The Havineinu Fan Club
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manIn some siddurim, after the עֲמִידָה, you'll see a short alternate form given, consisting of the first three בְּרָכוֹת, a paragraph beginning הֲבִינֵנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ לָדַעַת דְּרָכֶיךָ, and then the final three בְּרָכוֹת. I'd vaguely seen that in siddurim for years, but not paid it much attention until I met ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aviva_m, who used it as a stepping stone between not davening at all during weekdays, and davening, privately, the full עֲמִידָה three times a day. (All together now: "Pssshhh!")
Then, at Limmud Fest a couple of years ago, I came across the book Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu, by Michael J. Broyde. The thesis of the book is that Jewish law does not progress, as is generally thought, through rabbinically decreed laws and ordinances, but by innovative interpretation of existing halachic material. The author uses הֲבִינֵנוּ as an example to illustrate this, because, he said, it's a relatively non-contentious area of Jewish law.
Relatively, that is. The book reveals that right the way from the Mishna onwards, some rabbis said הֲבִינֵנוּ can be said, and others were against it. In the גְמָרָא, the consensus emerged that הֲבִינֵנוּ may be said in שַׁעַת דְחַק, a time of urgency, but then rabbis spent the next millennium and a half arguing about what's meant by "שַׁעַת דְחַק".
Interestingly, the author said that the more secure a Jewish community is, the less they're likely to encourage the use of הֲבִינֵנוּ. Thus, in the Israeli Army, where soldiers may be required at any time to drop what they're doing and move into action, the use of הֲבִינֵנוּ is encouraged. In the second edition of the Singer's Prayer Book, compiled in the UK twenty years after the Blitz, the rubric for הֲבִינֵנוּ reads: "In illness, or when time is lacking, the following shortened form of the עֲמִידָה may be said." In the third edition, compiled in 1990 when the memory of the danger had faded, the rubric was emended to "In emergencies and special cases of urgency, the following shortened for of the עֲמִידָה may be said." By the fourth edition, the text had become "In emergencies and special cases of urgency only, the following shortened form of the עֲמִידָה may be said (though not when וְתֵן טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה is said*)." And in the ArtScroll siddur, written in the United States, where the Jewish community have not been threatened with danger for many years indeed, הֲבִינֵנוּ is missing altogether. (Though, curiously, in the first edition of the Singer's Prayer Book, published in 1890, the text is the same as in the second.)
* The book offers dissenting opinions to this, which recommend adding "וְתֵן טַל וּמָטָר" to the relevant part of the בְּרָכָה. In this and all other aspects, this blog post should not be construed as laying down or even summarising the halacha regarding הֲבִינֵנוּ; for this, I refer the reader to the Broyde book.
Anyhow, afteraviva_m and I had exchanged jokes about starting a Havineinu Fan Club, I got a mailshot from Vistaprint offering me what it called a free customised T-shirt (though it actually turned out to be a free printing on the front of a T-shirt; I had to pay for printing the back, the T-shirt itself, and P&P); so I used the opportunity to make aviva_m a Havineinu Fan Club T-shirt. (This was not during the Three Weeks; it's taken me a while to blog about this.) Vistaprint then offered me further discounts, so I used the same design to make myself a mug:aviva_m points out that the Havineinu Fan Club ought to have more than two members—and that more people ought to be made aware that there is a possibility of a halfway house, if davening the complete עֲמִידָה seems too much to take on, or if time presses—hence this blog post.
Sadly, Vistaprint doesn't seem to allow me to let other people buy their own copies of the T-shirt and mug I created (maybe I should have made them on Zazzle instead?), so, instead, here's the image on the front for you to slap yourself on the front of a T-shirt, mug, notebook or whatever else takes your fancy, using whichever site you like. Please feel free to disseminate this more widely.
I'm not intending to keep a roster of fan club membership or anything like that—that would be taking the whole thing far too seriously—but I would be happy to receive a blog comment from anyone who would like to follow my example, or even just if it's tickled your fancy, to see if this is actually of interest to anyone apart fromaviva_m and myself.
aviva_m, who used it as a stepping stone between not davening at all during weekdays, and davening, privately, the full עֲמִידָה three times a day. (All together now: "Pssshhh!")Then, at Limmud Fest a couple of years ago, I came across the book Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu, by Michael J. Broyde. The thesis of the book is that Jewish law does not progress, as is generally thought, through rabbinically decreed laws and ordinances, but by innovative interpretation of existing halachic material. The author uses הֲבִינֵנוּ as an example to illustrate this, because, he said, it's a relatively non-contentious area of Jewish law.
Relatively, that is. The book reveals that right the way from the Mishna onwards, some rabbis said הֲבִינֵנוּ can be said, and others were against it. In the גְמָרָא, the consensus emerged that הֲבִינֵנוּ may be said in שַׁעַת דְחַק, a time of urgency, but then rabbis spent the next millennium and a half arguing about what's meant by "שַׁעַת דְחַק".
Interestingly, the author said that the more secure a Jewish community is, the less they're likely to encourage the use of הֲבִינֵנוּ. Thus, in the Israeli Army, where soldiers may be required at any time to drop what they're doing and move into action, the use of הֲבִינֵנוּ is encouraged. In the second edition of the Singer's Prayer Book, compiled in the UK twenty years after the Blitz, the rubric for הֲבִינֵנוּ reads: "In illness, or when time is lacking, the following shortened form of the עֲמִידָה may be said." In the third edition, compiled in 1990 when the memory of the danger had faded, the rubric was emended to "In emergencies and special cases of urgency, the following shortened for of the עֲמִידָה may be said." By the fourth edition, the text had become "In emergencies and special cases of urgency only, the following shortened form of the עֲמִידָה may be said (though not when וְתֵן טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה is said*)." And in the ArtScroll siddur, written in the United States, where the Jewish community have not been threatened with danger for many years indeed, הֲבִינֵנוּ is missing altogether. (Though, curiously, in the first edition of the Singer's Prayer Book, published in 1890, the text is the same as in the second.)
* The book offers dissenting opinions to this, which recommend adding "וְתֵן טַל וּמָטָר" to the relevant part of the בְּרָכָה. In this and all other aspects, this blog post should not be construed as laying down or even summarising the halacha regarding הֲבִינֵנוּ; for this, I refer the reader to the Broyde book.
Anyhow, after
aviva_m and I had exchanged jokes about starting a Havineinu Fan Club, I got a mailshot from Vistaprint offering me what it called a free customised T-shirt (though it actually turned out to be a free printing on the front of a T-shirt; I had to pay for printing the back, the T-shirt itself, and P&P); so I used the opportunity to make aviva_m a Havineinu Fan Club T-shirt. (This was not during the Three Weeks; it's taken me a while to blog about this.) Vistaprint then offered me further discounts, so I used the same design to make myself a mug:
aviva_m points out that the Havineinu Fan Club ought to have more than two members—and that more people ought to be made aware that there is a possibility of a halfway house, if davening the complete עֲמִידָה seems too much to take on, or if time presses—hence this blog post.Sadly, Vistaprint doesn't seem to allow me to let other people buy their own copies of the T-shirt and mug I created (maybe I should have made them on Zazzle instead?), so, instead, here's the image on the front for you to slap yourself on the front of a T-shirt, mug, notebook or whatever else takes your fancy, using whichever site you like. Please feel free to disseminate this more widely.
I'm not intending to keep a roster of fan club membership or anything like that—that would be taking the whole thing far too seriously—but I would be happy to receive a blog comment from anyone who would like to follow my example, or even just if it's tickled your fancy, to see if this is actually of interest to anyone apart from
aviva_m and myself.
