In the previous Halacha, we discussed that one must concentrate on the meaning of the words one recites during the Amida prayer. If one cannot concentrate on the words throughout the entire Amida, one must do so at least during the “Avot” blessing, which is the first blessing of the Amida. If one did not concentrate during the first blessing of the Amida, although one did concentrate on all the subsequent blessings, one has not fulfilled one’s obligation to pray and one must repeat the Amida. This is the ruling of Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch.
Nevertheless, we had mentioned that the Rama rules (based on the Tur) that nowadays, the custom is not to repeat the Amida for a lack of concentration, for it is almost certain that one will not properly concentrate the next time around either. Therefore, we rely on the Poskim who rule that one does fulfill one’s obligation in spite of not having concentrated during “Avot.” Maran Ha’Chida and the Ben Ish Hai write that even Sephardic Jews rule like the Rama on this issue.
If One Becomes Aware that One Did Not Concentrate
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l writes (in his Yabia Omer, Vol. 3 and 9) that although we follow the words of Maran Ha’Chida in this regard, this only applies when one has already concluded the “Avot” blessing, i.e., by reciting the words “Baruch Ata Hashem Magen Avraham.” However, if one has not yet done so, one should return to the words “Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak etc.” and proceed to recite them with concentration, since returning to these words would not cause concern for a blessing in vain (repeating the words “Baruch Ata Hashem” from the beginning of the Amida certainly would though). This is especially true since according to Maran, one must return to the beginning of the Amida even after having concluded the “Avot” blessing. Thus, only when one has already concluded this blessing do we deviate from Maran’s ruling. However, if one is still in the middle of the blessing, one should return to the words “Elohei Avraham” and proceed to recite these words with concentration. (Some say that one should return to the words “Ve’lohei Avotenu;” See Yabia Omer ibid. and Halichot Olam, Vol. 1, page 131.)
Concluding “Magen Avraham”
If one already concluded the first blessing by reciting “Baruch Ata Hashem Magen Avraham,” one should take care to concentrate on the remainder of the blessings of the Amida, especially during the blessing of “Modim,” for some say that concentrating during “Modim” is tantamount to concentrating during “Avot.”
One Who Always Concentrates
Although we rule that one who concluded one’s Amida prayer without concentrating should not repeat the Amida, if one is accustomed to always concentrating on one’s prayer and it happened once that one did not, one may repeat the Amida (in order to fulfill the opinion of Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch) by making the following stipulation beforehand: “If I am obligated to repeat the Amida, I am hereby reciting an obligatory prayer. If not, I am hereby reciting a voluntary prayer.” One should then proceed to pray with concentration, at least during the first blessing of the Amida.
