Kitzur Shulchan Aruch - Chapter 12: Preparation of the Body for Prayer and the Places in Which it is Fitting to Pray

It is written: "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."1 Preparing yourself before Hashem, Blessed is He, means that you should dress yourself in the same type of respectful clothing when you pray, as you would when meeting a high official. Even if you pray privately in your home you should dress properly. In those places where the custom is to wear a special sash [during prayers], it is forbidden to pray until you gird yourself [with such a sash].

It is good to give charity before praying, as it is said: "As for me, with righteousness I will behold Your Presence."2 You should also resolve before each prayer to fulfill the mitzvah to "Love your neighbor as yourself."3 You must determine to love every Jew as yourself, because if there is, God forbid, dissension within Israel in this world, there is no harmony in the world above. However, when there is unity in this world it causes spiritual unity of our souls in the world above, and as a result, our prayers are unified; and when our prayers are unified, they are accepted favorably before Him, Blessed is His Name.

It is written: "Guard your feet when you walk to the house of God."4 Our Sages, of blessed memory, explain that "your feet," refers to the openings that are near the legs.5 Therefore, before praying you must check if you need to relieve yourself. If you feel even the slightest urge for relief, you are forbidden to pray. It is even forbidden to study Torah when the body is feculent until you relieve yourself. If, however, you prayed when you had the urge to relieve yourself, if you approximated that you could have restrained yourself the length of time it takes to walk a parsah (an hour and a fifth) your prayer is valid. If you could not have restrained yourself even though you have already prayed, your prayer is an abomination and you must pray again.6 Some authorities hold that if you can restrain yourself for the period of a parsah, you may even begin praying in this condition. You may rely on this opinion in a situation where if you relieve yourself the time limit for prayer will elapse. See chapter 18, paragraph 16.

If you are sure that you cannot restrain yourself from flatulating until after completing the Shema and the Amidah it is preferable to let the period of Shema and the Amidah elapse rather than pray with an unclean body.7 If the prayer period then elapses, you are considered a victim of circumstance (and you may pray later as is explained further in Chapter 21). If you feel that you can restrain yourself during the reading of Shema you should put on the tefillin between the blessing of habocheir be'amo Yisraeil be'ahavah8 and the Shema and recite the berachah upon them.

The hands must be washed with water until the wrist, before praying. Therefore, even though you washed your hands in the morning, if your hands touched an unclean spot i. e., parts of the body that are normally covered, where there is an accumulation of sweat, or if you scratched your head, or if you did not wash them until the wrist [in the morning], you must wash them again before praying. If there is no water available you must attempt to acquire some; even traveling four mil (72 minutes)9 or backward one mil. If you are afraid that meanwhile the time limit for prayer will elapse, you may clean your hands on a rock or earth or with any other substance that cleans and then pray, as it is written: "I will wash my hands in purity etc."10 "I will wash," with water if possible, and if not "with nikayon,"11 with any substance that cleanses.

If you washed your hands in the morning correctly, but you do not know if they became soiled, nevertheless, because your mind was diverted in the interim, even if you had studied Torah in the interim, this too constitutes a diversion, and you are obligated to wash them again in preparation for prayer. However, in this case, you are not required to search exclusively for water; for if there is no water available and by searching for water you will be late for tefilah betzibur,12 you need not search for water but should clean your hands with anything that cleanses and pray with the congregation.

You should make a serious effort to pray with a congregation, as it is written; "As for me, may my prayer to You Hashem be at a favorable time."13 When is the time favorable? When the congregation prays together. It is [also] written: "Thus said Hashem; at a favorable time I have answered you."14 The Holy One blessed is He never disdains the prayer of the multitude even though there are sinners in their midst, as it is written: "Behold, Hashem is mighty, (meaning He is the God of the multitude) yet He does not despise anyone."15 It is [also] written: "He has redeemed my soul in peace from impending battle for the sake of the many that were with me."16

If you are traveling and reach the place where you wish to lodge, and ahead of you within a distance of four mil17 there is a place where a congregation prays, and you are able to reach that place while it is daylight so you will not have to travel alone at night, you must go four mil ahead in order to pray with the congregation.18 You must also go back one mil in order to pray with the congregation. Needless to say that you should not depart from a place where a congregation prays if you will be able to reach your desired destination while there is still daylight.

It is a great mitzvah to pray in a synagogue or in a Beis Midrash19 because these are sacred places. Even if it happens that there is no minyan,20 it is nevertheless a mitzvah to pray there even when praying alone, because these are holy places. If you usually study in a Beis Midrash you should also pray there, with ten people, even though in your city there is also a synagogue. However, if you are not accustomed to study in a Beis Midrash, you should pray in a synagogue where there is a multitude of people, for "In the multitude of people is the glory of the king."21 If there are two synagogues in your city, you should go to the more distant one, in order to earn a reward for the added steps. Said Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: "A person should always awaken early and go to a synagogue in order to be counted among the first ten people, because even if a hundred come after him, he receives a reward equal to all of them."22 Our Sages, of blessed memory, have also said: "Whoever goes morning and evening to the synagogue or to the Beis Midrash in the proper time, and remains there the proper amount of time, and conducts himself there with proper sanctity, will merit long life, as it is written: 'Fortunate is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My door.'23 And it is written following this: 'For whoever finds Me finds life.'"24,25

You should select a synagogue or a Beis Midrash in which to pray regularly. You also should designate for yourself a specific place for prayer.26 The area within a radius of four amos27 is [still] considered "your" place. It is preferable to designate a place near a wall, [if possible], as did King Chizkiyahu, as it is written: "And Chizkiyahu turned his face to the wall etc."28 When praying, you should not stand or sit near an evil person. When you pray in your house [privately] you should also designate a place for yourself so that you will not be disturbed by the members of the family.

It is a mitzvah to rush when going to the synagogue, or to the Beis Midrash, or to perform any other mitzvah as it is said: "Let us run to know God."29 It is also written: "In the way of Your commandments I will run."30 Therefore, even on Shabbos31 it is permissable to run in order to do a mitzvah. However, in the synagogue or in the Beis Midrash, it is forbidden to run. Upon arriving at the entrance (of the synagogue), it is proper to pause slightly in order not to enter suddenly. You should tremble with awe before the splendor of His glory, Blessed be His Name, and recite the verse: "As for me, through Your abundant kindness etc.32 which is like a request for permission to enter; and then you should enter and walk with reverence and fear as one who walks before a king. In those communities where the Jewish people have their own streets, it is a mitzvah to put on the tzitzis [talis] and tefillin at home, and proceed to the synagogue [in that attire.] In a place where they reside among the gentiles, or if a person must walk through filthy alleys, it is preferable to put on the tzitzis and tefillin in the corridor of the synagogue, because it is of great merit to enter the synagogue enwrapped in tzitzis and crowned with tefillin.

If because of some emergency you cannot attend the synagogue or the Beis Midrash; or any other regular minyan, you should make an effort to gather ten men to pray in your own home with a minyan. If this too is impossible you should at least pray at the same hour that the congregation prays, because that is a time of Divine favor. Similarly, if you live in a place where there is no minyan, you should pray at the time that the congregations pray in the city. However, if you must study Torah or do work which you are prohibited to begin before praying as it is explained in Chapter 8, you are permitted to begin early and pray immediately after sunrise.

Similarly, if you are weak and find it difficult to wait until the congregation's prayer is completed before eating it is permissible to pray earlier, in your home, in order to eat immediately (as stated previously in Chapter 8 par. 2). However, it is only in your home that you are permitted to pray earlier in this manner, but if you come to the synagogue in which a congregation is present, it is forbidden to pray before the congregation prays. Even if you want to leave the synagogue to pray before the congregation starts, it is forbidden,33 unless you see that the congregation is delayed in prayer, then in order to pray before the time of prayer elapses, you may pray alone. Similarly, if you are sick or are in some other unavoidable circumstance, you are permitted to pray earlier even in the synagogue. [In such a case] it is even better to go home and pray.

Some poskim34 maintain that if one minyan prayed in the synagogue and another minyan comes to pray there, the second Chazzan should not stand in the place where the first stood, because this is considered an affront to the first minyan, unless the first minyan had already left the synagogue.35 If the first minyan took out a Seifer Torah and read from it, the second minyan should not take out the Seifer Torah again to read from it in that synagogue. However, in many communities they are not mindful of these protocols, and these matters are governed by local custom.

The inhabitants of a city can force each other to build a synagogue or Beis Midrash and to buy books in which to study. In a place where there is no regular minyan the people can force each other by imposing fines to assemble regularly for a minyan, so that there be no interruption of the daily service. Even those who are preoccupied with Torah study, and will thus be prevented from studying Torah can be forced to attend the minyan, because there is a time for study and a separate time for prayer.