[Avodah] Shmoneh esrei - 18/19

[Micha Berger]

I was asked off-list for my maqor for the assertion that Anshei Kenesses
haGedolah wrote the chasimos to the berakhos of Shemoneh Esrei. It's a
good question, so when I pulled out my notes to find it, I wanted to
share my answer with the whole chevrah

In Tamid 5:1 the tefillah of the kohanim is given as one berakhah (not
named, but R' Yehudah identifies it on Berakhos 12a as Ahavah Rabba
and Reish Laqish says Yotzeir Or), Aseres haDevarim (yes, the biblical
name, not "haDiberos"), Shema, Vehayah, Vayomer. Then three berakhos:
Emes veYatziv, Avodah, Birkhas Kohanim. And then the outgoing mishmar
would add a berakhah.

In short, then, I was wrong -- they said brikhas Avodah alone, without
the other 17.

That said, my error was because the gemara says the SHemoneh Esrei
did already exist.

Megillah 17b:
Tanya: Shim'on haPequli was mesadeir the 18 berakhos in Yavneh "al
haseiser".
R' Yochanan asks: The mishnah says 120 zeqienim uvahem qama neviim
(ie AKhG) established the 18 berakhos "al haseider". So, then, what
did Shim'on haPequli do?
Shakhechum vechazar veyasdum.

Otzar haMidrashim (Eisenstein pg 584 "tanya Shim'on haPequli") says that
"al haseider" here means "seider olam". This doesn't touch who set the
structure, but it's in my notes on that gemera. The sequence being:
    Avraham saved from Ur Kasdim - and the mal'akhim said birkhas Avos
    Yitzchaq left the Aqeidah alive - they said mechayeh hameisim
    When Yaaqov came and reached the shaarei Shamayim and was meqadeish
	sheim H' - haKel haQadosh

    Yoseif was tested by Par'oh for his wisdom (70 languages) - Atah
	chonein
    Re'uvein did teshuvah for maaseh Bilhah - haRotzeh bis-shuvah
    Yehudah veTamar - haMarbeh lisloach
    etc...

Yalqut Shim'oni (Shemu'el I "vatispallel chanah") says the 18 berakhos
dates back to Chanah! It says she says 18 berakhos, but then seems to
step back by identifying these "berakhos" with 18 phrases from her
tefillah:
    Ramah qarni BaH' = Avos
    H' meimis umchayeh
    Ain Qadosh KaH'

    Ki Keil Dei'os H'
    Venikhshalim azru chayil = haRotzeh bis-shuvah
    Morid Sheol Vaya'al = haMarbeh lisloach
    samachti biyshu'asekha = Go'el Yisrael
    Meiqim mei'afar dal = Rofei cholim
    Sevei'im belechem = Mevareikh hashanhim
    raglei chasidav yishmor = Meqabeitz nidchei amo Yisrael
    H' yadin afsei eretz = Oheiv tzedaqah umishpat
    Uresha'im bachoshekh yidmu = Makhnia' zeidim
    Vayitein us lemalko = bonei Y-m
    vayarem qeren meshikho = es tzemach David
    ve'ein Tzur ke'Elokeinu = Shomeia' tefillah

    Al tarbu tedabru gabohah = she'Osekha levadkha beyir'ah na'avod
    Yatza ataq mipikhem = haTov shimkha uLekha na'eh lehodoso
    veyitein oz lemalkhuso = Shalom

(Note the chasimah to Retzei according to the the Yalqut!)

So, I concluded that Chana came upon the list of topics, AKhG liked
it enough to set the chasimos of the 18 actual berakhos to it, and in
Yavneh they restored this structure.

RYBaer lists how the structure fell apart during bayis sheini.
    When we search deeper into what is written about Shmona Esrei in
    order to find the truth, we discover that it was a long standing
    practice within Judaism from the time that Jews became a nation to
    pray three times a day but not the exact Shemona Esrei that we recite
    today. Instead each person would recite what he felt in his heart;
    what his body and soul would want to express. That was the practice
    until the Jews returned to Israel after their exile to Babylonia
    at the time of the Great Assembly which then composed the Brachot;
    the Tephilot, the Kedushot and the Havdalot. They also composed
    18 individual Brachot to act as the Tefila which could be recited
    by anyone who wanted to recite the prayers with words that were
    appropriate and refined. But the initial purpose in composing these
    18 Brachot was not to establish a fixed text for everyone. From
    the beginning the 18 Brachot were composed for those who were not
    fluent in the language and who could not organize their prayers on
    their own in an appropriate manner. Over time, circumstances led to
    there being peace in Israel. In the time of the Hashmonaim, the Jews
    lived comfortably and discontinued the practice to recite certain
    Brachot. In particular, they discontinued reciting the Brachot that
    spoke of breaking the yoke of Exile like R'Aiy B'Onyainu; Hashiva
    Shoftainu and similar ones. Little by little the number of Brachot
    that were being recited dwindled until none of the Brachot were
    recited and they were forgotten. The Beit Din of Rabban Gamliel in
    Yavneh, 12 years after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash had to
    re-compose the Shemona Esrei. They added one more Bracha in opposition
    to the Heretics. The prayer then became a prayer of 19 Brachot.
    They did not change the name of the prayer because they wanted the
    name to be the same as it was when it was originally named by the
    men of the Great Assembly. This prayer as it was established by
    the Beit Din of Rabban Gamliel was accepted by all of Judaism to
    be recited in accordance with its text. It became a rule that was
    never to be changed.

So, where did my error come from? The Tosefta says that the Nevi'im
shebiY-m established 24 areas of Israel, and Jews from each area
would be associated with a corresponding mishmar. Based on the pasuq,
"Tzav es BY ve'amarta aleihem, 'es qorbani lachmi...'" How can BY bring
a tamid? So, the mishnah (Taanis 4:1,3) talks about their leining maaseh
bereishis. Taanis 27b says "shehayu mispallelim al qorban acheihem
sheyisqabeil beratzon". This is the gemara that concludes that today,
tefillah is instead of qorbanos.

It's a jump, but what I was remembering was the possibility not that the
mishmar of kohanim said 18, but the mishmar of BY did.

So, it's not a clear Chazal that said it, and I even misremembered who I
theorized AkH wrote it for!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is our choices...that show what we truly are,
micha at aishdas.org        far more than our abilities.
http://www.aishdas.org                           - J. K. Rowling
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