{"id":56738,"date":"2019-06-03T15:57:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T12:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56738"},"modified":"2022-12-26T18:13:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T16:13:11","slug":"hannahs-silent-prayer-the-service-of-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hannahs-silent-prayer-the-service-of-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Hannah\u2019s Silent Prayer, The Service Of The Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[882,516,363,437,761],"acf":{"old_id":"56738","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The iconic story with which to this day we begin the New Year","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter tells of the birth of the prophet Samuel and his dedication by his mother Hannah to the service of God at the Sanctuary at Shiloh. After years of bareness, Hannah\u2019s prayer is answered. She bears a son, whom she names Samuel saying, \u201cBecause I have asked him (<em>she\u2019iltiv<\/em>) of the Lord\u201d (verse 20). Hannah\u2019s way of praying is described in some details: \u201cHannah was praying in her heart (medabberet \u2018al libah). Only her lips were moving but her voice was not heard\u201d, such that the priest of Shiloh, Eli, thought she must be drunk and mistakenly told her to \u201cput away her wine\u201d (verses 13-14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Significantly, Hannah\u2019s style of \u201csilent prayer\u201d becomes a basis for how Jewish prayer should be offered until this day. According to the Talmud (Berakhot 31a), Rav Hamnuna said: How many important laws can be learnt from these verses relating to Hannah?! \u00a0\u201cHannah was praying in her heart (medabberet \u2018al libah)\u201d &#8212; from this we learn that one who prays must direct his heart. \u201cOnly her lips were moving\u201d &#8212; from this we learn that he who prays must frame the words distinctly with his lips. \u201cBut her voice was not heard\u201d &#8212; from this we learn that it is forbidden to raise one&#8217;s voice loudly in Prayer (i.e. in reciting the Amidah prayer). \u201cTherefore, Eli thought she must be drunk\u201d &#8212; from this we learn that a drunken person is forbidden to recite the core Amidah prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Midrash (Tanhuma Va-Yetzeh 4) learns from Hannah\u2019s \u201cpraying in her heart\u201d that a silent prayer, which a person \u201cwhispers in his heart\u201d is immediately heard by God. Midrash Shmuel 2:10 on our Scriptural verse, \u201cHannah was praying in her heart (medabberet \u2018al libah)\u201d, learns from the conjunction of this verse with another verse \u201c\u2026love the Lord your God and serve Him (u-le-\u2018ovdo) with all your heart and with all your soul\u201d (Deuteronomy 11:13) that prayer is the \u201cservice of the heart\u201d (ha-\u2018avodah she-ba-lev). In the continuation of this Midrashic text, the description of Hannah\u2019s silent prayer, \u201cOnly her lips were moving but her voice was not heard\u201d, is the Scriptural basis for the teaching that to be effective prayer need only be thought in the mind of the worshipper (meharher be-libo), without actually being spoken aloud at all. Midrash Genesis Rabbah 34:10 teaches a moral lesson from Hannah\u2019s silent prayer &#8212; that righteous persons, like Hannah who \u201cwas praying in her heart\u201d, \u201ccontrol their hearts\u201d, while the wicked &#8212; \u201ctheir hearts control them\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The on-going importance of the story of Hannah is reflected by the choice of this biblical narrative as the Haftarah for the first day of Rosh HaShannah. This liturgical practice links the birth of the prophet Samuel with the birth of the patriarch Isaac (Genesis, Chapter 21), which is the Torah portion for the first day of Rosh HaShannah. Both biblical stories emphasize the power of prayer, particularly by women seeking to bear children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Image: <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hannah&#8217;s prayer<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56739,"id":56739,"title":"isam1-hannah-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern","filename":"isam1-hannah-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hannahs-silent-prayer-the-service-of-the-heart\/isam1-hannah-schnorr_von_carolsfeld_bibel_in_bildern\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam1-hannah-schnorr_von_carolsfeld_bibel_in_bildern","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56738,"date":"2019-06-03 12:57:04","modified":"2019-06-03 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