Berachot 34: Powers of Prayer

We learn two new Mishnayot today about the communal prayer leader. The first teaches several lessons:

• If one says "May the good bless You", this is a path of heresy as it implies a wicked god also exists
• one who passes in front of the ark and errs must be replaced immediately without a refusal based in courtesy
• If the Amida prayer is interrupted in such an error, the replacement begins from the start of the blessing in which the error happened
• One who errs should not say "amen" after the priestly blessing because of possible confusion
• If the communal leader is the only priest, he should not lift his hands to bless the congregation
• If he is sure that he can lift his hands and resume the priestly prayer without becoming confused he is allowed to recite the blessing
• The rabbis consider one who refuses to take on the role of communal prayer leader. He should be asked three times, just like one who asks to convert is refused three times. First he should refuse, and then "vacillate like a wick that has caught flame but is not yet burning", and then he should stretch his legs and descend before the ark.

The Gemara notes that the Sages taught in a baraita that there are three things that are harmful in excess but beneficial when used sparingly: leavening in dough, salt in a cooked dis and refusal for the sake of propriety.

The rabbis consider where one should begin prayers again after erring depending on where s/he is in the Amida blessing. Rav Huna suggests that the middle blessings are all like one blessing. Rav Yehuda quotes Rabbi Chanina in stating that the first three blessings are like a servant arranging praise before a master, the middle blessings are like a servant who requests a reward from a master, and the final three blessings are like a servant who has already received a reward from a master.

The middle blessings may have no official order. How will we know if we have erred, asked Rav Asi?  Several rabbis share their opinions about when blessings should be repeated. We are told that the once a student served as prayer leader for Rabbi Eliezer. Other students complained that the leader was excessively prolonging his prayer. Rabbi Eliezer reminded them that Moses our reacher "prostrated [myself] before the Lord for the forty days and forty nights" (Deuteronomy 9:25). Thus there is no limitation on how long our prayer should be.

Another student abbreviated his prayer. The other students protested that his prayer was too brief. Rabbi Eliezer said, "Is he abbreviating his prayer any more than Moshe rabbeinu?" When his sister Miriam had leprosy, Moses cried out saying, "Please, G-d, heal her, please" (Numbers 12:13). Thus the student was permitted to pray briefly. Further, we take from this prayer that we need not say a person's name when praying on his/her behalf.

We learn from a Tosefta that we bow over the first blessing over the patriarchs (and matriarchs) at the start and end;, and in modeh/a ani lach, the thanksgiving prayer at its start and end. But is this only for common people? Should a High Priest bow at the end of every blessing? Should a king bow at the beginning and end of every blessing? This leads us into a discussion about bowing in general. We learn, for example, that Batsheva vatikod, bowed, with her face to the ground (I Kings 1:31). Rav Chiyya son of Rav Huna said that he saw Abaye and Rava only leaning their heads when they bowed.

A new Mishna tells us that making a mistake while praying is a bad omen. If that person is the communal prayer leader, it is bad omen for the ones who sent him (we will learn more about this when we learn about the responsibilities of agents or others who are complicit with a transgression). Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa would pray for the sick and then would say "This one hall recover and this one shall die". People would ask how they knew, and he answered that if his prayer is fluent in his mouth, it has been accepted. If not, he knows that the prayer has been rejected.

The Gemara wonders which blessings are translated into bad omens if errors are made in their recitation. Rabbi Chiya said that Rav Safra said in the name of a Sage in the school of Rabbi Yehuda NaNasi that it is the first blessing - the blessing over our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Others teach that a baraita referred to failing to focus one's heart in all of the blessings, or at least one of the blessings, as a bad omen.

The rabbis move into a discussion about the World-to-Come. One can marry one's daughter to a Torah scholar or one who gives his money for a Torah scholar or one who conducts business for a Torah scholar because he values wisdom, but there is no guarantee of a prize for Torah scholars. The proof used is in Isaiah (64:3), where no eye has seen it, G-d, aside from You.

Two incidents are shared regarding Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's prayer. In the first, Rabban Gamliel's son was ill. Chanina prayed in for the youth from the roof of his house after he saw Rabban Gamliel's messengers approaching. When he came down to greet the messengers, he told them that they should return because the fever had already left the youth. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa explained that he was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet but he knew that if his prayer was fluent in his mouth, without error, the prayer would be excepted. The messengers wrote these words along with the time that it happened. On their return to Rabban Gamliel, all learned that the youth's fever had broken at the same exact time that Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa had prayed.

The second incident tells that Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa went to study Torah with Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai when Rabbi Yochanan's son beame ill. To pray for the youth, Chanina put his head between his knees; the boy was healed. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's wife asked, "Is Chanina greater than you?", and Yochanan replied that Chanina was like a servant before the King, who can enter at any time, while Yochanan was like a minister before the King who could only enter when invited and make requests about specific matters.

A few more points:

• Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba quoted Rabbi Yochanan as saying that one may only pray in a house with windows so that one can see the heavens and focus one's heart. The proof is taken from Daniel (6:21) where "in his attic there were open windows facing Jerusalem"
• Rav Kahana said that it was rude to pray in a field
• Rav Kahana said that it was rude to specify one's transgression, based on Psalms (32:1), "Happy is he whose iniquity is forgiven, whose transgression is covered over". In that way one's shame will help to forgive him.

Today's daf covers quite a bit of material regarding how we might pray, what it could achieve, and where the rabbis believed that we have power over our small lives. Even the smallest errors in our prayer can lead to life or death consequences, our rabbis seem to believe. Intention is not as important as what actually comes out of our mouths. 

Rather than interpreting this as a reductive reading of the Torah, I would choose to see today's daf a proof of our rabbis need to feel in control of their lives. If they could control their circumstances with prayer, then they could only blame themselves when prayers were not answered. This serves the purpose of continuing to understand G-d as the supreme ruler who cannot be questioned while we must continue to adhere to rabbinic laws regarding our behaviour and composure.