Berakhot 087

6:
The difference between Rabban Gamli'el and Rabbi Yehoshu'a in our mishnah is concerned with the content of the Amidah. Rabban Gamli'el insists that one must recite all the berakhot in full every day at all services. Rabbi Yehoshu'a is of the opinion that a resumé of the middle section of the Amidah is acceptable. By this he is referring to a text that is quoted in the Gemara [Berakhot 29a] by the Babylonian Amora Shemuel. This text, known as Havinenu creates one berakhah in place of all the thirteen: each berakhah is referred to obliquely by a short phrase. Accepted practice nowadays essentially follows Rabban Gamli'el. However, when time is lacking it is quite permissible to recite the first three berakhot in full, then to recite Havinenu, and then to complete the Amidah by reciting the last three berakhot in full. This procedure is never followed for the cantor's repetition. In time of acute danger the following text may be used in place of the whole of the Amidah: "The needs of Your people Israel are many and their understanding is limited. May it be Your pleasure, Adonai our God and God of our Ancestors, to grant every single one of us a sufficient income and every single person what they lack. Blessed are You, Adonai, Who listens to prayer" [Berakhot 29b].

Concerning the correct way to recite Kedushah [Berakhot 084], JDerek Fields writes:

I had been taught at some point that the practice of the congregation recite a section of the Kedushah and then having the Cantor repeat that section was either as a recollection of antiphonal practices at the Temple or as a further interpretive implementation of the angels who called to one another.

David Freidenreich has a note and a question:

Note: the prayers of Rabbi Nehunya you cited [Berakhot 084]] from the Yerushalmi are also in the Bavli. Question: What does the appellation (Rabbi Nehunya) "ben haKanah" mean? I presume that his father was not named "reed."

I respond:

I often quote from the Talmud of Eretz-Israel, especially when the text it parallels in the other Talmud (which is much better known and much more accessible) has differences which are interesting or noteworthy. I do not know what "ha-Kanah" means. However, his father's name was "ha-Kanah". not "ha-Kaneh", which would mean "reed".

Yiftah Shapir writes:

Your response to Rebecca Grabiner was a partial answer to a question that bugged me for quite a while. I wondered where did the holy creatures ("Hayot Ha-Kodesh") come to our service – and how do they fit in with our perception of God. It would seem to me that if we believe in God according to Rambam's 13 principles, there should be no place for a throne [Kise Kavod] and no place for other supernatural beings. Now comes the obvious question – can we accept the belief in other supernatural beings other than God, and in "Ma'ase Ha-Merkavah"? How can we reconcile it with the belief in One God? And if not, should we continue to include them in our service?

I respond:

Yiftah asks, in fact, two questions: what is the origin of the various angels that are mentioned in our prayers and can this be reconciled with our strict monotheism? I shall attempt to deal with the first question today and the second question in our next shiur.

The prophets had vivid imaginations. Isaiah had envisaged the Deity as a monarch seated upon a high and lofty throne [Kissé] surrounded by ministering fiery servants [Serafim] who dared not even look at their sovereign [Isaiah 6:1-3]. Ezekiel had a different vision, which seems to be based on the pictures we see of historical Assyrian thrones. He sees [Ezekiel chapters 1 and 3] a throne supported by four-headed creatures [Ĥayot] – a throne which seems to have "wheels within wheels" [Ofanim] to transport it out of the doomed Jerusalem. Add to these the winged creatures [Kerubim] that protected the physical representation of the Divine Throne, the Aron of whose making we read in the Torah portion a couple of weeks ago [Exodus 25:18-20] – and you have the Biblical basis for a detailed angelology of Cherubs, Seraphs, Chayot and Ofanim. I have already pointed out [Berakhot 084]] how later mystics developed this visionary basis into a detailed heavenly host.