Touching Eternity

Sometimes, the things most familiar to us are in fact our biggest unknown. Take, for example, the words “Baruch Atah, Hashem Elokeinu.” Over the span of a year, between brachos and tefillos, we’ve likely recited these words thousands of times. Yet despite their constant repetition, many of us can’t accurately explain them.

When we make brachos over food or recite birchos hashachar, missing the import of “Baruch Atah, Hashem Elokeinu” is unfortunate. But when it comes to Shemoneh Esreh, neglecting their meaning may invalidate our actual tefillah.

Birchas Avos is the opening brachah of Shemoneh Esreh that begins with the first words of the tefillah and end with the words “magen Avraham.” The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim, 101:1) explains a basic kavanah requirement for Shemoneh Esreh: “A person must have kavanah for [the words of] all the brachos [of Shemoneh Esreh]. However, if he can’t sustain kavanah for all of them, he should at least have kavanah for [the brachah] of Avos. If he didn’t have kavanah for Avos, even if he did for the rest [of Shemoneh Esreh], he must return to the beginning [of the tefillah].

The Rema, recognizing the potential to continuously re-daven the Birchas Avos without proper kavanah, comments: “In our times, we don’t return [to the beginning] due to a lack in kavanah, because even when repeating [the brachah], it’s likely we’ll still not have kavanah…” (ibid)