(א) אין עומדין להתפלל אלא מתוך כובד ראש. חסידים הראשונים היו שוהים שעה אחת ומתפללים כדי שיכונו את לבם למקום. אפילו המלך שואל בשלומו לא ישיבנו; ואפילו נחש כרוך על עקבו לא יפסיק .
(1) [One] should not stand up to pray unless he is in a serious frame of mind {lit. "heavy of head"}. The original pious ones used to wait one hour and then pray, in order to direct their hearts towards the Omnipresent. [While one is reciting Shemoneh Esrei,] even if the king greets him {lit. "asks about his welfare"}, he should not respond to him, and even if a snake wraps around his heel, he should not interrupt.
(2) Lord, do not chastise me in Your wrath, do not punish me in Your fury.
(3) Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am wretched. Heal me, for my limbs are stricken an.
(4)And my life is hard stricken. - and You O Lord, how long?
(5) Come back, Lord, deliver my life, rescue me for the sake of Your kindness.
(6) For death holds no mention of You. In Sheol who can acclaim You?
(7) I am weary in my sighing. I make my bed swim every night, with my tears I water my couch.
(8) From vexation my eye become dim, is worn out, because of all my foes.
(9) Turn from me, all you wrongdoers, for the Lor d hears the sound of my weeping.
(10) The Lord hears my plea, the Lord will take my prayer.
(11) Let all my enemies be shamed and hard stricken, let them turn back, be ashamed in an instant.
What kind of emotional and/or physical place is the author of this Psalm in?
Which - if any - of the ideas of God expressed by the Psalmist here surpise you? Do you agree with/believe in how the Psalmist depicts the Divine here?
What contexts might this Psalm be useful to your personal prayers? When might this Psalm be most difficult to recite?
מבבלי ברכות לא:-לב.
אם ראה תראה, אמר רבי אלעזר: אמרה חנה לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא: רבונו של עולם, אם ראה ־ מוטב, ואם לאו ־ תראה, אלך ואסתתר בפני אלקנה בעלי, וכיון דמסתתרנא משקו לי מי סוטה, ואי אתה עושה תורתך פלסתר, שנאמר: (במדבר ה׳) ונקתה ונזרעה זרע...
[הניחא למאן דאמר אם היתה עקרה נפקדת ־ שפיר, אלא למאן דאמר אם היתה יולדת בצער יולדת בריוח, נקבות ־ יולדת זכרים, שחורים ־ יולדת לבנים, קצרים ־ יולדת ארוכים, מאי איכא למימר? דתניא: ונקתה ונזרעה זרע ־ מלמד, שאם היתה עקרה נפקדת, דברי רבי ישמעאלֹ אמר ליה רבי עקיבא: אם כן, ילכו כל העקרות כולן ויסתתרו, וזו שלא קלקלה נפקדתִ אלא: מלמד שאם היתה יולדת בצער ־ יולדת בריוח, קצרים ־ יולדת ארוכים. שחורים ־ יולדת לבנים, אחד ־ יולדת שנים. מאי אם ראה תראה ־ דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם...]
וחנה היא מדברת על לבה ־ אמר רבי אלעזר משום רבי יוסי בן זמרא: על עסקי לבה. אמרה לפניו: רבונו של עולם, כל מה שבראת באשה לא בראת דבר אחד לבטלה, עינים לראות, ואזנים לשמוע, חוטם להריח, פה לדבר, ידים לעשות בהם מלאכה, רגלים להלך בהן, דדים להניק בהןֹ דדים הללו שנתת על לבי למה, לא להניק בהן? תן לי בן ואניק בהן...
ואמר רבי אלעזר: חנה הטיחה דברים כלפי מעלה, שנאמר: ותתפלל על ה׳ ־ מלמד, שהטיחה דברים כלפי מעלה.
Selected from Brachot 31b-32a
If you take notice of your maidservant (why the repetition of ra’ao tir’eh). R. Eleazar said: Hannah said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Sovereign of the Universe, if you will look, fine, and if you will not look, you will look. I will go and seclude myself with someone else in the knowledge of my husband Elkanah, and as I shall have been alone they will make me drink the water of the suspected wife (sotah), and you cannot not falsify your law, which says, She shall be cleared and shall conceive seed...
[Now this would be effective on the view of him who says that if the woman was barren she is remembered. But on the view of him who says that if she bore with pain she bears with ease, if she bore females she now bears males, if she bore swarthy children she now bears fair ones, if she bore short ones she now bears tall ones, what can be said? As it has been taught: She shall be cleared and shall conceive seed: this teaches that if she was barren she is remembered. These are the words of R. Ishmael. Said K. Akiba to him, If that is so, all barren women will go and shut themselves in with someone and she who has not misconducted herself will be remembered! No, it teaches that if she formerly bore with pain she now bears with ease, if she bore short children she now bears tall ones, if she bore swarthy ones she now bears fair ones, if she was destined to bear one she will now bear two. What then is the force of If you take notice? The Torah used an ordinary form of expression...]
...Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart. R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Jose b. Zimra: She spoke concerning her heart. She said before Him: Sovereign of the Universe, among all the things that you have created in a woman, you have not created one without a purpose, eyes to see, ears to hear, a nose to smell, a mouth to speak, hands to do work, legs to walk with, breasts to give suck. These breasts that you have put on my heart, are they not to give suck? Give me a son, so that I may suckle with them...
R. Eleazar also said: Hannah spoke insolently toward heaven, as it says, And Hannah prayed unto the Lord. This teaches that she spoke insolently toward heaven.
How does Rabbi Elazar understand the doubling of the words ra-oh tir-eh? How does he understand Hannah to be speaking to God?
Are you comfortable with this approach to prayer? Why or why not?
What does this say about different modalities of prayer?
(יב) מעשה ברבן גמליאל וזקנים שהיו מםובין בבית ביתום בן זונין בלוד והיו עוסקין בהלכות הפסח כל הלילה עד קרות הגבר, הגביהו מלפניהם ונועדו והלכו [להן] לבית המדרש.
(12) It happened that Rabban Gamliel and the elders were reclining in the house of Bitos ben Zunin in Lod and they were engaging in the laws of Pesach all night until the cock crowed. They removed [the tables] in front of them and they got up and went to the Bet Midrash
הגדה של פסח
מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרִבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר וְרִבִּי יְהוֹשׁוּעַ וְרִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה וְרִבִּי עֲקִיבָה וְרִבִּי טַרְפוֹן, שֶׁהָיוּ מְסֻבִּין בִּבְנֵי בְרָק; וְהָיוּ מְסַפְּרִין בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם כָּל אוֹתוֹ הַלַּיְלָה, עַד שֶׁבָּאוּ תַּלְמִידֵיהֶם וְאָמְרוּ לָהֶם, רִבּוֹתֵינוּ, הִגִּיעַ זְמָן קִרְיַת שְׁמַע שֶׁלְּשַׁחְרִית.
Passover Haggadah
Once Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were all celebrating the Seder in B'nai B'rak. And they told the story of the Exodus from Egypt the entire night, until their students came and told them, "our masters, the time has come for the morning recital of Shema`!
What DIFFERENCES do you find between these two very similar stories/versions of the same event?
What SIGNIFICANCE might there be to these differences?
What TENSIONS between prayer and study might the Haggadah's editors be noting, and what lessons about these two critical mitzvot might they be trying to teach?
What vision of worship presented in these texts did you find most challenging?
What would it look like for you to make new space in your own prayer life for one of these visions of worship?