Q&A: Passing in Front of Someone Who Is Praying
Passing in Front of Someone Who Is Praying
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Sometimes in synagogue at the end of the Amidah, when you take three steps backward, it happens that behind you there is someone who is still praying, and Jewish law says that one should wait with the three steps until the person behind you finishes his prayer, so as not to disturb his concentration in prayer (entering within his four cubits disturbs him). But it seems to me that for most people (including me), those three steps do not disturb at all. More than that: a person who waits for me to finish my prayer so that he can take three steps backward disturbs me more than a person who does not wait for me and simply takes three steps backward. In your opinion, nowadays is it preferable to step back rather than wait?
With blessings,
Answer
There are two explanations for why one does not enter within the four cubits of someone who is praying: not to disturb him, and because the Divine Presence rests there. The second reason applies even if it does not disturb him. For practical application, it seems to me that there is room to be lenient, and certainly when the waiting itself is disturbing, in which case it is obvious that it is better not to wait. The Divine Presence certainly waives Its honor in order to allow a person to pray without disturbance.
To add: contemporary halakhic decisors have said that the whole matter is nullified if the person praying behind you goes on too long (I don’t remember the measure. I vaguely recall that after the reader’s repetition…
…but certainly if the prayer service is over, you don’t need to be stuck there) or if he is blocking a passageway in the synagogue. Also, a barrier of 4 by 10 handbreadths, such as the backs of the seats, can cancel the restriction; likewise if the person praying came into your boundary, and so on. Finally, this Jewish law helps one understand how much concentration there used to be in silent prayer. Even today, in meditation workshops, entry is forbidden even on tiptoe if the silent sitting already began about five minutes earlier. Let the latecomer honorably go meditate in the courtyard.