{"id":8128,"date":"2016-02-01T00:06:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T22:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8128"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:22:28","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:22:28","slug":"03-01-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-01-06\/","title":{"rendered":"06. The Fixed Formula (Nusa\u0125)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Establishing a uniform formula that is repeated thrice daily in prayer has a certain disadvantage. Prayer is likely to become routine and one may lose the<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> kavana<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> that is aroused when one prays to God in her own words. On the other hand, had the Sages not established a fixed formula, though the righteous would utter beautiful and sincere prayers from the depths of their hearts, most people would recite hurried and brief and defective prayers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Rambam explains (MT, Laws of Prayer 1:4) that especially after the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of Israel among the nations, this problem has intensified. Many Jews lost their proficiency in holy tongue (the Hebrew of the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">siddur<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">), in which it is proper to pray. Moreover, they did not have any appropriate formulas for prayer in other languages. Therefore, the Men of the Great Assembly established the wording for all the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> and prayers so that all Israel would be fluent in them and so that the theme of each <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakha<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> would be stated articulately even by those who are otherwise unable to do so. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Another advantage to a fixed wording of prayer is that it includes all the general and specific needs for which it is proper to pray. Without a standard formula, everyone would presumably pray for one specific thing. Doctors would pray for the health of their patients, farmers would pray for rain, and with time, every Jew would pray only for the things close to her heart while remaining disconnected from the table of collective aspirations. The Sages therefore instituted eighteen <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, which incorporate all of the Jewish people\u2019s material and spiritual aspiration. Thus, three times a day, everyone who prays balances and unifies her personal ambitions with the general needs of the nation.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">In addition to whatever we understand of the fixed prayers, there are innumerable profound allusions, some of which are explained within the Jewish mystical tradition. As R. \u0124ayim of Volozhin writes (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Nefesh Ha-\u0124ayim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 2:10):<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">The enlightened will understand on their own why 120 sages, among them prophets, were needed to formulate a small plea or short prayer. Through Divine inspiration and supreme prophecy they grasped the order of creation and the deep mysteries of divine chariot (\u201cthe <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">merkava<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d). This is why they enacted and formulated the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> and the prayers using these specific words \u2013 for they observed and apprehended how the light of each individual word refracts, and how each word is quite necessary to properly rectify the multiplicity of supernal worlds and powers and to bring harmony to the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">merkava<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">He further writes (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">ibid<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. 2:13) that all the profound meanings revealed by Arizal and other saintly figures are only a drop in the sea compared to the profound innermost meaning of the Men of the Great Assembly, who instituted the prayers. Through the prophecy and divine inspiration that manifested itself upon them when they formulated the prayers and <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, they successfully encapsulated the rectification (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">tikun<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">) of all worlds in such a way that every day new <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">tikunim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> are drawn forth each day. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Establishing a uniform formula that is repeated thrice daily in prayer has a certain disadvantage. Prayer is likely to become routine and one may lose the kavana that is aroused when one prays to God in her own words. On the other hand, had the Sages not established a fixed formula, though the righteous would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-01"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>06. The Fixed Formula (Nusa\u0125) - 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\/03-01-06\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"06. 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