It was stated: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: The three Prayers were instituted by the three Patriarchs, Avrham, Itzchak and Yaakov. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that the prayers were instituted based on the daily offerings sacrificed in the Holy Temple, and the prayers parallel the offerings – Shacharit (Morning), Mincha (Afternoon) and Arvit (Night).
Who is talking? Both R. Yosi bar Hanina and R. Yehoshua ben Levi were alive in the 3rd century of the common era. They lived in the Land of Israel, where they taught.
~ “Prayers” is the term used for what we today call “Amidah”, standing prayer. Why?
~ What are the two founding stories about the three daily services presented in the Talmud? Why does it matter?
מתני׳ רבן גמליאל אומר בכל יום ויום מתפלל אדם שמנה עשרה רבי יהושע אומר מעין י"ח ר"ע אומר אם שגורה תפלתו בפיו מתפלל י"ח ואם לאו מעין י"ח ר"א אומר העושה תפלתו קבע אין תפלתו תחנונים ר' יהושע אומר ההולך במקום סכנה מתפלל תפלה קצרה ואומר הושע ה' את עמך את שארית ישראל בכל פרשת העבור יהיו צרכיהם לפניך ברוך אתה ה' שומע תפלה היה רוכב על החמור ירד ויתפלל ואם אינו יכול לירד יחזיר את פניו ואם אינו יכול להחזיר את פניו יכוין את לבו כנגד בית קדשי הקדשים היה מהלך בספינה או באסדא יכוין את לבו כנגד בית קדשי הקדשים:
MISHNAH Rabban Gamaliel says: Every day one should pray the eighteen [benedictions]. R. Joshua says : The abstract of the eighteen [benedictions]. R. 'Akiba says: If his prayer is fluent in his mouth, he should pray the eighteen ; but if not, an abstract of the eighteen. R. Eliezer says : If one makes his prayer a fixed task, his prayer is not a supplication. R. Joshua says : If one is journeying in a place of danger, he should offer a short prayer, saying : "Save, O Lord, Thy people, the remnant of Israel ; in all times of crisis may their needs be before Thee. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Who hearkenest to prayer." If he is riding upon an ass, he should alight and say the Tefillah ; but if he is unable to alight, he should turn his face [in the direction of Jerusalem] If he is unable to turn his face, he should direct his heart towards the Holy of Holies. If he is journeying in a ship or on a raft, he should direct his heart towards the Holy of Holies.
§ The baraita cited previously taught that the halakha against reciting a text out of order applies to the Amida prayer as well. The Gemara asks: From where do we derive this? As it is taught in a baraita: Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen blessings of the Amida prayer before Rabban Gamliel in their fixed order in Yavne, which indicates that there is a specific order to these blessings that must not be changed. Rabbi Yoḥanan said, and some say that it was taught in a baraita: A hundred and twenty Elders, i.e., the Men of the Great Assembly, and among them several prophets, established the eighteen blessings of the Amida in their fixed order, which also shows that the order of these blessings may not be changed.
Ismar Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy. 1913.
(excerpt from 1993 edition, translated from the German by Raymond P. Scheindlin)
The structure of the Amidah – hymnic introduction, petitions, and thanksgiving – clearly goes back to biblical models, and therefore cannot have originated very long after the biblical period. The contents of the petitions were originally very general. Like the petitions in the late biblical books, they seem to have taken as a starting point the sinfulness of man; and the material things for which worshipers prayed were only such as were indispensable to everyone, and therefore equally dear to the hearts of all members of the community. To these belonged also several wishes of the community as a whole, such as the petition for Jerusalem and the Temple, and, rather early, as we learn from the Apocrypha, for the uniting of all of Israel's scattered people. Late biblical and apocryphal prayers explain the practice of introducing the prayers by referring to the covenant between God and the ancestors. This testifies to a firm and self-assured faith in the continuing protection and favor of God, a faith that the later generations did not always share. The confession of sin also flows from a perfectly sound consciousness, and is free of the masochistic self-reproaches of the period before the destruction of the state [Jerusalem].
(ב) וצריך אתה לדעת כי מימות משה רבינו עד אנשי כנסת הגדולה היתה התפלה בישראל בלתי מסודרת בתיקון שוה לכלנו, שהיה כל א' וא' עושה מליצה ומתפלל לעצמו כפי ידיעתו וחכמתו וצחות לשונו, עד שבאו אנשי כנסת הגדולה ותקנו תפלה זו של שמונה עשרה כדי שתהיה תפלה מסודרת שוה לכל ישראל...
...and you should know that from the days of Moses our teacher until the Men of the Great Assembly, prayer in Israel was not arranged in a definite order for everyone alike. Each individual prayed for himself according to her/his knowledge, wisdom, and clarity of expression, until the Men of the Great Assembly established the prayer of the 18 (blessings) in order that liturgy would be set for all of Israel alike...
מַתְנִי׳ תְּפִלַּת הַשַּׁחַר עַד חֲצוֹת. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: עַד אַרְבַּע שָׁעוֹת. תְּפִלַּת הַמִּנְחָה עַד הָעֶרֶב, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: עַד פְּלַג הַמִּנְחָה. תְּפִלַּת הָעֶרֶב אֵין לָהּ קֶבַע.
MISHNA: According to the Rabbis, the morning prayer may be recited until noon. Rabbi Yehuda says: It may be recited only until four hours after sunrise. The afternoon prayer may be recited until the evening. Rabbi Yehuda says: It may be recited only until the midpoint of the afternoon [pelag haminḥa], i.e., the midpoint of the period that begins with the sacrifice of the daily afternoon offering and ends at nightfall, which is the end of the afternoon. The evening prayer may be recited throughout the night and is not fixed to a specific hour.