{"id":6298,"date":"2010-01-17T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2010-01-17T07:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=6298"},"modified":"2018-05-24T11:44:56","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T08:44:56","slug":"02-17-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-17-09\/","title":{"rendered":"09 – Kavanah"},"content":{"rendered":"

One reciting the Amidah<\/i> must have kavanah<\/i>; that is, he must focus on what he is saying, and he must try not to let his mind be distracted by anything else during the prayer. If other thoughts enter his mind, he must expel them and return to his prayer. Even if he does not succeed in concentrating on all of the words, he must at least try to have kavanah<\/i> for the conclusion of each berachah<\/i>. If he cannot concentrate during all of the berachot<\/i>, he must make an effort to concentrate in Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i> and Birkat<\/i> Modim<\/i>, for those are the berachot<\/i> in which we bow down at their beginning and at their end. At the very least, he must have kavanah<\/i> in Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i>, the berachah<\/i> that opens the Amidah<\/i>.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

If a person recited the Amidah<\/i> and did not have kavanah<\/i> during Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i>, he must, in principle, repeat his Amidah<\/i>, because the lack of kavanah<\/i> during that berachah<\/i> prevents him from fulfilling his obligation. However, as a result of the deterioration of the generations and troubles on the mind, our ability to concentrate has weakened. Therefore, the Acharonim<\/i> have instructed not to repeat the Amidah<\/i>, since it is possible that even in reciting the Amidah<\/i> a second time, he will forget to have kavanah<\/i> in Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i> and his repetition will be for naught (Rama<\/i> 101:1; Kaf HaChaim<\/i> 4).<\/p>\n

A person who is about to finish Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i> and notices that he did not have kavanah<\/i> in its recital: as long as he has not yet said Hashem\u2019s Name at the conclusion of the berachah<\/i>, he goes back to \u201cElokei Avraham<\/i>\u201d and continues from there with kavanah<\/i> (Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 101:4, in the name of the Chayei Adam<\/i>). If he has already said Hashem\u2019s Name, he concludes the berachah<\/i> with kavanah<\/i>. It is good to go back and think the words of Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i> in his heart, for, in the Rambam<\/i>\u2019s opinion, thought is considered speech (hirhur k\u2019dibur<\/i>). However, if he already went on to say \u201cAttah gibor<\/i>,\u201d he continues to pray and must try to have kavanah<\/i> while reciting the remaining berachot<\/i>, especially Birkat<\/i> Modim.<\/i>[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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[5]<\/a>.\u00a0Shulchan Aruch<\/i> 101:1 and Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 1-3. If he is so troubled that he knows that he will not be able to concentrate even for Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i>, he may not recite the Amidah<\/i>. Although a situation in which a person knows ahead of time that he cannot concentrate in Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i> is uncommon, the principle is that one may not pray knowing <\/i>in advance that he will not have the proper kavanah<\/i> in Birkat<\/i> Avot<\/i>. According to the Shulchan Aruch<\/i>, even if he already prayed and did not have kavanah<\/i> in \u201cAvot<\/i>,\u201d he must repeat the Amidah<\/i>; all the more so he may not start praying without kavanah<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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[6]<\/a>.The Acharonim<\/i> explain that in practice, even if a person did not have kavanah<\/i> at all while reciting the Amidah<\/i>, since he did intend to fulfill the mitzvah of prayer, he fulfills his obligation. So writes the Shibolei HaLeket<\/i> 17, in the name of the Rishonim<\/i>. Similarly, the Kaf HaChaim<\/i> 101:4, in the name of Chesed L’Avraham<\/i>, writes that concerning one who prays without kavanah<\/i>, his berachot<\/i> are not in vain. This means that what he recited is considered prayer; however, because he lacked kavanah<\/i>, the Chachamim<\/i> maintain that it is necessary for him to repeat the Amidah<\/i>. The proof for this is that one who realizes in the middle of the Amidah<\/i> that he did not have kavanah<\/i> in the first berachah<\/i> does not immediately go back. This is not true regarding one who realizes that he mistakenly mentioned rain in the summer, for he needs to go back immediately. Based on this, it is understandable why today we do not repeat the Amidah<\/i>. See Yalkut Yosef<\/i>, part 1, p. 157 and Yabia Omer<\/i>, part 3, 9:3. Regarding a person who almost always has kavanah<\/i> but this time did not, and he is certain that when he repeats his prayer he will have kavanah<\/i>, he is permitted to go back and repeat the prayer while concentrating. It is best for him to make a stipulation that if he is exempt from repeating his prayer due to the minhag<\/i> not to repeat it, his prayer should be considered a voluntary prayer (tefillat nedavah<\/i>).<\/p>\n

The Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 101:4 writes, in the name of the Chayei Adam<\/i>, that if he realizes before the conclusion of Birkat Avot<\/i>, he must go back and start from \u201cElokei Avraham.<\/i>\u201d See Bei\u2019ur Halachah<\/i> s.v. \u201cV\u2019Ha\u2019idna<\/i>\u201d where he suggests that someone who already finished reciting the first berachah<\/i> wait for the Amidah<\/i> repetition so that he can fulfill the obligation of the berachah<\/i> by hearing the chazan<\/i>. There are those who expressed doubt as to how he is able to fulfill his obligation of the first berachah<\/i> by hearing the chazan<\/i> and the rest of the Amidah<\/i> by saying it himself, since the first three berachot<\/i> are considered one unit (as brought in the name of the Chazon Ish<\/i>). Yalkut Yosef<\/i>, part 1, p. 157 writes that he continues praying and tries to have kavanah<\/i> in Modim<\/i>, for some say that the essence of kavanah<\/i> must be either in Avot<\/i> or in Modim<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One reciting the Amidah must have kavanah; that is, he must focus on what he is saying, and he must try not to let his mind be distracted by anything else during the prayer. If other thoughts enter his mind, he must expel them and return to his prayer. Even if he does not succeed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-the-amidah"],"yoast_head":"\n09 - Kavanah - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-17-09\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"09 - Kavanah - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One reciting the Amidah must have kavanah; that is, he must focus on what he is saying, and he must try not to let his mind be distracted by anything else during the prayer. 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