M. IV. 1; T. III. 1-3.… – Tractate… | Internet Sacred Text Archive

II.—PRAYER, ESPECIALLY THE PRAYER PAR EXCELLENCE (THE "EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS").

The Three Times of Prayer.

M.IV. 1. THE Morning Prayer [may be said] until midday. R. Judah says [only] till the fourth hour. 2 The Afternoon Prayer until the evening. 3 R. Judah says [only] till half the afternoon. 4 The Evening Prayer has no fixed law, and the Additional Prayers 5 may be said the whole day. 6

T.III. 1. Just as a fixed law was given 7 for reciting the Shma‘, so did the Majority set a time for the Prayer. Why did they say: The Morning

p. 29

T.[paragraph continues] Prayer [may be said] until midday? Because the T. morning continual burnt-offering was offered until midday. 1 R. Judah says: Until the fourth hour. And why did they say: The Afternoon Prayer until the evening? Because the continual burnt-offering between the evenings 2 was offered until the evening. R. Judah says: Until the division of the afternoon? The eleventh hour minus a quarter. 3

2. The evening prayer has no fixed law. R. Eleazar bar Jose 4 says: [It ends] with the closing of the gates. 5

3. If a man has prayed the additional prayers either while the morning continual burnt-sacrifice is offered, or up to a time when the morning continual burnt-sacrifice is no longer offered—he has accomplished his duty. R. Aqiba says, if his prayer flows freely in his mouth, it is a good sign for him, but if not, it is a bad sign for him. He used to say: 6 Everyone in whom the mind of man finds pleasure, the mind of God 7 finds pleasure [also]; if the mind of man does not find pleasure in him the mind of God 7 does not find pleasure in him.

Everyone whose own mind finds pleasure in what he does 8—it is a good sign for him; if his own mind does not find pleasure in what he does it is a bad sign for him.

Footnotes

28:2
the fourth hour. Until the end of it, which is the third part of the day (Bartenora), say so a.m.
28:3
the evening. i.e. sunset, say 6 p.m.
28:4
half the afternoon. The afternoon (Minchah) lasts from the ninth hour and a half, say 3.30 p.m., for two and a half hours, so that the half of this would be about 4.45 p.m. (cf. Bartenora).
28:5
the Additional Prayers. Special prayers for Sabbaths and Feast days (SA, pp. 559-573, 233-238). Special sacrifices are ordered in Num. 28²⁹.
28:6
the whole day. B adds, "R. Judah says [the Additional Prayers may be said] until the seventh hour," say 1 p.m.
28:7
The Vienna MS. and the common text read, "Just as the Law appointed a fixed law," and this may be right.
29:1
was offered until midday. "The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning" (ba bôqer), clearly not later than midday (Ex. 29³⁹)
29:2
between the evenings. Exod. 29³⁹, R. V. margin.
29:3
the eleventh hour minus a quarter. 4.45 p.m. see mishna, note.
29:4
Eleazar bar Jose. Eleazar, son of Jose the Galilean (p. 55), a mishna teacher of the third generation, c. 130-160 A.D.
29:5
the closing of the gates. Presumably the Temple gates were closed at dusk.
29:6
See Aboth III. 53 (15), where however the saying is attributed to R. Hananiah ben Dosa.
29:7
God. Lit.: the Place, in Whom are all things, "for He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place." See C. Taylor on Aboth. II. 18 (17); Lukyn Williams on Col. 1¹⁷.
29:8
what he does. Lit.: "what is his," but the reference seems to be not to his possessions, but to his occupations and actions.

M. IV. 1; T. III. 1-3. The Three Times of Prayer

II.—PRAYER, ESPECIALLY THE PRAYER PAR EXCELLENCE (THE "EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS").

The Three Times of Prayer.

Footnotes

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