Souls Nuts and Bolts ~ last three blessings of the Amidah

[We learned in the mishna] We give thanks, we give thanks, they silence him. Rabbi Zeira said: One who says: Listen Israel, Listen Israel is like one who says: We give thanks, we give thanks. An objection: [It was taught in a baraita:] One who recites Shema and repeats it, it is reprehensible. One may infer: It is reprehensible, but they do not silence him. This is not difficult; this [case of the SHema] one who recites and repeats each individual word but this [case,] one who recites and repeats an entire verse, as it appears that he is worshiping separate authorities. Rav Pappa said to Abaye: And perhaps initially he did not focus his attention on the recitation of Shema, so he repeated it and ultimately he focused his attention? Abaye said to him:

Can one have [such] familiarity with Heaven, [he can take his words lightly and say them however he likes?] If he did not focus his attention initially, we beat him with a blacksmith’s hammer until he focuses his attention. MISHNA: (If one says: “May the goods bless You,” this is a path of heresy.) One who is passing before the ark, [as prayer leader] and erred, another should pass in his place, and at that moment, he should not refuse From where does [the replacement] commence? From the beginning of the blessing in which [the former] had erred. One who passes before the ark should not respond amen after the blessing of the Kohanim, because of potential confusion. If there is no priest other than him he does not lift his hands. However, if he is certain that he can lift his hands and resume his prayer he is permitted GEMARA: The Sages taught [in a baraita:] One who is asked to pass before the ark should refuse. And if he does not refuse, he is like cooked food without salt. However, if he refuses too much he is like cooked food that was ruined by [too much] salt. So how should he act? The first time, one should refuse; the second time vacillate like a wick, the third time, he should stretch his legs and descend before the ark. The Sages taught [in a baraita:] There are three things that are harmful in excess but are beneficial when used sparingly. They are: Leavening, salt and refusal. [Back to our question of where he commences to repeat the Prayer] Rav Huna said: One who erred in the first three blessings he must return to the beginning [of the Amida] If he erred in the middle blessings, he returns to the blessing of: You give [humans understanding ]In the three final blessings, he must return to the blessing of Temple service. And Rav Asi [disputed and] said: The middle blessings have no set order! [he repeats from wherever he saw the mistake] Rav Sheshet raised an objection [based on a baraita:] From where does he being the repetition? From the beginning of the blessing in which [the former] had erred. This is a conclusive refutation of Rav Huna’s. [But wait,] Rav Huna could have said to you: The middle blessings are all considered one blessing. Rav Yehuda said: One must never request his needs in the first three or in the last three, but only in the middle. As Rabbi Ḥanina said: The first three - he is like a servant who arranges praise before his master; the middle blessings - he is like a servant who requests a reward from his master; the final three blessings - one is like a servant who received a reward from his master and is taking his leave and departing. The Sages taught: There was an incident where one student descended before the ark in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer, and he was excessively prolonging his prayer. His students said to him: How long-winded he is! He said to them: Is he prolonging his prayer any more than Moses our teacher? As about Moses it is written: “And I prostrated myself before the Lord for the forty days and forty nights that I prostrated myself” (Deuteronomy 9:25). Again an incident where one student descended before the ark in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer, and he was excessively abbreviating his prayer. His students said to him: How brief is him! He said to them: Is he abbreviating any more than Moses our teacher did? As it is written “And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying: ‘Please, God, heal her, please’” (Numbers 12:13). Rabbi Ya’akov said that Rav Ḥisda said: Anyone who requests mercy on behalf of another need not mention his name, as it is stated: “Please, God, heal her, please,” and he did not mention Miriam’s name. The Sages taught [in a Tosefta:] These are the blessings in which a person bows: In the Patriarchs, one bows at the beginning and the end; in the blessing of thanksgiving, one bows at the beginning and the end; and if one seeks to bow at the end of each and every blessing and at the beginning of each and every blessing, they teach him not to bow. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of the tanna bar Kappara: An ordinary person as we said,

[but] a High Priest bows at the end of each and every blessing; and a king bows at the beginning of each and every blessing and at the end of each and every blessing. Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Naḥmani said: It was explained to me from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: An ordinary person, as we said; a High Priest bows at the beginning of each and every blessing; the king, once he has bowed does not rise until he concludes the entire prayer, as it is stated: “And it was that when Solomon finished praying all of his prayer to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling upon his knees with his hands spread forth toward the heavens” (I Kings 8:54). The Sages taught [in a baraita]:The term kidda means bowing upon one’s face, with his face toward the ground, as it is stated: “Then Bathsheba bowed [vatikod] with her face to the ground” (I Kings 1:31). Keria means bowing upon one’s knees, as regarding Solomon it is stated: He finished praying and “he rose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling [mikkeroa] upon his knees.” Finally, hishtaḥava’a, that is bowing with one’s hands and legs spread in total submission, as it is stated in Jacob’s question to Joseph in response to his dream: “Shall we, I and your mother and your brothers, come and bow down [lehishtaḥavot] to you to the ground?” (Genesis 37:10). Rav Ḥiyya, son of Rav Huna, said: I saw Abaye and Rava, who would lean [not actually prostrate themselves on the ground]. One baraita taught: One who bows in the blessing of thanksgiving, it is praiseworthy. And it was taught in another baraita: One who bows in the blessing of thanksgiving, it is reprehensible! This is not difficult; this refers to one who bows at the beginning of the blessing. This refers to one who bows at the end of the blessing. Rava bowed in the blessing of thanksgiving, both beginning and end. The Sages said to him: Why does our master do this? He said to them: I saw Rav Naḥman who bowed in the blessing of thanksgiving, and I saw Rav Sheshet who did so as well. ... MISHNA: One who prays and realizes that he erred in his prayer, it is a bad omen for him. And if he who erred is the communal prayer leader, it is a bad omen for those who sent him, because a person’s agent has legal status equivalent to his own. On a similar note, they said about Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa that he would pray on behalf of the sick and immediately after his prayer he would say: This one shall live and this one shall die. When they said to him: From where do you know? He said to them: If my prayer is fluent in my mouth I know that it is accepted. And if not, I know that my prayer is rejected. In which blessing is an error a bad omen? Rabbi Ḥiyya said that Rav Safra said in the name of one of the Sages of the school of Rabbi: In the blessing of Patriarchs. Some teach that this statement was made on a baraita [about another topic]: "One who prays must focus his heart in all of the blessings. And if he is unable to focus his heart in all of them, he should focus his heart at least in one. " [Regarding this] Rabbi Ḥiyya said that Rav Safra said in the name of one of the Sages of the school of Rabbi: In one - the Patriarchs. [We learned in the mishna:] They said about Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa - From where are these matters [that his idea is acceptable]? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: As the verse stated: “The Lord that creates the expression of the lips says, Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near; and I will heal him” (Isaiah 57:19). ... As Rabbi Abbahu said: In the place where penitents stand, even the full-fledged righteous do not stand, as it is stated: “Peace, peace upon him who is far and him who is near.” Him who is far, [is first], and thereafter him who is near, [a completely righteous.] ... The Sages taught: There was an incident where Rabban Gamliel’s son fell ill. Rabban Gamliel dispatched two scholars to Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa to pray for mercy and healing on his behalf. When Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa saw them approaching, he went up to the attic on the roof of his house and prayed for mercy on his behalf. Upon his descent, he said to the messengers: You may go and return to Rabban Gamliel, as the fever has already left his son and he has been healed. The messengers asked him: How do you know? Are you a prophet? He replied to them: I am neither a prophet nor son of a prophet (see Amos 7:14), but I have received a tradition with regard to this indication: If my prayer is fluent in my mouth as I recite it and there are no errors, I know that my prayer is accepted. And if not, I know that my prayer is rejected. The Gemara relates that these messengers sat and wrote and approximated that precise moment when Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa told them this. When they came before Rabban Gamliel and related all that had happened and showed him what they had written, Rabban Gamliel said to them: I swear by the Temple service that in the time you wrote you were neither earlier or later; rather, this is how the event transpired: Precisely at that moment his fever broke and he asked us for water to drink. And there was another incident involving Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, who went to study Torah before Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, and Rabbi Yoḥanan’s son fell ill. He said to him: Ḥanina, my son, pray for mercy on behalf of my son so that he will live. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa placed his head between his knees in order to meditate and prayed for mercy upon his behalf, and Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai’s son lived. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said about himself: Had ben Zakkai stuck his head between his knees throughout the entire day, they would have paid him no attention. His wife said to him: And is Ḥanina greater than you? He replied to her: No, but he is like a servant before the King, and I am like a minister before the King [can make requests only with regard to especially significant matters.] And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One may only pray in a house with windows, as it is stated with regard to Daniel’s prayer: “In his attic there were open windows facing Jerusalem” (Daniel 6:11). Rav Kahana said: I consider impudent one who prays in a field. Rav Kahana also said: I consider impudent one who specifies his transgression, as it is stated: “Happy is he whose iniquity is forgiven, whose transgression is covered over” (Psalms 32:1); [one who conceals his transgressions indicates that he is ashamed of them].

(1) It is a positive commandment to pray every day, as it is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God" (Ex. 23:25). By tradition, they learned that this worship is prayer, as it says: "and to worship God with all of your heart" (Deut. 11:13)—the sages said what is worship of the heart? This is prayer. The number of prayers is not biblical, the form of prayer is not biblical, and prayer has no biblically fixed time.

(2) Therefore, women and slaves are obligated in prayer because it is a positive commandment lacking a fixed time, but the obligation of this commandment is as follows: a person should supplicate and pray every day and relate the praise of God, and afterwards ask for their needs as a request and a supplication, and afterwards give praise and thanks to God for the good that has been bestowed upon them, each person according to their ability.

(3) If one is accustomed/fluent, he increases in supplications and petitions, and if one has uncircumcised lips, he speaks according to his ability and anytime he likes. And so, the number of prayers is as each to their own abilities. There are some who pray once a day, and there are those who pray many times. And everyone would pray facing the Temple. And this was the way of things from the time of Moses to Ezra.

(4) When Israel was dispersed in the days of Nebudchadnezzar the evil, they were in foreign lands and they had children in the foreign lands and their children spoke babble. And everyone’s language was this one and this one and languages were very mixed. And since the speaker was not able to speak all, they needed one language, rather that they should be confused. As it is said: “And half their children spoke in the language of Ashdod, etc” [Nehemiah 13:24]. And none knew how to speak “Yehudit” and spoke the language of the people. And because of this, when one prayed, his tongue was shortened to ask for his needs, or to give praise to the HKBH in the holy language until that their tongues were mixed up. And when Ezra and his Beit Din saw this was, they rose and instituted for themselves the 18 blessings in the order of three first praises to HaShem, and three last thanksgivings, and the middle there were in them requests on all the things that are like the foundations of every person’s desires/needs, man to man. And the needs of the community should be set in the mouths of all and they will learn them. And there will be a prayer, even the stutterers will pray wholly like the prayers of the smooth talkers, because this matter was set, all the blessings and prayers were ordered in the mouths of all Israel so that the whole matter was set in the mouths of the stutterer.

(5) And so, they decreed that the number of prayers should be like the number of offerings: two prayers each day, corresponding to the two continual offerings. And for every day that has an additional offering, they decreed a third prayer, corresponding to the additional offering. And the prayer that corresponds to the morning continual offering is called "the dawn prayer," the prayer that corresponds to the afternoon continual offering is called "the gift prayer," and the prayer that corresponds to the additional offerings is called "the additional offerings prayer."

(6) And so, they decreed that a person pray one prayer at night, as the limbs of the afternoon continual offering would continue to be consumed all night. As it says (Leviticus 6:2), "it is that which goeth up ...," along the lines of what it says (Psalms 55:18): "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I complain, and moan; And He hath heard my voice." But the evening prayer is not obligatory like the dawn and gift prayers, but even so, all of Israel, in all of their places of residence, are accustomed to pray the evening prayer, and they accepted it upon themselves like an obligatory prayer.

(22) The kindness of the LORD has not ended, His mercies are not spent. (23) They are renewed every morning— Ample is Your grace!