{"id":8277,"date":"2016-02-11T00:03:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:47:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:47:22","slug":"03-11-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-11-03\/","title":{"rendered":"03. Praying next to a Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Ideally there should be no barrier between one praying the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> and the wall, so that nothing distracts her from prayer. Permanent furniture standing against the wall, such as a closed cupboard, is not considered a barrier since it does not cause distraction, and <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">le-khat\u0125ila<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> one may pray next to it (SA 90:21; MB 63:65). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Pieces of furniture which were made for praying purposes, like <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">shtenders<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> (lecterns), are not considered barriers. Likewise, a table on which one puts her <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">siddur<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> is not considered a barrier. However, when the table is of no use, it should not be allowed to divide the person praying from the wall (MB 90:66; <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, ch. 3 n. 6).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">If a person is standing between a woman praying and the wall, if that person is also engaged in prayer, he is not considered a barrier. However, if he is not engaged in prayer, he is indeed considered a barrier (SA<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">90:22; Rav Kook in <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Tov Ro\u2019i <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">on <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 5b). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">It is not proper to pray facing pictures, lest it be a distraction (SA 90:23). However, if the picture is above eye level it is permitted, for then there is no concern that people will be distracted by it while praying (MA 90:37; MB<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">71). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">One may not pray facing a mirror because one who does so looks like she is bowing to her own reflection. Therefore, even if she were to close her eyes, it is still forbidden (MB 90:71). <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Le-khat\u0125ila<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, one should not pray at night in front of a window in which her image is reflected, since looking at her reflection will likely disturb her<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> kavana<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. But if there is no alternative, she should close her eyes or look in the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">siddur<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. Since the window does not reflect her image clearly like a mirror does, she does not really seem to be bowing to her reflection (see <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, ch. 3 n. 7).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ideally there should be no barrier between one praying the Amida and the wall, so that nothing distracts her from prayer. Permanent furniture standing against the wall, such as a closed cupboard, is not considered a barrier since it does not cause distraction, and le-khat\u0125ila one may pray next to it (SA 90:21; MB 63:65). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-11"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>03. Praying next to a Wall - 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\/03-11-03\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"03. 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