Tefillah 005

8:
We have seen so far that the early morning ritual consists of two parts: Birkhot ha-Shaĥar followed by Birkhot ha-Torah – the morning benedictions and the Torah benedictions. In the middle ages this orderly progression was disturbed by a new consideration. This new consideration was that there were people who were both pious and knowledgeable who were interspersing biblical quotations in their early morning prayers. The problem here was that they were 'studying' Torah before they had recited the Torah blessings. Basing themselves on a passage in the Gemara [Nedarim 81a] the poskim [decisors] opined that reciting any verses before reciting the Torah benedictions was to be avoided. Of course, arguments could be – and were – put forward that this consideration was quite unnecessary: the most cogent argument being that including biblical verses as part of one's prayers can hardly be considered study of Torah. But the idea caught on in many (but not all) circles.

9:
Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Asher [1270-1343] in his monumental code Tur mentions his own personal custom:

This personal custom of Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Asher, because it was enshrined in the Tur was soon adopted by others. Among Ashkenazi Jews it almost became standard. Because the recitation of the benedictions had become ritualized for most people no one noticed that the original intentions of the sages had been disrupted.

10:
In Conservative Judaism Siddur Va'ani Tefillati reverted back to the original order: first come the Birkhot ha-Shaĥar (page 15) and then they are followed by Birkhot ha-Torah (page 19) and the accompanying study.

(For the benefit of those who do not have access to Siddur Va'ani Tefillati I have added Birkhot ha-Torah to Birkhot ha-Shaĥar. To access these benedictions as they appear in the Masorti Siddur please click here.)

However, Siddur Sim Shalom adopted the custom of the Tur: immediately after Elohai Neshamah come the Torah benedictions (page 63) with suggested passages for study (page 64) and only then are the Birkhot ha-Shaĥar resumed (page 65) and concluded.

11:
Originally, at this point, having concluded the early morning benedictions, which are private worship, the Jew would make his way to the synagogue to join in public worship. However, we have already noted that in the middle ages these benedictions were made a part of the synagogue service for the benefit of those who were not able to recite them at home from memory (prayer books being very scarce and very expensive). Once this happened more passages were added to the Torah study section. We shall investigate these additional passages in our next shiur.

In Tefillah 003 I wrote: … there is a very clear tradition among our people that we do not coin new benedictions in the post-Talmudic era..

Clifford Fishman writes:

I would be grateful if you would elaborate about this.

I respond:

One of the most influential of the poskim of the late middle ages was Rabbi Yeshayahu Horowitz [1565-1630] and his most famous work is Shnei Luĥot ha-Brit. Rabbi Howowitz notes that one of the blessings of Birkhot ha-Shaĥar should not be said. The benediction in question is ha-noten la-ya'ef ko'aĥ. He says that this benediction should not be said because it is not mentioned in the Talmud. He mentions several other new benedictions that had crept into the ritual in various circles – benedictions that are not mentioned "by the Ge'onim, nor by Rambam nor by the Tur." Actually the Tur does mention the benediction ha-noten la-ya'ef ko'aĥ, and tries hard – but rather unconvincingly – to justify its inclusion among Ashkenazi Jews. Rabbi Horowitz says that

I hope this short explanation is what Clifford was looking for.

I apologize for the comparative brevity of this week's shiur, but Pesaĥ is approaching and it is a rather busy time for a congregational rabbi. Next week, being the day before Erev Pesaĥ I cannot promise to provide a shiur, but I will do my best. In case my best is not good enough let me take this opportunity to wish everyone in the Halakhah Study Group a very happy and Kasher Passover.