What we can learn from Daniel and Hannah when comes to praying TB Berachot 31

Today’s daf TB Berachot 31 enumerates several important laws concerning prayer. I like to share just two of them with you. One halacha comes from observing Daniel and the other comes from observing Hannah while they prayed.

Many halakhot are derived from evoking the prayers of biblical characters. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: One should always pray in a house with windows, as it is stated regarding Daniel: “And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went to his house. In his attic there were open windows facing Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt upon his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:11).

In the Tosefta, additional halakhot were derived from Daniel’s prayer. I might have thought that one could pray as many times as he wishes throughout the entire day; it has already been articulated by Daniel, with regard to whom it is stated: “And three times a day he knelt upon his knees and prayed.” This teaches that there are fixed prayers…

Daniel does not describe how these three prayers are distributed during the day. I might have thought that one may include all three prayers at one time; it has already been articulated by David that one may not do so, as it is written: “Evening and morning and noon, I pray and cry aloud and He hears my voice” (Psalms 55:18). (Sefaria.com translation)

Why do we need to daven in a room with windows? Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman explains why in his book The Way Into Jewish Prayer:

Already in the 11^th century, Rashi offered the opinion that the real reason for windows was so that “a worshiper can look toward heaven and develop humility.” A medieval Spanish pietist named Jonah Gerondi (1200-1263) thought that fresh air calms the mind and makes kavanah easier. By kavanah, he no longer had in mind “creative spontaneity,” the original meaning of the term. He meant spiritual concentration, which he thought was more easily attainable with cool breezes wafting through the hot Spanish air.

Modern choose may see other reasons for windows. Perhaps they make the room where we pray porous to human outcries of suffering from the street. It is not enough that God look into our hearts. When we pray for the ideal world of tomorrow, we are able to look out on the world as it really is today. Jewish prayer is action-oriented, design not to just to satisfy ourselves but to make as active agents of God and what is called tikkun olam-literally, “repairing the world.” Even as we direct our prayers and high, we must be able to hear cries for help from down below. (Page 55)

Rav Hamnuna said: How many significant halakhot can be derived from these verses of the prayer of Hannah? As it says: “And Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved and her voice could not be heard, so Eli thought her to be drunk” (I Samuel 1:13). The Gemara elaborates: From that which is stated here: “And Hannah spoke in her heart,” the halakha that one who prays must focus his heart on his prayer is derived. And from that which is stated here: “Only her lips moved,” the halakha that one who prays must enunciate the words with his lips, not only contemplate them in his heart, is derived. From that which is written here: “And her voice could not be heard,” the halakha that one is forbidden to raise his voice in his Amida prayer as it must be recited silently. (Sefaria.com translation)

I learned the correct Jewish way of davening one Shabbat from a Lubavitcher Rabbi in Cleveland after I had started studying at the Teachers Institute (now List College) at JTS. Unlike reading English books where moving your lips while you’re reading is frowned upon, when we daven we should move our lips, but without raising our voice. That’s the way Hannah prayed and her prayer was answered! She gave birth to Samuel the prophet who anointed the first two Kings over Israel, Saul and David. The underpinning reason of this law is simple. If we follow her example, we hope that our prayers will be answered as well.