Two Responsa: On the Repetition of the ‘Amidah

Moses Maimonides

Late 12th Century

Responsum 1

If one of the congregation says the ‘amidah quietly while the prayer-leader is offering his prayer, he has done his religious duty. Equally, if one does not recite the ‘amidah personally, even if he is competent to do so, he can fulfil his duty by listening to the ‘amidah recited by the prayer-leader . . . One who hears is equivalent to…

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In these two Judeo-Arabic responsa, Moses Maimonides does away with the silent recitation of the Amidah (‘amidah) prayer. Maimonides was concerned with the lack of decorum that Jews showed during the prayer leader’s recitation, as certain individuals considered their obligation to pray already fulfilled and therefore regarded the leader’s repetition of the Amidah as extraneous. Maimonides hints that this new practice, in a narrower form, was employed in other communities and that he did not insist on its implementation in every circumstance. Nevertheless, this rather revolutionary ruling sparked controversy in Fustāt (Old Cairo) and displays an innovative side of Maimonides’ approach to Jewish law. This practice survived in Egypt until the sixteenth century, although some communities maintain the practice to this day.

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Creator Bio

Moses Maimonides

1138–1204

Born in Córdoba, Spain, Moses ben Maymūn (Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh; Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam, an acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon) was a scion of a rabbinic family and the proud heir to the Sephardic tradition of learning. After fleeing to Fez around the age of ten to escape Almohad persecutions in his homeland, he moved to Fustāt (Old Cairo), where he came to head the Jewish community and to serve as physician to the royal family. An active communal leader, Maimonides’ multifaceted contributions to Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew literature include the following: his Commentary on the Mishnah (1168), Book of the Commandments and the Mishneh Torah (both completed around 1178), Guide of the Perplexed (completed around 1190), numerous responsa, important topical essays, and a voluminous corpus of medical texts. His profound influence on virtually every subsequent Jewish thinker finds expression in the popular adage that compares Moses Maimonides to the biblical Moses himself: “From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses.”

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