Siman 93

The Rambam wrote in chapter 4, law 15: What is the intention of the heart? Any prayer that is without intention is not a prayer. And if one prayed without intention, he must return and pray with intention. If he found his mind unsettled and his heart troubled, it is forbidden for him to pray until his mind is settled. Therefore, one who arrives from a journey and is weary or distressed is forbidden to pray until his mind is settled. The sages said: He should wait three days until he rests and his mind is calmed, and afterward he should pray. Thus far his words. And this is in Eruvin (65a), see there. And as for why he did not bring that which is stated there: Shmuel would not pray in a house that had beer in it; Rav Papa would not pray in a house that had fried fish in it; see there—it is because he holds that they were personally concerned for this, and it is not a fixed law for the public. This is to exclude one who arrives from a journey, as we say there: Rabbi Eliezer said: One who arrives from a journey should not pray for three days. And this is a decided law for all people.

And behold, the Tur brought this below in siman 98, and wrote in the name of the Maharam that nowadays we are not careful in all this, because we do not concentrate so much in prayer. Thus far his words. And so wrote our teacher, the Beit Yosef, there in section 2. And also our teacher, the Rema, in siman 101 section 1 wrote that nowadays one does not repeat because of a lack of kavanah, for even in the repetition it is likely that he will not concentrate. If so, why should he repeat? See there. And so wrote the Tur there, see there.

The Rambam further wrote there: What is the meaning of kavanah? That he should clear his heart of all thoughts and see himself as if he is standing before the Shekhinah. Therefore, he must sit a little before the prayer in order to focus his heart, and afterward he should pray calmly and with supplications. And he should not make his prayer like one who was carrying a burden and casts it off and goes on his way. Therefore, he must sit a little after the prayer, and afterward depart. The early pious ones used to wait one hour before the prayer, and one hour after the prayer, and would extend the prayer for one hour. Thus far his words. And this is the explanation: for even though they extended the waiting beforehand for a full hour, which is one twenty-fourth of a full day, and likewise after the prayer, nevertheless one should not impose upon everyone to do so. Therefore, a little time before the prayer and a little after the prayer is sufficient. And it appears that the measure of walking eight amot is sufficient, for this is the explanation of "two entrances" in siman 90, section 25 according to the latter explanation, see there. And we have not found anyone who disagrees with this.

The Tur also wrote, and this is his wording: And when he comes to pray, he should tarry a little… But our teacher, the Beit Yosef, wrote in section 1: He should tarry one hour before he stands to pray, so that he may direct his heart to the Omnipresent, and one hour after the prayer… Thus far his words. And this is against the Rambam and the Tur, who did not require of us an hour. However, his intention seems to me to be because the term "hour" includes both a little and a lot; therefore, he was not concerned with this, and it is his way to be brief. But his intention is not for a literal hour. (See Magen Avraham, subsection 1. And according to what I have written, it settles well.) And there is one who requires specifically that he sit and tarry, for through sitting, one settles more into the intention of the prayer. And one should not ask: Since this law is because of intention, and if so, according to the words of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch that now we do not have so much intention, why do we need to tarry? For this is not a question, as certainly we are commanded to do every tactic possible to arrive at intention. And if it does not help—it certainly will not harm, and it is impossible to exempt ourselves from this. And know that here the intention is not regarding the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, for behold, we tarry a long time until Shemoneh Esrei with Pesukei D'Zimrah, and with Keriat Shema and its blessings. Rather, the intention is regarding the entire order of the prayer, for the matter of the "tarrying" is silence and contemplation in the heart, to understand before whom he is preparing himself to pray. And it is written in Seder HaYom that after the prayer when he needs to leave, if he can delay until ten men do not remain in the beit knesset—how good it is, so that he will not be among those who cause the removal of the Shekhinah. For behold, he delayed until there did not remain the measure for the resting of the Shekhinah, as the Shekhinah does not rest upon fewer than ten, see there. And behold, this certainly not every man is able to do so. However, in this one certainly must be careful: that if there are exactly ten, he should not be the first of the ten to leave, for in this he certainly nullifies the resting of the Shekhinah.

The sages taught in the Mishnah (30b): One may only stand to pray from a state of koved rosh. That is to say: with submission and awe. And for this, pausing before the prayer is beneficial, to contemplate the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and his own lowliness. And one should not stand in prayer from a state of laughter or levity, nor from idle words, nor from anger, but rather from the joy of a mitzvah. That is to say: that even one who cannot stand from a state of koved rosh, nevertheless, at the very least, he should not stand from laughter or levity, or from idle words or from anger.

This is the wording of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, in section 2: One should not stand to pray… except from a state of joy, such as words of consolation of the Torah, for example adjacent to the redemption from Egypt, or adjacent to "Tehillah L'David" in which it is written: "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him… He preserves all who love Him." Thus far his words, and here the intention is regarding the Shmoneh Esreh prayer. Therefore, in Shacharit when we join redemption to prayer—it is the joy of the redemption from Egypt. And in Mincha when we say "Ashrei" beforehand—there is the joy of "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him." And so it is explained from the language of the Tur who wrote: One does not stand… except from a state of joy. Therefore they were accustomed to say "Ashrei" and Pesukei D'Zimrah before prayer, in order to stand in prayer from words of joy of a mitzvah… Thus far his words. And so our sages, of blessed memory, said: One does not stand to pray from a state of legal judgment, nor from a state of halacha so that his heart will not be preoccupied with it. Rather, from a state of a decided halacha. And our teacher, the Rema, wrote that this is also like "from a state of joy," for "the precepts of Hashem are upright, rejoicing the heart." Thus far his words. And this is not a contradiction to the previous point, for here the intention is regarding the entire general prayer and not regarding Shmoneh Esreh. Nevertheless, if one was engaged in pilpul before the prayer—he should not refrain because of this from praying with the tzibbur or when the time for prayer has arrived, for it is merely a concern, and especially nowadays when in any case we do not concentrate so much (Magen Avraham, subsection 3).

Our teacher, the Beit Yosef, wrote in section 4: One who is occupied with the needs of the community is considered like one occupied with Torah. The explanation: regarding the matter of rising from it to pray. For this, too, is a joy for him, that he is occupied with the needs of the community. And there are those who explain that this means regarding the matter that he does not need to stop to pray. Thus far his words, because one who is occupied with a mitzvah is exempt from a mitzvah, and so it is implied in the Yerushalmi. And specifically needs of the community in which there is no distraction. But when there is distraction—one does not rise from it to pray, like from a halacha that is not decided (ibid. subsection 4). And when one is occupied with the needs of the community, and the time for prayer passed—he does not need to pray twice at Mincha, since he was not obligated in it at the time of the act, for one who is occupied with a mitzvah is exempt from a mitzvah. (ibid. subsection 5. And see there, and in Yoreh Deah siman 341, and in the Eliyah Rabbah. And not like the Taz there and later at the beginning of siman 108).

Upon his arrival at the beit knesset he should say: "And I, through Your great kindness, shall enter Your house" (Zohar). However, "I will prostrate myself toward Your holy sanctuary in awe of You" he should not say unless he is wrapped in tefillin (ibid.). And there are those who pray from within the siddur so that they may focus more, and so wrote the author of Sefer HaKavanot. But in truth, everything is according to the individual (Magen Avraham, subsection 2), for there are people who, within the siddur, have no kavanah, and by heart, they have kavanah. And happy is he whose eyes are closed throughout the entire prayer from "Baruch She'amar" until "Aleinu," for the closing of eyes is very beneficial for kavanah. And there are those who practice this, and the main thing is that his kavanah be toward Heaven. And those who stand in prayer and show themselves as if they are weary, regarding them the verse says: "But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob, for you have grown weary of Me, O Israel" (Eliyah Rabbah in the name of Sheyarei Knesset HaGedolah).