[Avodah] Berachos 32 - tefilla greater than ma'asim tovim

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Feb 05, 2020 at 08:41:50AM -0500, Sholom Simon via Avodah wrote:
> On Berachos 32b, R Elazar says that tefilla is greater than ma'asim tovim,
> and a ta'anis is greater than tzedaka.  The Pnei Yehoshua wonders: where's
> talmud torah in all of this?  Isn't talmud torah k'neged kulo?  He answers
> that tefilla is greater, specifically, where there is a gezeira that one is
> trying to annul or alleviate...

Which fits the context; the gemara is talking about Moshe davening to come
to EY.

> (FWIW, Tosafos there explains the first statement as ma'asim tovim with
> tefilla is greater than ma'asim tovim without tefilla.  But what's the
> chiddush in that? ...

So the Penei Yeoshua tell you to look in the Maharsha and the Mahari
Pinto, who ask just your question -- of course T + MT > T. And also,
why go to Moshe who excelled at everything, not the clearest maqor for
this kind of comparison.

The PY only gives his own answer -- obviously the sekhar of MT is
greater, as they involve many mitzvos. Even if tefillah is deOraisa,
which he notes is unclear. Rather, it is specifically WRT getting
out of a gezeira ra'ah.

Barukh shekivanta!


My reaction:
We're talking about Moshe level davening, and it's still not enough
without maasim tovim?!


The Ben Yehoyada (ad loc) says that the intent is Avos 5:21, "kol
hamzakeh es harabim, tekhus harabim talui bo". So the gemara is saying that
the tefillah of someone with maasim tovim is greater than the maasim tovim
in and of their own zekhuyos.

> That got my friend wondering about the order of words at the end of Unesana
> Tokef teshuva tefilla tzedaka ma'avirin es ro'ah ha-g'zeira.

And the next line in the gemara is R Elazar saying that taanis is greater
than tzedaqah -- because it is done with his body, and tzedaqah is done
with his money. Remember the Machzorim that have the words tzom, qol,
mamon over teshuvah, tefillah, utzdaqah, and they're all there. Tzom is
a maaseh associated with teshuvah. BUT...

The next line after that, also R Elazar, says that tefillah is greater
that qorbanos.

If the gemara were working with teshuvah, tefillah, utzdaqah, this quote
wouldn't be here, it breaks the symbolism.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 The purely righteous do not complain about evil,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but add justice, don't complain about heresy,
Author: Widen Your Tent      but add faith, don't complain about ignorance,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    but add wisdom.     - R AY Kook, Arpelei Tohar