HISTORY OF PRAYER

Dear Family,

I hope that everyone is well.

Mazal Tov to Sid Davidoff on his birthday, and wishing him well to have a wonderful year!

Prayer came up in both the Rambam, and the Sedra of this week

Rambam Hilchot Tefilah Chap 1

It is one of the 613 Mitzvos to pray daily

Torah does not prescribe fixed times or text of prayer.

Each person could offer praises to Hashem and make requests in whatever form he liked.

Ezra however, more than 2300 years ago (at the end of the Babylonian Exile), standardised the text of prayer, and also other brachot (blessings), to be the same for everyone. This was due to the confusion of languages at that time.

He and his Bet Din made the decision of standardised davening of Shemoneh Esreh (Amidah - 18 blessings) and the number of times per day of praying.

The various prayers are linked to the Korbanot (Offerings) in the Bet Hamikdash.

But of course, as is well known, the 3 Daily Prayers that we keep, are as old as our people, dating back to Avraham (instituted Shacharit), Yitzchak (Instituted Minchah) and Yaakov (Instituted Maariv)

Sedra Pinchas

And this week's Parsha concludes with a detailed list of the above Daily and Additional (Musaf) Offerings.

Another interesting point, is about Chap 28 in this weeks Sedra. It is the most read section in the whole of the Torah. Because this is the text that is read in the Torah readings of most of the Yom Tovim, Rosh Chodesh etc. describing the various Offerings on these occasions

Gut Shabbos to all