Halachic Rulings and Modern Practice
Rabbi Mordikhai Eliyahu rules:[1] From the verse "and the decorated stone do not let be prostrated upon in your land" (Leviticus 26:1) we learn that the Torah forbids us to prostrate with hands and feet spread out on a stone floor. It is forbidden even if we intend to worship properly and not for avodah zarah. The Biblical prohibition is limited to the prostration with hands and feet outspread while his face touches the ground). However Rabbi Mordikhai Eliyahu permits the bending-down (k'ri'ah) (as in the prayer of the Shemoneh Esreh).[2]
The Rama rules[3]: By rabbinic decree complete prostration even on a floor not of hewn stone (asphalt or dust). Prostration which is not on stone is permitted when a person tilts a little on his side. Qida (kneeling without outstretched limbs) on a stone floor is also forbidden. However it is possible to to kneel on a stone floor by covering the surface upon which he will kneel. Some views state that it is preferable to cover the floor no matter what it is made of. This is the source of the general practice to put something on the floor when kneeling, even if it is surfaced with linoleum or carpeting.
The sages, would kiss the stones of the land and roll on its dust, but were not prostrating with hands and feet outspread; rather, they were kissing the boulders of the land (Rashi, Ketuboth) and rolling on the dust, and not on stones (Rambam, Melakhim). Therefore, it is forbidden to those who are coming from out of the country to kiss the earth with hands and feet outspread - unless they tilt on their sides, or they separate between themselves and the earth with mats or grasses. It is not allowed to prostrate, to bend-down and kiss the floor of a beit-ha'netivoth (airport arrival place) which is made of stones tiled.
We seem from these rulings that there are legal permissions (heterim) to permit prostration under certain circumstances: either by leaning on a non-stone floor, or placing a covering like a mat before prostrating. However due to the custom in the Land of Israel of not prostrating at all, because of our of mourning for the destructionof the Temple and the gates that played such an important role in the formation of the public prayer, the Qidah (partial prostration) of the Shemonah Esrei[4] became a slight bending of the kneels and bowing without touching the floor, and the Hishtakhaweh (full prostration) of Tachnun became resting the head in the left arm, also without touching the floor. Since the congregation never touched the floor, it was no longer necessary to remove the shoes nor was it necessary to wash the feet before prayer. This is the custom of Rabbinic Jews today.
Babylonian custom persisted in Yemen, at least for the Tachnun prayer. However when the vast majority of Yemenite Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel they refrained from this practice during the daily prayers.[5]
The single exception to refraining from prostration was during the High Holiday prayers: on the Day of Atonement, four times, and on New-year's Day once. Although kneeling and prostration are not part of the daily synagogue, the chazzan's Aleinu during the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur prayers represents the congregations united acceptance of God's sovereignty as we are on the threshold of the most important part of the day's prayers: the combination of Scriptural verses with the shofar blasts. This solemnity and dedication is symbolized by kneeling during Aleinu, overriding the mourning for the destruction of the Temple.[6]
There are varying customs: In some congregations everyone kneels and brings his face to the floor; in some, everyone kneels and bows, but does not bring his face to the floor; in some only the chazzan kneels, with or without bringing his face to the floor. In the book Even Sepir (page 68) you will find the testimony of a European born Jewish traveler who visited Yemen in the year of 1859. He wrote that that "they fall on their faces, after the Prayer (Amida), stretching out their arms and legs, like the custom of Ashkenazim on Yom haKippurim," This indicates that some European Jews did full prostration as well. The differences in custom do not appear to be due to confusion as to the custom, rather the fact that there were different minhagim in Babylon and the Land of Israel, and even within the Land of Israel when the Temple still stood.[7]
References
- ↑ Rabbi Mordikhai Eliyahu from Shabbat b'Shabbato, edition 1173, parashat Shlah-lekha, 23 in Sivan, 9.6.07, pg 10
- ↑ Based on Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Avoda Zarah 6:13. The prohibition from the Torah is only against fully prostrating -- face pressed to stone with arms and leggs spread out. The only "fence" that Ha'zal established concerning this prohibition was that one can not press his face onto stone outside of the Temple.
- ↑ Rama, Orach Chaim 131:8, Mishnah Berurah #40
- ↑ There are 5 places where one "bends-down" during this prayer (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Tefilah 5:10). Each time one "bends-down," he should arch his back bending over until his backbone pokes out slightly (Hilchos Tefilah 5:12). One need not bow in this manner if he is unable because it causes him pain (Hilchos Tefilah 5:12). There are some additional reasons why a person may not need to fully bow, usually either because of stress of the situation or stress of the body (Hilchos Tefilah 5:1).
- ↑ Yemenite Jews as a whole prostrated in the daily part of Jewish prayer called Tachanun until fairly recent times. Some members of the Yemenite Jewish community still practice prostration as inherited from their recent ancestors. See the writings of Mori Yosef Qafekh, such as his commentary on Hilkhoth Tefilah - Sefer Ahavah 5:14; The commentary of Rav Shlomo Tzadoq to the Mishneh Torah, as well as in the 'Shulhhan Arukh haMiqutzar,' and in English commentary to section in Gemara on Nafilat Apayim.
- ↑ Artscroll Rosh Hashanah Machzor pg. 550.
- ↑ Talmud Megillah 22b