This week we will learn the approaches of Rashi, and next week we will unpack the ideas of Rabbeinu Yona. They provide us with diverse views on the depth and breadth of what it means to juxtapose the beracha of geula with the Amida. The question was put quite bluntly by the Shita Mekubetzet¹.

שיטה מקובצת מסכת ברכות דף ד:, אמר מר קורא קריאת שמע ומתפלל מסייע ליה לר’ יוחנן איזהו בן העולם הבא זה הסומך גאולה של ערבית לתפלה של ערבית.

יש לשאול וכי מפני שסומך גאולה לתפלה יהי לו שכר כל כך שיהיה בן העולם הבא? 

Shita Mekubetzet, Berachot 4b, s.v. amar mar koreh kriyat shema…R. Yochana, “Who is one who merits the world to come…”? And one should ask, for just because someone juxtaposes the beracha of geula to the Amida, why should they merit the world to come²? In order to unpack this sharp question, we will learn the approaches of Rashi and Rabbeinu Yona.

Rashi – Petition, Praise, Joy

There are two comments of Rashi – with three different approaches – that address our question and try to offer deeper meaning to the practice of moving immediately from the beracha of geula to the Amida. In explaining the original comment of R. Yochanan (Berachot 4b), Rashi quotes the Yerushalmi 1:1 (Vilna) 2d (Venice). We will begin with the first few sentences, which really stand alone from the concluding paragraph.

רש”י על ברכות ד׳ ב:ו:ג, זה הסומך – וכל שכן דשחרית. דעיקר גאולת מצרים בשחרית הוה, כדכתיב מִמָּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח יָצְאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (במדבר ל”ג:ג). וסמיכת גאולה לתפלה רמזה דוד בספר תהלים, דכתיב  יְ-וָה צוּרִי וְגֹאֲלִ (תהלים י”ט:ט”ו), וסמיך ליה יַעַנְךָ יְ-וָה בְּיוֹם צָרָה (תהלים כ’). 

Rashi on Berakhot 4b:6:3, s.v. Zeh ha-Somech – All the more so [one merits a place in the world to come] for shacharit, because the essence of the redemption from Egypt was in the morning, as it is written and the day after Pesach the children of Israel left (Bamidbar 33:3). And the [practice] of juxtaposing the beracha of geula to Tefila is hinted at by David in the Psalms God, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:15), and it says right after that May the Lord answer you in a time of trouble (Psalm 20:2). 

The first section of this comment of Rashi refers to the connection that the Yerushalmi makes between the end of chapter 19 and the beginning of chapter 20 of the Psalms in describing the nature of the “תיכף – immediacy” requirement to go from geula to tefila. Interestingly, this idea takes on a life of its own, separate from the imagery of knocking on the door. The Or Zarua quotes R. Tam as claiming that because these verses are built on the idea of Tefila in a time of trouble or pain (יַעַנְךָ יְ-וָה בְּיוֹם צָרָה, answer me, my Lord, in the day of suffering) that therefore there is no requirement to juxtapose the two on Shabbat³. 

In this first approach, Rashi presents a very specific notion of prayer. The centerpiece of the daily Amida are the thirteen middle petitions. By defining prayer as the fulfillment of requests in a time of trouble or suffering, Rashi puts the petitionary aspect of prayer front and center. One can certainly not deny that a main aspect of prayer is an attempt to articulate our very human need for things like forgiveness, health, prosperity and insight. However, there are other ways to conceptualize what is happening when we pray, which Rashi continues to share in the same comment.

When Rashi continues his comment, he quotes the conclusion of the Yerushalmi and presents his second approach:

ואמרינן בברכות ירושלמי (פרק א’),”מי שאינו סומך גאולה לתפלה למה הוא דומה? לאוהבו של מלך שבא ודפק על פתחו של מלך, יצא המלך ומצאו שהפליג – אף הוא הפליג.” אלא יהיה אדם מקרב להקדוש ברוך הוא אליו, ומרצהו בתשבחות וקלוסין של יציאת מצרים, והוא מתקרב אליו, ובעודו קרוב אליו יש לו לתבוע צרכיו.

And it is said in Berachot in the Yerushalmi (1:1, 2d), “One who does not juxtapose geula to Tefila – to what is this similar? Like the beloved of the king who came to knock on the entry-way of the king⁴ , the king came out and found that the beloved had already left – the King himself also leaves.” Rather a person should bring the Holy Blessed One close to himself and cajole Him with praise and thanks of the Exodus from Egypt. And God will come close to him. And when God is close, he should request what he needs.

Rashi quotes the Yerushalmi and elaborates on the missed opportunity of knocking on the king’s door – reciting the Shema and its blessings – and then not asking for your needs – the Amida. The explanation that Rashi offers softens the somewhat harsh king metaphor and brings us a little closer to the lover and beloved of Shir ha-Shirim.

The way that Rashi treats the berachot of Shema is very similar to how we thought about Pesukei d’Zimra.

בבלי ברכות ל״ב ע״א] דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי שִׂמְלַאי: לְעוֹלָם יְסַדֵּר אָדָם שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְאַחַר כָּךְ יִתְפַּלֵּל.

Bavli Berachot 32a] R. Simlai darshened, “A person should always first organize praise of the Holy Blessed One and only afterward pray [with petitions].”

The beracha of geula, in this formulation, is a way to prepare for the real encounter that happens at the Amida. Requiring praise before petition instantiates the hierarchy of God as commander and human beings as commanded. As the Yerushalmi shifted the lover and beloved from Shir ha-Shirim to king and tax-payer, so too we are reminded of God’s ability to grant, or not grant, our requests. 

In commenting on the gemara about the appropriate way to “stand” for prayer, Rashi offers a third angle on this same question. 

בבלי מסכת ברכות דף ל”א ע”א

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵין עוֹמְדִין לְהִתְפַּלֵּל לֹא מִתּוֹךְ דִּין, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ דְּבַר הֲלָכָה, אֶלָּא מִתּוֹךְ הֲלָכָה פְּסוּקָה….תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵין עוֹמְדִין לְהִתְפַּלֵּל לֹא מִתּוֹךְ עַצְבוּת, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ עַצְלוּת, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ שְׂחוֹק, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ שִׂיחָה, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ קַלּוּת רֹאשׁ, וְלֹא מִתּוֹךְ דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים, אֶלָּא מִתּוֹךְ שִׂמְחָה שֶׁל מִצְוָה.

Bavli Berachot 31a

Our Rabbis have taught: We do not rise to prayer from a place of strict judgement and not from a place of complex halakhic analysis, rather only from a place of settled law…Our Rabbis have taught: We do not rise to prayer from a place of sadness and not from laziness and not from laughter and not from idle chatter and not from levity and not from foolish matters rather only from a place of the joy of mitzvot.

Rashi then says:

רש”י מסכת ברכות דף ל”א עמוד א, אלא מתוך שמחה – כגון דברי תנחומים של תורה, כגון סמוך לגאולת מצרים, או סמוך לתהלה לדוד…

Rashi, Berachot 31a, eleh mitoch simcha – Like tanchumim of Torah, like juxtaposing the geula of Egypt, like juxtaposing tehila l’david…  

Rashi here says that the link between the beracha of geula and Tefila is a fulfillment of the idea that when we stand in prayer, the appropriate posture is one of the joy of mitzvot. When we remind ourselves of the miracles of the Exodus, we are moved to great joy. In this formulation, the beracha of geula is still seen as a preparation for the encounter of the Amida. Here the themes of the beracha spark joy by recalling the miraculous moments of the Exodus.

In two short comments, Rashi offers us three different directions for thinking about the link between the beracha of geula and the Amida:

1. As a prelude to the petitions of the Amida.
2. Knocking on the door of the king in anticipation of a divine encounter.
3. The joy of recalling the exodus as a preparation for the Amida.

In the final analysis, the juxtaposition of these two sections of davening is meant to build to the moment when each of us stands before God at the height of connection and centerpiece of daily prayer – the Amida. The “immediacy” of moving from geula to Tefila is fundamentally meant to improve the experience of the Amida.  

Next week we will delve into the world of Rabbeinu Yona and learn an approach that sees the beracha of geula as standing on its own two feet.

1. Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi, 16th century Israel, teacher of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria
2. The Shita’s answer is that listening to the direction of the Rabbis on this matter displays commitment to Rabbinic law more generally, “כל הזהיר בדברי חכמים לדקדק בהן ולקיימן שאף בזו הוא זהיר לסמוך גאולה לתפלה אפילו בלילה”. This is a very different way of thinking about this practice from what we will see below. This appears to be a comment of the Ritva, though that is not clear from the Shita.
3. See או”ז ח”א הל’ ק”ש סו”ס יד this idea appears in the הגהות אשרי, רא”ש ברכות פ”א סו”ס י הגהה ב and then in the בית יוסף and the דרכי משה at the beginning of או”ח ס’ קיא. The רמ”א in קיא:א quotes this though the מחבר clearly rejects it.
4. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door:Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Guns N’ Roses