Mishnaic Musings 3 by slaveofone
If he was riding on an ass he should dismount [to say the Tefillah]. If he cannot dismount he should turn his face [toward Jerusalem]; and if he cannot turn his face, he should direct his heart toward the Holy of Holies. If he was journeying on a ship or a raft, he should direct his heart toward the Holy of Holies.
m. Berakoth 4:5-6
You will find as you read through the Oral Law that the object of directing one’s heart comes up fairly often and that this is the ultimate goal of all the practices and traditions set forth—for if one has not directed their heart, even though they have done what they should, they have not fulfilled their lawful obligation.
Though one may have heard [the blowing of the shofar] and another may have heard [the blowing of the shofar], the one may have directed his heart and the other may not have directed his heart.
m. Rosh Hashanah 3:7
The directing of one’s heart is what fulfills holy obligation. In the first quote, the object of dismounting from an ass or from turning one’s face to Jerusalem is in order to direct one’s heart away from where they are going or what they are doing and set it on God. In scripture, we see Daniel setting his face
toward God when he went to pray, which may refer to facing Jerusalem, directing his heart to God, or both:
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel 9:2-3, NRSV
The Mishnaic Musings are a periodic series of posts where I reflect on one thing or another in the compendium of the Oral Law (the Mishnah) as I read through it for the first time. Quoted portions are taken from Hebert Danby’s eminent single-volume edition, The Mishnah, published by Oxford University Press.