's friend before prayers but unaware of the limitations on the prohibition, and many feelings are hurt as a result.

 

EATING AND DRINKING BEFORE PRAYERS

 

"R. Yosi beR. Chanina said in the name of R. Eliezer ben Yaakov, What is the meaning of the verse (Vayikra 19:26) 'Do not eat on the blood?'  Do not eat before you pray for your blood (livelihood).  R. Yitzchak said in the name of R. Yochanan, in the name of R. Yosi beR. Chanina in the name of R. Eliezer Ben Yaakov: Anyone who eats and drinks and afterwards prays, of him the Scriptures say (Melakhim I 14), 'And you have cast Me behind your backs' - do not render 'your backs (geveicha) but rather 'your haughtiness' (geieicha).  The Holy One blessed be He says, after he has taken care of his pride, then he is going to accept my yoke?"

 

            It seems obvious that the verse from Vayikra is only an asmakhta - a scriptural support for a rabbinic decree.  After all, according to many authorities there is no Torah requirement to pray every day at all, and all agree that there is no fixed time for prayer min ha-Torah.  Surprisingly, the Sefer HaChinukh (# 248) considers it to be a regular Torah prohibition.  The Chinukh considers this verse to be a general prohibition of any eating which tends to turn the eater away from God's service.  It may be that the Torah prohibition according to him is if one eats greedily, or if one has already established a time for prayer but eats instead.

 

            Note that this prohibition is quite different than the prohibition of eating before mincha (see SA 232:2) or Ma'ariv (235:2).  There the concern is not with the eating per se, but with the possibility that the person will become distracted and miss tefilla.  That concern exists also by Shacharit (SA se'if 5; and see MB s.k. 27 and 36), but the prohibition is limited to a meal which may become prolonged.  Before Shacharit, ANY eating is forbidden.

 

COFFEE AND TEA - see MB s.k. 22.  The Arukh HaShulchan says that there is nothing prideful about a little sugar (or even a little milk) if it is only to make the beverage palatable, and not to make it filling.  Does the MB agree?

 

ONE WHO IS WEAK

 

            The SA permits eating for medical reasons (se'if 3) and also if one is - or will be - too hungry to concentrate.  Two explanations are possible: we could say that this kind of eating is not prideful in any way - if that were the case, it would be okay even if it were possible to defer the eating.  Alternatively, we could say that this eating is per se problematic, but it is a necessary evil for a sick or weak person.  Then we would look for a way to avoid having to be lenient.

 

            How does the MB rule in these cases?  See BH s.v. Ve-khen okhlin.

 

LEARNING TORAH

 

            Here it is clear that the only reason for the prohibition is that we are afraid that one may become absorbed and miss tefilla.  Therefore, it is permissible if someone will remind him when it is time to pray (see MB s.k. 32).  I heard from R. Neuwirth that an alarm clock is also an acceptable solution.

 

KS AND SEMIKHAT GE'ULA LI-TEFILLA, AND OTHER RULES OF PRECEDENCE

 

            These were discussed at length in a previous shiur - that on siman 58, shiur number 35.