{"id":8305,"date":"2016-02-12T00:06:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T22:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8305"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:50:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:50:11","slug":"03-12-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-12-06\/","title":{"rendered":"06. Praying Silently"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">We learn many essential <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">halakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> from the prayer of \u0124ana, who stood and begged God to remember her and grant her a son. Her prayer was accepted and she merited giving birth to Shmuel the prophet, who was the greatest prophet of Israel behind Moshe. The verse states: \u201c\u0124ana spoke to her heart, only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard\u201d (1 Shmuel 1:13). The Sages teach: \u201c\u2018Spoke to her heart\u2019 \u2013 from here [we learn] that the person praying must focus his heart. \u2018Only her lips moved\u2019 \u2013 from here [we learn] that the person praying must articulate the words. \u2018Her voice was not heard\u2019 \u2013 from here [we learn] that it is prohibited to raise one\u2019s voice while praying\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 31a).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">The idea behind the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> prayer is to express the soul\u2019s deepest aspirations before God, and therefore it is not proper to recite the words aloud and to disclose them outwardly. On the other hand, one does not fulfill her obligation with thought alone, since every idea must possess some tangible expression in this world. Very often, our inner desires are praiseworthy, but their outer expression is flawed. Therefore, our task is to express our inner good will outwardly, thereby repairing the world. Hence, even the subtlest mitzva like prayer, requires some sort of expression \u2013 the silent articulation of the words with one\u2019s lips.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">There are different practices regarding the proper way to pray silently. According to most <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">poskim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> and a few kabbalists, one reciting the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> must utter the words in such a way that only she hears her voice but those praying next to her do not (SA 101:2; MB 5-6). According to most kabbalists, the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> is so intense and internal that one should not even hear her own words; she should only mouth the letters with her lips (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Kaf Ha-\u0125ayim <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">101:8). The woman praying may choose the way which enables her to have the most <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">kavana<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> in her prayer.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Be-di\u2019avad<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">, even if one recites the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> out loud, she fulfills her obligation. Therefore, if one who has difficulty concentrating silently is praying alone, in a place where she will not disturb the prayer of others, she may pray aloud. However, even in that situation, she should not raise her voice, for one who does so behaves like the false prophets who think that their gods are hard of hearing and that one must yell in order to be heard (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Berakhot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> 24b).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">On the Days of Awe, there are parts of the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> where it is customary to raise one\u2019s voice slightly, and one need not be concerned that she is disturbing others around her because on those days everyone has <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">ma\u0125zorim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> (SA 101:3). Nevertheless, even in those places, one who wishes to enhance the mitzva prays silently. <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Regarding the other sections of the prayer service, such as <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Birkhot Keri\u2019at Shema<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Pesukei De-zimra<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, which are not as inward-focused and intense as the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, all agree that the person praying must hear the words she is reciting. <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Be-di\u2019avad<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, if she only mouthed the words without hearing them, she fulfilled her obligation, but if she thought the words in her mind, without even mouthing them, she did not fulfill her obligation.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We learn many essential halakhot from the prayer of \u0124ana, who stood and begged God to remember her and grant her a son. Her prayer was accepted and she merited giving birth to Shmuel the prophet, who was the greatest prophet of Israel behind Moshe. The verse states: \u201c\u0124ana spoke to her heart, only her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-12"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>06. 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