Berakhot 081

32:
After this very long introduction we can now approach our present mishnah itself! In this mishnah, as with Keriat Shema earlier on in the Tractate, the sages seek to set time parameters for the recitation of the Amidah. Since each of our "services" today is built around an Amidah, our mishnah, effectively, will also define the time parameters of the various services. It deals with four Amidot: that which is to be recited in the morning [Shaĥarit], that which is to be recited in the afternoon [Minĥah], that which is to be recited in the evening [Arvit or Ma'ariv], and the additional Amidah [Musaf] which is recited on New Moons [Rosh Ĥodesh], Sabbaths and the festivals instituted by the Torah [Pesaĥ, Shavu'ot, Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom-Kippur, Sukkot and Semini-Atzeret (known in Israel as Simĥat Torah)]. Our mishnah does not deal with one other Amidah that exists, Ne'ilah (nowadays only recited at the very end of Yom Kippur) – probably because its incidence is so limited. Furthermore, and curiously, our mishnah only defines the terminus ad quem [finishing deadline] of each of the Amidot, leaving unspecified the terminus a quo [earliest starting point in time]. I shall try to furnish that information as well in the ensuing paragraphs.

33:
There is an ambivalence in our classical sources as to the rationale for the time parameters of these services. On the one hand, we find the suggestion that the recitation of the Amidot was instituted by the three Patriarchs and on the other hand we find the suggestion that they were instituted by the sages to parallel the times of the sacrificial rituals of the Bet Mikdash [Berakhot, 26b]. According to Rabbi Yosé ben-Ĥanina, Abraham instituted Shaĥarit, Isaac instituted Minĥah and Jacob instituted Arvit, each of these claims being based on Biblical verses. According to Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Levi the Amidot were instituted to parallel the regular sacrifices of the Bet Mikdash. Although the reasoning of Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Levi seems to be more plausible, the Gemara finally compromises: the Amidot were indeed instituted by the Patriarchs but it was the sages who set their time parameters and that they did in order to parallel the times of worship in the Bet Mikdash. (The Gemara does not address the powerful question of Rabbi Yehoshu'a: "Who then instituted Musaf?!") One of the most convincing arguments in favour of the stance of Rabbi Yehoshu'a are its halakhic consequences, as we shall see.

34:
The Amidah to be recited every morning of the year is familiarly termed Shaĥarit, an expression which is connected with the Hebrew word for 'dawn' (and which, according to some serious etymologists, in its turn, might be the origin of the Yiddish term for worship 'davvenen' – personally, I have my doubts). Its starting parameter, not mentioned in our mishnah, has already been mentioned by us in Berakhot 062. Ideally, the Shaĥarit Amidah should be recited any time from sunrise onwards [Rambam, Hilkhot Tefillah 3:1 in Mishneh Torah]. However, since the Tamid shel Shaĥar [Morning Sacrifice] was offered in the Bet Mikdash from dawn onwards, when there are urgent reasons for doing so, the Shaĥarit Amidah may also be recited from dawn onwards.

35:
The Amidah to be recited every afternoon of the year is familiarly termed Minĥah, which is a Hebrew expression borrowed from one of the technical terms used in the Bet Mikdash for an Offering (mostly a cereal offering). Its starting parameter is ideally set at the time when the second of the two Temidim [Regular and Constant Sacrifices] was offered in the Bet Mikdash, the ninth hour of the day (arrived at by dividing the total amount of time that elapses on any given day between sunrise and sunset by twelve and then multiplying by nine: if sunrise is at 6 am and sunset is at 6 pm then the ninth hour commences at 3 pm). However, the busiest day of the year for the priests on duty in the Bet Mikdash was the day before Pesaĥ, when everyone in Jerusalem would bring their lambs there to be slaughtered ready for the roast lamb they would eat at the seder Service later that evening. According to the Gemara [Pesaĥim 64b] a rough count was made at the instigation of King Herod Agrippa [41-44 CE] and the High Priest counted 600,000 lambs brought to the Temple on one Erev Pesaĥ about 25 years before the Destruction. Even if this figure is an idealized exaggeration, it gives us some idea of how busy the priests must have been on that day! And all those lambs had to be dealt with after the Minĥah had been offered and before dusk! Therefore, not too surprisingly, on Erev Pesaĥ the Minĥah of the Bet Mikdash was brought forward to half an hour after noon; and therefore, to this very day, those who choose to do so, may recite Minĥah on any day from that same hour.

To be continued.