The Avodah of Shemoneh Esrei

A well-known story captures this struggle with a touch of humor. A gentile once asked a rabbi why the Jewish people seem to be so successful in business. The rabbi smiled and replied, “If you silently meditate on your business three times a day, every day, would it surprise you that you succeed?”

The Eternal Challenge of Kavanah

Distraction during prayer is hardly a modern problem.

Rav Chaim Soloveitchik wrote that if one is not fully aware that he is standing before Hashem while reciting Shemoneh Esrei, he has not fulfilled the mitzvah at all. The Chazon Ish, however, disagreed by citing the Gemara, which says that we must “give thanks to our head that it knows to bow at Modim.” Even in Talmudic times, the Chazon Ish explained, people struggled with concentration; the battle for kavanah is ancient.

One rabbi quipped that after Shemoneh Esrei, we should recite Tefillas Haderech—for we have just returned from a long journey abroad!

The Chofetz Chaim’s Mashal: Grab What You Can

The Chofetz Chaim offered an insight into working on kavanah during Shemoneh Esraih.

He compared it to a street vendor selling fresh rolls in the marketplace. Suddenly, a stray dog runs by and knocks over the vendor’s table. The rolls scatter everywhere, and before the stunned seller can react, a pack of dogs rushes in, each snatching a roll and running off. The vendor stands there helplessly, watching his livelihood disappear.

A bystander shouts, “Don’t just stand there! If the dogs are grabbing, grab too!”

The Chofetz Chaim explained: the yetzer hara tries to snatch away every bracha we recite during Shemoneh Esrei, stealing our kavanah and focus. But we shouldn’t surrender. If he grabs, we must grab too! Even if we can’t hold onto all nineteen brachos, let’s seize whatever we can. One heartfelt blessing, one genuine moment of awareness, is infinitely precious before Hashem.

Physical Parallels to the Korbanos

The Mishnah Berurah extends the Shulchan Aruch’s comparison of Shemoneh Esrei to the Avodah. Just as a kohen performing the service could not have anything separating his feet from the floor, one should not have a separation between himself and the ground while praying.

How far does this halacha go? The Mishnah Berurah clarifies that one may not pray on a platform or item that is raised more than three tefachim, approximately 9–12 inches, above the surrounding floor, as that conveys arrogance. However, if the elevation is less than that, most Acharonim rule that it poses no problem.

The Mishnah Berurah (Chelek Alef) adds that spreading leaves on the floor on Yom Kippur is permitted. Since worshippers were barefoot and the ground cold, the leaves served to ease discomfort, and their thinness did not constitute a separation. Yet, intriguingly, in the Mishnah Berurah (Chelek Vav) in the laws of Yom Kippur the Chofetz Chaim writes that this leniency applies only to someone who is cold, implying that ideally, one should avoid any barrier, even something as slight as a layer of leaves.

This apparent contradiction caught the attention of Ishai Yisrael, who asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky about it. Rav Chaim explained that the Chofetz Chaim was merely giving a practical example in the later volume, but the halacha l’maaseh follows the first chelek: if the barrier is less than 9-12 inches high, it is mutar lechatchilah. In fact, Ishai Yisrael records this conclusion explicitly. The Be’er Heitev (O.C. 90) even notes that it was common practice in the time of the Bach to daven on mats on Yom Kippur.

Reconciling the Mishnah Berurah

Still, Rav Chaim’s reconciliation, while logical, feels somewhat dochuk. There may be another explanation.

In Kitzur Toldos HaChafetz Chaim (p. 42), the Chofetz Chaim’s son reveals fascinating background information:

“My father, the master, came to visit me, and after some discussion between us, he suggested that I assist him in compiling the Shulchan Aruch. He instructed me to remain at home and study specific sections of Hilchos Shabbos, to analyze and clarify them in writing, and send him my notes (kuntrisim). He would then review them together with his son-in-law, Rabbi Tzvi, and include what they deemed fitting in his work.

“I note for the scholarly reader that since these writings were not all from the same pen, certain contradictions may be found.”

From this, we learn that portions of the Mishnah Berurah were indeed authored by the Chofetz Chaim’s son, and possibly by others under his supervision. There is a tradition that Rav Dovid Leibowitz, zt”l, authored or co-authored Hilchos Sukkah.

Perhaps, then, the seeming contradictions between volumes were intentionally left intact, each reflecting the considered judgment of a Torah scholar working under the Chofetz Chaim’s direction.