Shabbos 33 – שבת לג

The Gemara relates that R’ Shimon bar Yochai would dress himself for prayer.  Tosfos (Shabbos 11a) points out that this must be referring to the recital of Krias Shema since they were exempt from tefillah.  The Gemara in Brachos (24b) says that merely covering oneself is sufficient for Shema, unlike tefillah which requires proper dress.  If so why was being covered by sand not sufficient?

One thought on “Shabbos 33 – שבת לג

  1. First of all, they might have been doing somewhat Lifnim Mishuras Hadin.

    Secondly, being that this was his only Tefilla, they might have wanted to give it a status of a real Tefilla.

    Third, he wanted to wear his Tallis at some time during the day. By Krias Shema one is supposed to wear Tefillin because of the mention of Tefillin in the first two Parshios. Since we add the third Parsha, which has Tzitzis, it would be appropriate to put the Tallis on then, too.

    Fourth and foremost, the Gemara (Shabbos 11a) says that someone who is Toraso Umnaso shouldn’t interrupt his learning for Tefilla at the Zman Tefilla, although he does need to interrupt his learning to recite Shema, when its time comes. The Gemara is not saying that he doesn’t Daven at all, only that he shouldn’t interrupt his learning for it. Therefore, once Rebbe Shimon interrupted his learning for Shema, and knowing that he would not interrupt his learning later in order to Daven, he probably Davened during that ‘Krias Shema break’.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*