Class #033 VIDEO / Berachot 5.5 / Learn to read the signs or simanim that you appear daily

1. Text and location of the mishnah

The mishnah dating is Berachot 5:5at the end of the chapter devoted to the laws of the Amidá (the “Tefillah” par excellence). The Hebrew text, in summary form, says:

“Who is praying and he is wrong, it is a bad omen (siman ra) for him.
And if it is the envoy of the congregation (shaliáj tzibur), it is a bad omen to those who send him,
because the sent of a person is as the same person.

They told about Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, who, when he prayed for the sick, used to say:
‘This will live and he will die’.

He said: ‘How do you know?’
He replied: ‘yes, my prayer flows with ease in my mouth (im shegurá tefilatí befí),
I know that it is accepted; but if not, I know that it is rejected’.”

This mishnah close the section of Berachot that's the concentration, the inner attitude and the correction of the text in the prayer.

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2. Context of chapter 5 of Berachot

Chapter 5 of Berachot revolves around the spiritual conditions and techniques of the Tefillah:

• 5:1 speaks of do not stand up to pray, but “with weight of head”, that is to say, with seriousness and devotion; the chassidim ancient waited an hour before praying for the guidance of the heart to the Eternal.
• 5:2-4 discuss details on where to mention the rain, the Havdalá, and what to do when one you are wrong in specific parts of the Amidá.
• 5:5our mishnah, since it is not as “art” but that enters into the dimension of signs of spiritual, of the inner state of the person praying and the figure of the shaliáj tzibur.

That is to say: first, the mishnah regulates how to pray; at the end, opens a window to how to read spiritually what happens while you pray.

3. Analysis sentence-by-sentence

3.1. “Who prays and he is wrong, it is a bad omen for him”

Key words:

• “Ha-mitpalel ve-ta á” – the one who is praying and “wrong.”
• “Siman ra as” – “this is a bad sign for him.”

In context, “wrong” is not a simple slip of the mechanical isolation, but a loss of concentration in the Amidá, which causes a person to upset the order of the prayer or not remember what to say. The chapter is talking about serious errors that force you to repeat parts of the Tefillah.

The commentators explain:

• The mishnah is not promoting superstition (“it is wrong, then for sure it will happen something bad”), but checking that the error indicates a inner state deficit: fear, distraction, little kavaná (intention). The “bad omen” is a read spiritual selfnot a fortune-telling magic of the future.

In other words: if, in the moment of standing before God, the person it is not able to keep the mind and heart alignedthat already is a “bad sign” of his own spiritual level at that instant.

3.2. “And if it is the envoy of the congregation...”

“And if it is the shaliáj tzibur, it is a bad omen to those who send him,
because the sent of a person is as the same person.”

Two concepts:

1. Shaliáj tzibur: the one who leads the prayer public. In ancient times, many could not read from memory Amidá, so that the shaliáj tzibur prayed in the name of all; they fulfilled their obligation by listening and responding “Amen”.
2. “Shluhó shel adam kemotó”: halachic principle general: “the emissary of a person is as the same person”. What the sent is considered legally to be made by the principal.

Applied to our mishnah:

• If the shaliáj tzibur commits a serious error, this indicates that the community as a whole is not in a good spiritual level, because they chose and pray through it.
• The “bad omen” is not only personal; it is a diagnosis of the quality religious collective.

This is on the basis of the requirements halájicas later about who can be shaliáj tzibur: respectable person, with good character, and knowledgeable of the prayer, without bad reputation, etc ..

3.3. Of the law, as in the example: Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa

The second part is a anecdote ejemplificadora:

“They said about Rebbi Chanina ben Dosa...”

Rabbi Chanina (or Janina) ben Dosa is a sage of the first century, the era of the Second Temple, famous for its mercy extreme, and their effectiveness in prayer, with numerous accounts of miracles in the Talmud (to stop the rain, heal the sick, etc).

The mishnah says that, as we pray for the sick, stated: “This will live and he will die”. In the Talmud (Berachot 34b) this story is extended with specific examples: Rabban Gamliel sent emissaries to Rebbi Chanina pray for his sick son; R. Iojanán ben Zakai does the same for his own son. In both cases, Janina reads and announces the result; then it confirms exactly what I said.

3.4. “If my prayer flows with ease in my mouth...”

Key: “im shegurá tefilatí befí”.

• Literal: “if my prayer is fluid / flow in my mouth.”
• Some contemporary studies indicate variants of handwritten text that read something like “shagrá”, “flowing with force”, emphasizing the idea of a flowing intense and non-blocking.

The criterion of Rabbi Chanina:

• When the prayer comes out so natural, continuous, unimpeded interiorhe understands that his prayer is accepted.
• When you feel that the prayer do not “come out”, that is blocked, which is not flowing, it reads as a sign that the prayer is not accepted.

Again, this is not magic or divination automatic, but a hypersensitivity spiritual: perceive, in his own act of praying that, if it is in full harmony with the divine will or not.

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4. The common thread: kavaná and efficacy of prayer

If we put together all the chapter 5, the message is consistent:

1. The Tefillah requires a interior layout serious and concentrated (kavaná).
2. The errors and confusions in the Amidá reveal the absence of such a kavaná.
3. When that lack of concentration appears in the shaliáj tzibur, is a problem collectivebecause he is the “mouth” of the congregation.
4. On the opposite end, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa represents the model of those who living in a state of such alignment spiritual your own experience to pray to him “he says” if the sentence “went” or not.

The mishnah, then, unites:

• Dimension halachic: who prays, how is misleading, what does it mean.
• Spiritual dimension-mystic: the inner perception of the acceptance or rejection of the prayer.

5. Reading classics (Rambam, Bartenura and others)

Rambam

In his commentary to the Mishnah, Rambam usually interpreted these “signs,” not as a superstition, but as expressions pedagogical:

• The “bad omen” indicates that the one who prays it is not at the appropriate level of care and godly fearthat is why their prayer loses strength.
• In the Fall encoded (Mishné Torah, Hilchot Tefillah), Rambam not set the person may need to draw conclusions fatal about their future due to an error, but rather insists on the mental preparation, concentration, and the dignity of prayer.

Bartenura

The Bartenura, commentator classic of the Mishnah, is generally summarize the reading talmudic:

• Understand the “siman ra” as signal of your Tefillah was not well-received.
• In the case of the shaliáj tziburhe emphasizes that the error is a reflection of the constituents: if you chose a wrong to your representative, that is the same as the committed.

6. The figure of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa

To understand the weight of history, we should remember who he is:

• Described as extremely poor, but with an absolute confidence in God; there are stories of his wife by turning on “vinegar as if out of oil” by his merit, or of its intervention in the rain.
• In Berachot and Ta'anit is presented as someone close to God in an almost intimate: your sentence changed realities, but always with humility.

Thus, the mishnah shows as contrast:

• In front of the praying person common, which is wrong and shows a lack of kavaná,
• Rabbi Chanina is the perceived instantly if your prayer is aligned or not.

His phrase “if my prayer is flowing...” is almost a barometer inner spiritual connection.

7. What is NOT saying the mishnah?

It is important to clarify that no teaches:

1. Does not legitimize the superstition of “bad omens” in the sense of pagan.
   It does not say that if one is locked in a word, “insurance is going to go wrong in the business,” or “it's going to get sick”. Speaking of the state of the Tefillahnot horoscopes religious.
2. Does not give anyone the ability to prophesy about life and death.
   The case of Rabbi Chanina is exceptionallinked to your holiness and to the tradition of the “men of miracles”. The Talmud presents him as a rarity, not as a rule be replicated by all.
3. Do not order the person to become obsessed with each error.
   The Halachah later takes care of when it is necessary to repeat parts of the prayer or not, but does not convert every stumbling block in neurosis religious.

8. Reading ethical and theological

Epistemology can be drawn several lines of reflection:

8.1. Prayer as the mirror of the soul

• The idea of “bad omen” suggests that the way in which we pray it reveals who we are in that moment.
• If the mind wanders, if there is human fear of excessive, if the person is not truly “stand before the King,” the sentence is disarmed.

The Tefillah, in this reading, is not only asking for things, but a thermometer spiritual.

8.2. Responsibility of spiritual leadership

• The shaliáj tzibur embodies the religious responsibility public: speaks not just for himself, but for the community.
• If it fails for lack of preparation, or seriousness, the mishnah says: the problem is also of the community that put it there. There is a strong message about how you choose to prayer leaders and, by extension, the religious leaders.

8.3. The inner experience as a criterion

• In Rabbi Chanina, the criterion is not a voice from heaven explicit, but the subjective experience prayer: flowing or not flowing.
• This opens a mystical dimension: the person perceives, from the inside, if it is true devekut (accession) to God or not.

9. Contemporary applications

For a reader this mishnah can be read as well:

1. Errors in the prayer
   • This is not panic fail, but wonder what reveals the error: do fatigue, apathy, fear, lack of sense in what I say?
   • The “bad omen” is a call to work out the concentration and authenticitynot to live tied to the fear.
2. Leadership liturgical and representation
   • Who leads a community in prayer has to be worthy of trust, prepared, aware that it is not “acting”, but representing the collective before God.
   • The community, for its part, is responsible for who to surrender to that voice.
3. Listen to their own prayer
   • The teaching of Rabbi Chanina invites feel the internal quality of the prayer:
     • Do words come out mechanical or alive?
     • Is there alignment between what you say and what you truly want and believe?
   • Not to “predict” the results, but also to fine-tune your own relationship with the divine.

10. Synthesis

In summary, Mishnah Berachot 5.5:

• Uses the language of “good/bad omen to talk about the spiritual quality of the Tefillahnot to institute superstitions.
• He warns that those who errs badly in her prayer reveals a impaired concentration, and presence of God; and if that prayer represents to others, involves the whole community.
• Presented to Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa as a model end of man of prayer, able to perceive the fluidity or blocking of your own prayer for the acceptance or the rejection of the prayer.

It leaves, in the background, two existential questions:

1. How do I pray?
   How true presence, or on auto-pilot?
2. What I said my own prayer on my inner state?
   What flows, or lock? Am I really “stand before the King”, or just reciting formulas?

That is, in essence, the deep reading that proposes this mishnah on the relationship between the text of the Tefillah and the condition of the heart that speaks it.