Rabbi David Atedgi • Steps in Prayer: Why Do We Start with the Left Foot?

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The opening of this shiur, in Musayof Synagogue’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Hello and greetings to everyone. We are on Siman 123, paragraph 3. The Maran says: We began it last week, When stepping—start with the left foot, and the measure of these steps is at least enough to place the toe next to the heel. The Rema says: Ideally, one should not take steps larger than that. So the view of the Maran, the Shulchan Aruch, is as we learned: when stepping, lift the left foot first. And why? There are two reasons for this, which is a dispute among the Acharonim between the Magen Avraham and the Taz. According to the Magen Avraham, the reason is to show that taking leave is difficult for him, yes? Since we learned that stepping backward is like a person departing from the Shechinah, so it is to show that the departure is hard for him. So the Magen Avraham says —the Mishnah Berurah says—that naturally, a person lifts their stronger leg first, as it is said: "his right first." Therefore, one must lift specifically the left leg, which is the weaker leg, which then shows that the departure is difficult for him. And last week we spoke regarding Chalitzah, right? How do we check a man who needs to perform Chalitzah, that the Yevama needs to perform Chalitzah with? So we brought what the Ginat Veradim brings, as cited by the Pischei Teshuvah in

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1. 0:09Hello and greetings to everyone. We are on Siman 123, paragraph 3. The Maran says: We…
2. 4:34wall, and told him to walk toward us. And he put his left foot forward. And…
3. 8:50>> Then always the left leg. A dispute between the Mishnah Berurah and the Kaf HaChaim.…
4. 13:05steps of the Kohanim, corresponding to leaving the place of holiness, which is the place of…
5. 17:17have no option, well, you have no option, what will you do? Do what is possible.…
6. 21:33not to interrupt the prayer. Maran brings it here, we will find it soon. We learned…
7. 25:49Whereas Rabbi David Abudarham says: Maran the Beit Yosef disagrees with the Terumat HaDeshen. What? That…
8. 30:08there is no law to step back in every Kaddish, only in Kaddish Titkabal, because Kaddish…
9. 34:21Amidah of Kaddish... >> Yes. >> The whole point of the Amidah is the Shechinah facing…
10. 38:32the prayer leader doesn't finish the prayer, he does not say Kaddish Titkabal. Yes? So the…

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