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Posts tagged tefilla-prayer
On the sabbath before the new month, we announce the upcoming new moon and on those days, we also do NOT say Av Harachamim (except during sefirah when the history of persecution is particularly rel...
A tallit is normally worn only during the day, yet there is a custom to also wear it for all services of Yom Kippur including Kol Nidrei. Why? I've heard that it's because we take the torah scrol...
There are certain things that we do because we have been commanded to, and the bracha on these mitzvot includes the phrase "asher kidishanu" indicating that Hashem commanded us to perform these mit...
I was paring a Hebrew word and left with a biconsonantal But on the answer key it had three Hebrew letters intead of two Hebrew letters. A III he, was added to the end of the biconsonantal. What am...
I have frequently heard people wish a newborn baby boy that he "merit an on-time circumcision". Now, in general, an on-time circumcision is performed if the baby is healthy enough, and is not perf...
I have read that men wear a tallit gadol at Shacharit because of a connection to Avraham (the mitzvah was given in his merit and Shacharit is 'his' prayer). Why then are men instructed to wear it a...
Ignoring the question of why, there is a practice of using different musical trop when laining the 10 commandments from when studying it. Are there other examples of different trop or pronunciatio...
In Gan Eden, Adam and Chava were unclothed. I recall reading that, had they not eaten of the Eitz HaDa'at, moshiach would have come and ushered in the messianic era (I'm not sure of a source for th...
I think I remember hearing that there is a particular prayer to be said when seeing a place where there was formerly a shul. Can anyone confirm this? Could you tell me what the prayer says? (I am m...
If one is in an open area in which more than one minyan is meeting, can he be counted for both minyanim simultaneously? If, at the kotel, one minyan has started and then someone leaves, and I am t...
In the Viduy (confessions) that we say as part of the Yom Kippur prayers, there's a section where we list a whole bunch of sins, saying "Al chet..." (for the sin...) before each one. Two of the sec...
Note -- I am creating the hypothetical carefully so I can focus on an underlying halachic concept. A Baal T'shuva learns to daven in a very eclectic minyan -- people from all over and with all sor...
Bottom line question is why is a Sukkah different from a Matzah in terms of (not) requiring (expressed) kavannah in its creation? A Sukkah (according to the ruling of Beit Hillel on Mas Sukkah 9a)...
I noticed that on Shabbos, the gabbai at shul makes the mishebeirach for cholim between the 6th and 7th aliyot. I have seen this at other shuls (though I don't know if it is a codified rule or a st...
I'm not fully finished with my hypothetical but it goes something like this: If I davened mincha at the earliest possible time, I can daven maariv before sunset. If I am called to help out with a...
The Bracha on salt, as listed in Mishneh Torah, Blessings 8:8 is Shehakol. I have found confirmation in modern generally accepted Halachic sources. According to Mishneh Torah, Blessings 8:7 spices...
I have studied Judaism for five years privately but also with the assistance of friends. There isn't a shul in the city where I live so most Shabbats I pray at home. Occasionally I have driven in...
When we say Ulichaporas Pasha in musaf on a rosh chodesh that is a leap year, is that supposed to be read/understood as a continuation of the previous request or as a new request? אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ וֵ...
I was taught that we shouldn't make an interruption between saying a mitzvah b'racha and taking the action. I don't have a source for this other than that it makes sense; you don't want to risk ma...
I had been under the impression that somebody who is not personally obligated in a mitzvah (or maybe specifically a b'racha?) cannot do it on behalf of someone else. This is one of the usual expla...
From Pesach until Succos, we stop saying mashiv haruach umorid hageshem in shemoneh esrei. However, we would normally say it in the second blessing of the amidah, which is where we are only praisi...
In the first paragraph of Krias Shema Al Hamita, we say that we forgive: ...לְכָל־מִי שֶׁהִכְעִיס וְהִקְנִיט אוֹתִי אוֹ שֶׁחָטָא כְנֶגְדִּי בֵּין בְּגוּפִי בֵּין בְּמָמוֹנִי... ...anyone who ha...
What is the shecheyanu for on Purim night? The one before the morning megillah reading is (according to the announcement in shul) for the mitzvos done in the daytime. But in the preceding night, w...
The Gemara (Berachot 38a) cites a dispute whether the blessing on bread is המוציא or מוציא. The issue is that the blessing must reflect the past tense; while everyone agrees that מוציא is past tens...
I was talking to a Druze friend of mine a couple weeks ago, and the topic turned to religion. My friend is fairly knowledgeable about a lot of religion-related things (including for the Druze relig...
I know the following: The word "considered" will surely invoke the response "by whom." I have no answer but want to know the breadth of opinions. The question begs "what does it matter?" I have...
Upon learning of someone's passing, I have been taught, we immediately say baruch dayan ha-emet. I have also been taught that we don't say blessings (or learn torah) in inappropriate locations. M...
In Eruvin 74b.2, the Gemara rejects a proof by saying: לְעוֹלָם אֵימָא לָךְ קַיבְּלַהּ מִינֵּהּ, וְהָכָא חַזָּנָא הוּא דַּהֲוָה אָכֵיל נַהֲמָא בְּבֵיתֵיהּ וְאָתֵי בָּיֵית בְּבֵי כְנִישְׁתָּא The G...
In my Simchas Torah experience, there's at least as many cycles of aliyos as there are Kohanim and Leviim, such that if anything a given Kohen or Levi may end up with multiple aliyos on a given Sim...
The theme of the "Adama mei-arer" Hoshana-prayer that we say on Hoshana Rabba appears to be asking God to protect our agriculture. With one possible exception, every element appears to be about the...
Are there any sources that discuss how one can internalize the belief that their prayers have a real effect on the world?
Normally in my experience, a baby girl is named in the presence of a minyan, generally at a Torah reading. If her parents are not expecting to be with a minyan for the foreseeable future, should th...
One of the songs commonly sung on Friday night, which begins Kol Mekadesh Shevi'i, follows an alphabetic acrostic. After the introductory stanza, each stanza contains four phrases: the first three ...
I've heard a setting (by Debbie Friedman) of the song "Shalom Aleichem" that, in the last verse, says "shuvchem" instead of "tzeitchem" (recording, mixed group of singers). A rabbi who knew her to...
My understanding is that the repetition of the prayer popularly referred to as the Shmoneh Esrei was instituted to assist people who were illiterate and could not say the prayer themselves. Since t...
Some members of my family are required to take a "smell test" in order to attend school each day. Are they required to make a bracha בורא מיני בשמים like when usually smelling nice things, or is th...
Today I saw this question: History of Birkas haMinim, which got me thinking: Nowadays, that we don't have Tzdokim or little Judaic Temple-cults like the Essenes, whom is the Birkat Haminim directed...
I know that there are parts of davening that one can only say, or be involved with saying, in the presence of a minyan, but I was wondering if there were pieces of davening that can only happen whe...
The weekday amida has thirteen request benedictions in the middle, according to the usual count. Some of these end, after their respective requests, with "כי אתה…", "for you are…". Here's the rund...
As I am training to become a chazzan, a prayer leader, I'm constantly beset by critiques by the community, regarding "you should've done X differently." There's certainly many points which will var...
I was talking with a US rabbi from a liberal movement who left a congregation after 30 years. He told me that he needed to disengage from his now-former congregants, out of deference to the new ra...
I'm somewhat competent in praying alone on weekdays and Shabbat, with the current pandemic providing a forcing function. I prefer to be part of a community and be able to rely on the sh'liach tzib...
At the end of Korbanos during davening there is a Baraisa that starts with רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל אוֹמֵר. It tells us of different methods of derivation that can be used throughout Tanach. Does anyone ...
Usually, if someone accidentally misses a davening, he makes the shemoneh esrei up by saying it twice the next time (called tashlumin) [source needed]. If someone misses davening accidentally, but ...
On a fast day during Shacharit (the morning prayer), individuals do not say עננו / Aneinu (a special fast-day prayer), in case they don't complete the fast, and instead say it during Mincha (the af...
Can one bless Hatov Ve'Hametiv on wine that is not made of grapes (like pomegranates, figs etc) like he would on a grape wine?
Due to the pandemic some communities are having weekday services on Zoom. (There seem to be leniencies that support this. That is not what this question is about.) We can't read from the torah s...
In Berachos 4b (11 paragraphs up in pop-up), The gemara gives a potential reson what makes the teffilah "Ashrei" אִילֵּימָא מִשּׁוּם דְּאָתְיָא בְּאָלֶף בֵּית, נֵימָא ״אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ״ דּ...
