Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Vayeitzei

Prayer Proximity

December 5, 2024

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Yehoshua Grunwald 

And he encountered (vayifga) the place and spent the night there because the sun had set…

Bereishis 29:1

According to the Gemara (Brachos 26b), the word vayifga (from pegiah) refers to tfilah, from which the Gemara derives that Yaakov established the practice of davening Ma’ariv. The Gemara also says (Brachos 27b) that Ma’ariv is optional, though today we have accepted it as obligatory.

Tosfos (Brachos 4b) asks: If Ma’ariv is a reshus, why does the Gemara say (Brachos 9a) that the bracha of Ga’al Yisrael, about yetzias Mitzrayim, must be adjacent to Shmoneh Esrei? How can this be required if the entire Ma’ariv is optional? Tosfos answers that although Ma’ariv is not an absolute obligation, if one does recite it, smichas ge’ulah letfilah is required.

This idea may also explain the approach of the Magein Avraham, who holds (O.C. 106) that women are not obligated to recite Shmoneh Esrei, yet he also maintains (ibid. 70) that women are obligated in smichas ge’ulah letfilah. The Machatzis Hashekel explains that although women may make a short request to fulfill their daily obligation of tfilah, if they choose to recite Shmoneh Esrei, they too must be someich ge’ulah letfilah.

May one announce immediately before the Ma’ariv Shmoneh Esrei that people should insert an addendum (e.g., Ya’aleh Veyavo), or is this considered a hefsek (interruption) between ge’ulah and tfilah? The Rashba, cited by the Shulchan Aruch, rules that it is not considered a hefsek, because it is for the purpose of Shmoneh Esrei. Additionally, Ma’ariv is a reshus, and the requirement of smichas ge’ulah letfilah is more lenient than at Shacharis. However, the Kaf Hachaim and Shulchan Aruch HaRav (in his Siddur) note that the custom is not to make such announcements.