Responsum: On Prayer

Question: You asked: There are synagogues where the congregation gathers together and recites chapters from the book of Psalms on the Sabbath and festivals (on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they add chapters), and while the congregation is still chanting, the students begin to study, expound, and engage in the Torah for nearly two hours, and then they pray. Should we do this? Once the time for the reading of the Shema‘ has arrived, is it permissible to begin studying before accepting upon oneself the yoke of heaven?

Answer: We have been shown from heaven that when Israel arises early and comes to the synagogues on Sabbaths and festivals and studies, this is fine conduct on their part. This was the custom in Babylonia from the start of the exile. For when they were exiled to Babylonia, and talmudic studies were diminished and teachers were abolished due to the troubles of exile, the children of Israel gathered around prophets and Torah masters and said to them: We do not possess knowledge of either Mishnah or Talmud that we can learn at night, and we have the burden of earning a living and an income. On Sabbaths and festivals at least, when we have spare time, shall we sit idle and sleep all night? They enacted that they would rise early to go to the synagogue and study until morning. [ . . . ]

Question: You asked regarding “And one called to another, and said: [Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:3)]. Then a spirit lifted me up . . . [Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place] (Ezekiel 3:12).” What is the reason to read and translate this, and why did the sages establish it in the Order of Sanctification [i.e., the Kedushah]?

This was the custom of the early ones. In a place where Torah scholars were present, when they would pray and fall on their faces and sanctify, after answering, “Amen, may the great name, etc.,” they would bring [a book of] a prophet and read about ten verses from it, more or less, and translate it. Next, they would recite, “And one called to another, and said, [etc.]” and translate it just as they translated that chapter from the prophet. And they would recite, “Then a spirit lifted me up, [etc.]” and translate it, in order to conclude with the praise of the Holy One. They would then sanctify and engage in the Torah. He who wished to engage in the Mishnah would do so. He who wished to engage in the Talmud would do so, in order to fulfill the statement of the sages: “A person should always divide [his days] into three: [a third for the Bible, a third for the Mishnah, and a third for the Talmud,” b. Kiddushin 30a]. When poverty and penury increased, and the students were compelled to earn a living from the work of their hands, and they were unable to engage in the Torah constantly and to divide every day into thirds, they relied on the Talmud alone and abandoned the Bible and the Mishnah. They based this on the statement [that the verse] All the rivers run into the sea (Ecclesiastes 1:7), [is referring to the “sea of the Talmud,” which includes many wisdoms:] the Bible [and] the Mishnah [and the Torah] and the Midrash. [See Midrash on Proverbs 10:1.] They then abolished the reading from a prophet every day after prayers. But although they abolished the reading from a prophet, they did not abolish those two verses, which remain fixed in place.