Avot146

18:
We have seen that one possible interpretation of the term 'fixed' (in the exhortation of Rabbi Shim'on that we not make our prayer 'fixed') is that we not use a standard text for the Amidah, but rather innovate each time we rise to pray. But it is possible that he intended that we understand the term to have a different meaning. It could be that he is warning us not to make the recital of our prayers a kind of 'fixed task', something that we do mechanically, without thinking because we are so used to the words. If this was his intention then Rabbi Shim'on is warning us not to recite the Amidah as a task which must be done but to make it a plea for "mercy and supplication before the Omnipresent."

19:
In his massive compendium of Halakhah, Mishneh Torah [Tefillah 4:15] Rambam teaches that the sages require that our minds be completely composed each time we recite the Amidah:

This is, of course, very different from the attitude at present prevailing which would prefer the regular recitation of the Amidah, three times a day every day, even if done as an unthinking, mechanical task, rather than missing out on the mitzvah even once.

20:
I am sure that many will find Rambam's ruling very surprising. But in the very next halakhah he goes even further. It seems that in 4:16 he is giving halakhic status to the ethical recommendation of Rabbi Shim'on in our mishnah:

While Rambam's rulings here are certainly a goal to be aimed at by those who wish to worship "properly" I suspect that if ordinary people today, leading ordinary lives, were to obey them completely they would not recite an Amidah more than two or three times a year! Nevertheless, the teaching of Rabbi Shim'on is certainly something that one should always try to strive for.

To be continued.

In Avot 144 I gave a very brief resumé of the rules and regulations which govern the recitation of Shema according to Rambam's Mishneh Torah. One of the items mentioned was: One should not sound a weak letter as a strong one, not pronounce a quiescent sheva as a vocal sheva, and one must separate similar consonants … like when the last letter of one word is the same as the first letter of the next, as in "bekhol levavekha"…

Jacob Chinitz writes:

Bekhol Lashon Sheato Shomea. Shema can be, or perhaps should be, recited in the language understood by the reciter.

I respond:

That Shema may be recited in the one's native tongue is certain; that it should be recited in one's native tongue is a moot point and not all halakhic authorities would agree with Jacob's opinion. However, that was not the point that I wished to make. Our discussion was concerning the minutiae of the rules and regulations that govern the recitation of Shema – in any language. In that same source as quoted above [Keri'at Shema 3:10] Rambam adds:

Jacob also added a list of 'recitations' and the languages in which they may or may not be recited. I do not bring the list here because this topic was fully discussed by us when we studied the original source in Tractate Sotah.

G^emar Ĥatimah Tovah to everybody. I wish you all well over the fast.