As the second week of Daf Yomi draws to a close there is so much that can be said about the material that is presented in these first pages of the Talmud. A few points of clarification need to be made to be better understand the motives and intentions of the rabbis as they teach us about prayer:
1. We first need to understand the difference between law and lore - in Hebrew those terms would be halacha (law) and midrash (lore). The method of interpretation of biblical verses is the same but the purpose is different. In one - halacha - the rabbis comment on a verse in order to derive a practical ruling - e.g. R. Shammai says that we must say the Shma while reclining in the evening service and while standing in the morning service (because the verse says "when you lie down and when you rise up"), while R. Hillel says that we can say the Shma in any position we want (because the verse says, "when you walk on the way"). In the other - lore - the rabbis interpret the verse to derive a moral or ethical teaching - e.g. from the verse in Psalms that has the word "totza'ot", results, the rabbis learn that there are 903 forms of death (from the Hebrew letter numerical equivalents in the word totza'ot).
This difference between law and lore helps us to wade through material and enables us to understand which teachings have a practical impact on our daily ritual and practice and which teach us about broader spiritual concepts.
2. We also need to understand that the rabbis have made assumptions already that they didn't need to state. They assume we know that we need to pray. They assume we know that we pray three times a day. They assume we know that the services already contain the prayers we are to recite. Though it would be helpful to the modern reader to have a had an introductory section that laid all those out, instead we have to learn those lessons from the material at hand.
3. In these pages we learn that we need to keep our feet together when we are standing in prayer; that we bend the knee when we say "baruch" and we stand up straight when we say "Adonay"; we can't interrupt our prayer in the middle of a section but we can between sections; we include the "tzitzit" paragraph and we highlight the exodus from Egypt in the evening service. These among other laws teach us that prayer for the rabbis was not spontaneous. Prayer wasn't free flowing or stream of consciousness. Prayer was serious and reflected their thought that it is imperative for us to address God and give thanks as soon as we wake up and we must do so in as formal and regimented a way as possible reflecting God's sovereignty. Prayer for the rabbis is our way of acknowledging that God exists, that we must give thanks and that we are forever in God's debt.
4. Finally there are two other profound lessons that the rabbis teach us that come by way of stories they present. R. Meir wanted to pray for the downfall of sectarians. His wife Bruriah suggested that it would be better to pray for the downfall of evil rather than the downfall of evil people. That is an amazing lesson. First, that it should come from a woman and second that evil people aren't necessarily to blame but rather the concept of evil itself is to blame. In other words for Bruriah it would have been better to pray for the end of Nazism rather than for Hitler's death.
The other story is of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah for not having more children other than his son Menasseh. Hezekiah knew that Menasseh would be evil and he decided not to take chances and have more children. Isaiah tells him that it wasn't his business to make that decision! He was supposed to fulfill "be fruitful and multiply" and he should have let God take care of the rest! A fascinating lesson on our decision making process. We don't know what will ultimately happen in our lives. Matters are not in our control. All we can do is fulfill our moral and ethical responsibility - in this case to have children.
Incredibly fascinating stories that help us understand the mindset of the rabbis. Happy studies and shabbat shalom!
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