{"id":8279,"date":"2016-02-11T00:04:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8279"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:47:34","slug":"03-11-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-11-04\/","title":{"rendered":"04. One May Not Pray in a High Place"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">One who stands before God in prayer should know that her existence and all of life\u2019s blessings are dependent on God\u2019s kindness and that God is not required to fulfill her requests; hence, she should stand before Him humbly. That is what the Sages meant when they said (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 10b): \u201cOne may not stand on a chair, on a stool, or on any other high place and pray, because there is no haughtiness before the Omnipresent, as it says (Tehilim 130:1): \u2018From the depths I called You, Lord.\u2019\u201d The Talmud (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Ta\u2019anit<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 23b) relates a story about R. Yona who was known as a righteous person whose prayers were answered. When he was asked to pray for rain, he went to a low place in order to fulfill the verse: \u201cFrom the depths I called You, Lord.\u201d He prayed there until he was answered and rain began to fall. For that reason, it is customary in some congregations that the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">\u0125azan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2019s place is lower. This also explains why the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">\u0125azan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> is described as \u201cdescending before the ark\u201d (\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">yored lifnei ha-teiva<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">As a rule, the Sages prohibited an elevated place higher than three <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">tefa\u0125im<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> (c. 24 cm) above the ground. However, in practice, it is forbidden to pray even on a less elevated place, for two reasons. First, one standing on a stepstool or rock even only one <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">tefa\u0125<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> in height is worried about losing her balance and cannot have the proper<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> kavana <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">while praying. Second, if the floor is even, elevating oneself on pillows, cushions, or anything else suggests a sense of haughtiness, and it is improper to pray in such a manner. Nevertheless, praying on rugs and mats which are normally laid out on the floor is permitted <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">le-khat\u0125ila<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. Likewise, one who prays on uneven ground may stand on the elevated parts, as long as they are not three <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">tefa\u0125im<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> higher than the rest of their surroundings (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, ch. 3 n. 4).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">A sick or elderly person who has trouble getting out of bed may pray in bed, even though it is elevated from the ground, for that does not display haughtiness. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">If the high place stands on its own \u2013 for instance, it is wider than four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> by four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> (c. two meters by two meters) \u2013 one may pray on it, because it is not measured in relation to other places. Rather it is considered its own domain. Even an area which is smaller than four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> squared is considered to be its own domain if it is surrounded by partitions, and it is permissible to pray on it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One who stands before God in prayer should know that her existence and all of life\u2019s blessings are dependent on God\u2019s kindness and that God is not required to fulfill her requests; hence, she should stand before Him humbly. That is what the Sages meant when they said (Berakhot 10b): \u201cOne may not stand on [&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-8279","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>04. One May Not Pray in a High Place - 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\/03-11-04\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"04. 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