With daf TB Rosh Hashana 35 we conclude our massekhet. Jakob Petuchowski writes: “Talmudic liturgical requirements are predicated on the nonexistence of written prayer books… However much modern Jews may tend to identify ‘praying’ with reading a set number of pages in a prayer book, the fact remains that written prayer books were not used by the sages of the Talmudic period. Not only were they not used, but written versions of the prayers were condemned in principal: ‘Those who write down benedictions like those were burned the Torah!’ (TB Shabbat 115b) that we can only speculate why the ancient rabbis felt so strongly about the subject. Perhaps one of the reasons was the fear that the reading of the prayers would interfere with the spontaneity which they considered to be so essential.”[1]
Because nobody had a prayer book to refer back to, a person had to organize his prayers before he pray lest he make a mistake. “§ Rabbi Elazar said: A person should always arrange his prayer in his mind and only then pray. Rabbi Abba said: Rabbi Elazar’s statement is reasonable with regard to the blessings of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and in the case of prayers that are recited only intermittently. However, with regard to blessings recited all year, no, this practice is not necessary.” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Gemara questions whether a person needs to arrange his prayers in his mind for a regular weekday service. “The Gemara asks: Is that so? Didn’t Rav Yehuda first arrange his prayer in his mind and only then pray, even on an ordinary day? The Gemara answers: Rav Yehuda was different, since he would pray only once every thirty days. During the rest of the month he would not engage in prayer, as he was busy with Torah study. Therefore, for him even regular weekdays prayers were like prayers recited intermittently.” (Sefaria.org translation) As an aside, I’m amazed that Rav Yehuda would only pay once every 30 days and nobody seems to question why he couldn’t take the thirty minutes it takes to daven the morning service, the seven minutes it takes to daven the afternoon service, and the 10 minutes it takes to daven the evening service. Nevertheless, I think that Rav Yehuda should serve as a role model when it comes to reading the Passover Haggadah as well as the High Holiday prayerbook. We only read the Haggadah once a year and if we want to be fluent and refresh the contents of our Seder, we should go over it before the holiday. Waiting until the night of the Seder to review the contents of the Haggadah will only encourage people to ask the fifth question, “When do we eat?”
Now that we have prayer books and don’t have to rely upon her memory, we find that Joseph Karo poskins we should still arrange our prayers in advance well Moshe Isserless poskins that we don’t. “[Regarding] prayers [i.e the Amidah] of the festivals and of the new month, one needs to organize one's prayer before one prays so that it will be fluent on his tongue. Gloss: And there are those who say that [this is] specifically when we pray by heart, but when we are praying from within a prayer book, it is permitted [to pray without organizing] since one sees what one is praying, and this is what we practice. (Bet Yosef in the name of Rav R. Manoah, and so too wrote Tanya in the name of R.A.” (Shulkan Arukh, Orekh Hayim, 100, Sefaria.org translation)
[1] “Some
Laws of Jewish Liturgical Development,” Studies in Modern Theology and
Prayer, JPS:1998. Page 157
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