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32
July 5 • 2007
Optional Service?
Shabbat Pinchat:
Numbers 25:10-30:1;
Jeremiah 1:1-2:3.
I
n the Talmud we find a question:
As Maimonides puts it in his
Why do we recite the Amidah
Mishneh Torah, saying the evening
three times a day?
Amidah "is the custom of all Jews in
One opinion holds that each one of
every place that they dwell, and they
the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and
have accepted it upon themselves as
Jacob) established one Amidah. The
though it were an obligatory prayer."
other opinion says that reciting the
The Talmud's discussion gives the
Amidah three times each day is paral- Jewish people a clear excuse not to say
lel to the daily sacrifices that
the Amidah a third time.
were brought to the Temple
Nevertheless, the Jewish
in Jerusalem.
people decided to take on
Parashat Pinchat is the
the evening Amidah as a
place to look if you want
permanent obligation for
to know the details for the
several reasons.
daily sacrifices as well as
First, we often hear the
those for Shabbat and festi-
phrase, "It is just a custom:'
vals. When you look in the
The word "just" serves to
Rabbi Steven
parshah, however, you will
undercut the seriousness
Rube nstein
find that the Torah speaks
and importance of custom.
Specia I to the
of two, not three, daily offer-
However, Jewish tradition
Jewis h News
ings — one in the morning
understands custom to be a
and one in the afternoon. So,
strong force in the life of a
how did we end up saying the Amidah community. It is so strong that Jewish
three times a day if they were estab-
sources often say, minhag yisrael k'din
lished because of the daily sacrifices?
hu, loosely translated as "The custom
The Talmud says that although there of Israel has the force of law"
wasn't an independent sacrifice in the
Many customs are part of the fabric
evening, the Amidah that we say at
of our communities and dismissing
night is actually parallel to the burn-
them lightly affects the foundation of
ing of the sacrificial remains of the
that community.
two daily sacrifices on the altar.
Perhaps even more importantly, this
Even more interesting is an opin-
issue speaks to the attitude we should
ion found later in the Talmud which
take in our relationship with God.
suggests that the evening Amidah is
When given the opportunity to con-
nect with God, take it. Don't look for
optional. (For those of you who don't
like davening in the evening, don't get
an excuse.
too excited.) Perhaps this designation
The opportunity to speak to God
of the evening Amidah as optional is
is a gift, given to us three times a day
related to the fact that the Torah only
just as the psalmist wrote, "Evening,
talks about two daily offerings.
morning and afternoon do I pray, I
plead and He will hear my voice." I I
So should we say the Amidah twice
a day or three times? For me, the fas-
cinating part of this debate is not the
Steven Rubenstein is the rabbi of
Congregation Beth Ahm in West
final answer but the way Jewish tradi-
tion figures out the issue and how we
Bloomfield.
explain the decision to ourselves.
In practical terms, it is clear that
Jewish law says that we should say the
Amidah three times a day. Though
Conversations
the talmudic debate leaves us with
What longstanding customs
the understanding that the evening
does your family have that are
Amidah is not obligatory to the same
now not "just a custom"? What
degree as the morning and afternoon
aspects of Jewish life make you
Amidah, Jewish law tells us that the
feel particularly connected to
evening Amidah is optional no longer.
God?
Why?