<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "> Earthquake Saves Roman Jews from Forced Conversion (1430)</span> <br><br>The church and the government of Rome set Wednesday, March 6, 1430 (corresponding to Adar 22), as the day when all the Jews of Rome must convert <div>or face death. On that day a great earthquake shook Rome and many of the archbishops and priests who conceived the decree were killed. Following the earthquake, <div>Pope Martin V annulled the decree. </div><div><br></div><div><br>The Gemara (Berachos 6b) says, "A person should always be scrupulous about the Minchah prayer." </div><div><br></div><div>In other words, it's easy to daven shacharis, because you wake up and you know that's the first thing to do. (In fact, that's why one is not allowed to even eat prior to davening). Similarly, it's easy to daven ma'ariv because you've concluded your day's work. But the special quality of Minchah is that it comes in the middle of the day, when people are occupied and busy with personal affairs; nevertheless, the pious ones don't let their work and personal affairs overpower their devotion to HaShem and they interrupt the </div><div>physical for the spiritual. In my Yeshiva days, I always appreciated davening mincha in the afternoon as opposed to having mincha followed by ma'ariv. To me, combining</div><div>mincha and ma'ariv was like making it one service instead of two. This is a good example of the "letter of the law" rather than the "spirit of the law."</div><div><br></div><div>For me, Mincha is the favorite service <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px; ">– </span>and not because it's the shortest, but because of its context and orientation. Allegorically I see the three services as a sandwich.</div><div>Shacharis and Ma'ariv are the two slices of bread (don't forget the motzi) and Mincha is the contents of the sandwich.</div><div><br></div><div>(Idea came to me from a commentary by the Alter Rebbe). </div></div></div></body></html>