{"id":8348,"date":"2016-02-14T00:03:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T22:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8348"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:54:21","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:54:21","slug":"03-14-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-14-03\/","title":{"rendered":"03. One May Not Sit Within Four Amot of one Praying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Due to the significance and sanctity of the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, the Sages prohibit sitting within four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> of one who is praying. One reciting the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> is standing before the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Shekhina<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, and anyone sitting there idly appears as one who does not accept the yoke of heaven and shows contempt for a place of worship.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> are approximately two meters. To be more precise, an <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">ama<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> is the approximate length of an average man\u2019s arm. According to most <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">poskim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, it is approximately 45cm, which means that 4 <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> are c. 180cm. However, there obviously is no need to measure one\u2019s distance from the person reciting the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">down to the centimeter; instead, everyone must go according to her visual estimation, and if it seems that one is not within 2 of a person praying, she may be seated.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">One who is engaged in prayer or engrossed in Torah study may sit next to one reciting the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. Since she is engaged in prayer or Torah, there is no affront to God\u2019s honor (based on <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 17:17). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">If she sat down and then the person sitting next to her began to recite the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, although she is neither praying nor learning, she may continue sitting there; she did not show contempt for prayer, rather, the person praying did not act lawfully by beginning to pray within someone else\u2019s four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">. Even so, it is indeed a righteous act to show respect for the prayer by standing up (SA,<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">Rema 102:3).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">A weak or frail person, even when not engaged in prayer, may sit within another person\u2019s four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, since everyone knows that it is because of her weakness that she needs to sit, and therefore there is no affront to God\u2019s honor (SA 102:2). On Yom Kippur, almost everyone is considered to be weak because of the fast, and therefore one may sit within four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> of a person praying (<\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Beit Barukh<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 26:9). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"margin: 0px;font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;font-size: 12pt\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">There is a stringent opinion that it is forbidden to sit directly in front of a person praying, even at a distance greater than four <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">amot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, since it causes the person who is praying to appear as though she is bowing down to her. Therefore, even if she is reciting <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Shema<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, and she sat there before the other person began to recite the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Amida<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, she must stand. <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Le-khat\u0125ila<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\">, it is good to follow this opinion (SA 102:1; MB 9; <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Times New Roman\">Kaf Ha-\u0125ayim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000\"> 10).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Due to the significance and sanctity of the Amida, the Sages prohibit sitting within four amot of one who is praying. One reciting the Amida is standing before the Shekhina, and anyone sitting there idly appears as one who does not accept the yoke of heaven and shows contempt for a place of worship. Four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-14"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>03. 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