Berakhot 068

5:
The Amidah consists of three major sub-sections. The first contains three berakhot whose content is unchanging. The third also contains three berakhot whose content is unchanging. It is the middle sub-section of each Amidah that changes. On ordinary weekdays this middle sub-section consists of thirteen separate berakhot (there were originally twelve, as I pointed out in the previous shiur). On Shabbat and the Festivals this sub-section consists of one berakhah only. (The Additional Amidah for Rosh ha-Shanah is the sole exception here: its middle sub-section also consists of three berakhot.)

To be continued.

Jeff Silver writes:

In the discussion earlier regarding tefillin on Ĥol ha-Mo'ed you included as one of the several reasons why some have the minhag of not laying tefillin on ĥol ha-Mo'ed the idea that there are already mitzvot (matzah and sukkah) associated with these days. I have always understood however that the mitzvah of matzah relates not to the entire festival of Pesaĥ but only to the seder. One may avoid matzah the rest of the Ĥag… so this would not (of itself) explain refraining from tefillin on Ĥol ha-Mo'ed Pesaĥ.

I respond:

When I was writing those words I had exactly the same thought as Jeff. However, I was copying them from a greater source: the famous commentary on Shulĥan Arukh Oraĥ Ĥayyim by Rabbi Me'ir Israel Kagan, Mishnah Berurah [31:2:6]. (Rabbi Kagan is better known by the sobriquet he adopted for the anonymous authorship line of another of his books, Ĥafetz Ĥayyim.) What Jeff writes is quite correct, and I can only assume that the greater man was thinking in Biblical terms: Exodus 12:15 or Leviticus 23:6, for instance. These verses read "For seven days shall you eat Matzah". While everyone (even those for whom it is difficult) is required to eat the minimal amount of Matzah at the Seder service, there is the lesser mitzvah of eating Matzah for the rest of the festival, but only if it is not problematic for you.

Alan Ganapol writes concerning our current mishnah:

I am struck by the schedule set forth for the appropriate times for the recitation of the Amidah. I can see the communal needs for scheduling… times to formally conduct Shaĥarit… etc. But the mishnah doesn't say "for communal tefillah": it is in general. But, to a laid back type of guy, such as myself… it seems odd to have such restrictions… if I want to say the Amidah at… then I will do it… why the need to legislate this even for private tefillah? A personal note based on the learning I received from R' Morton Siegel… The English word "prayer" comes from the French "prier" meaning to beg! Something we as Jews don't do when we "do" tefillah! The Hebrew root of Tefillah comes from the Hebrew pll meaning "to judge oneself"… sounds better to me.

I respond:

Academic scholars of liturgy tend to assume that historically the public recitation of the Amidah preceded its private recitation by individuals by several centuries. The sages were of the opposite opinion. Our mishnah, however, makes no distinction between the two. Whether it is being recited privately by an individual or publicly by the deputed representative of the congregation, it is to be recited within the parameters designated. Obviously, if you do not define the parameters of Morning, Afternoon and Evening there will be no possibility of Morning Amidah, Afternoon Amidah and so forth. Alan suggests that "if I want to say the Amidah at [any old time] then I will do it". Rabbi Joseph Hertz wrote in one of his works: "that which can be done at any time and in any manner is liable to be done at no time and in no manner". And if we cry out that the dry – almost bureaucratic – regulation of something that is supposed to come from the heart is a contradiction in terms, then I shall quote another of his bons mots. In times of very present danger military service derives from the patriotic need to defend our country. However, no militia could leave it to each conscript to decide how he or she would best like to express their patriotism within the general framework of military service!

Alan quite rightly points out the difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish concepts of prayer. To the Jew, prayer in times of psychological need, is a privilege – and almost no restrictions are placed upon the expression of that need. (The one exception to this restriction-free generality will be discussed in the last chapter of this Tractate.) But reciting the Amidah is a religious duty, and duties must have parameters.