{"id":8315,"date":"2016-02-12T00:11:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T22:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8315"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:51:05","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:51:05","slug":"03-12-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-12-11\/","title":{"rendered":"11. The Conclusion of the Amida and Three Steps Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">In reciting the verse, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Yihyu le-ratzon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2026\u201d (\u201cMay the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You, God, my Rock, and my Redeemer\u201d; Tehilim 19:15) right after completing the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">berakha <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">for peace, we end the main part of the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. At this point, <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Elokai Netzor<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, a paragraph of personal pray, is customarily added. As we have learned, this is where one may add as much personal petition and supplication as she wants. It is said that R. Akiva would prolong his prayers extensively with supplications when praying alone (see <\/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\">Upon the conclusion of the prayers of supplication, one recites <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Yihyu le-ratzon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> again and takes three steps backward, thereby departing the King\u2019s presence. The Sages say that if one prays and does not depart from the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> properly by taking three steps back and saying \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Oseh shalom\u2026<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">,\u201d it would have been better not to have prayed at all (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Yoma<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 53b). One who does not take leave properly demonstrates that she does not understand that she was standing before the Almighty King, and she thus demeans prayer. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">After finishing the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, before beginning the three steps, one bows as she does during <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Modim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> (as explained in section 5 above), and while bowing she takes three steps backward. Still bowing, she then turns to her left and says, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Oseh shalom bi-mromav<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d (\u201cMay He Who makes peace in His high places\u2026\u201d), then to her right side and says, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Hu ya\u2019aseh shalom aleinu<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d (make peace for us \u2026\u201d), and finally bows forward and says, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">ve-al kol Yisrael<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">,<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\"> ve-imru Amen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d (\u201cand all of Israel; and say: \u2018amen\u2019\u201d). She then straightens up slowly. Many people then recite the \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Yehi ratzon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201d paragraph praying for the restoration of the Temple, since prayer corresponds to the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Tamid<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> sacrifice and we ask that the Temple be rebuilt so that we may bring this offering (SA,<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">Rema 123:1).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">When stepping back, one takes the first step with the left leg \u2013 the weaker leg \u2013 thereby demonstrating her reluctance to take leave of her prayer. Each step should be the length of her foot, that is, she steps back toe-to-heel. The order of the steps is as follows: she first takes a small step with her left foot, so that the toes of her left foot abut her right heel. Then she takes a bigger step with her right foot, so that the toes of her right foot abut her left heel. Finally, she takes a small step with her left foot, so that her feet are even with each other. Her feet remain together while she recites <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Oseh shalom.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">One must be careful not to take a step shorter than the length of her foot (heel-to-toe), for some <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">poskim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> maintain that less than that is not considered a step (MA). When there is not enough room behind her to take three steps, she steps to the side, making sure that each step is long enough (AHS 123:5). In extenuating circumstances, when there is no room to step backwards or sideways, she may rely on the opinions that three smaller steps are sufficient. However, one may not take less than the three steps with which one takes leave from the King\u2019s presence (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Ba\u0125<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, and see MB 123:14); nor may one take more than three steps, so as not to display arrogance (SA 123:4; <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, ch. 17 n. 9). Likewise, it is not proper to take large steps, so as not to appear as though she wants to distance herself from the King (Rema 123:3; and see MB<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">16).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In reciting the verse, \u201cYihyu le-ratzon\u2026\u201d (\u201cMay the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You, God, my Rock, and my Redeemer\u201d; Tehilim 19:15) right after completing the berakha for peace, we end the main part of the Amida. At this point, Elokai Netzor, a paragraph of personal pray, [&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-8315","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>11. The Conclusion of the Amida and Three Steps Back - 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\/03-12-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11. 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