Why We Can't (and Shouldn't) Edit the Text of Davening (Part 1)

The Tefilah Podcast

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In this evening's tefilah shiur (11/16/21) we set out to answer two questions that were recently posed to me in a Q&A format: (1) Why don't we change the scientifically inaccurate passages in tefilah to be more accurate? (2) Why don't we change the text of tefilah for other reasons if it would improve our kavanah? I naively thought I'd be able to answer both questions tonight, but we only got as far as laying the groundwork by going through the history and evolution of tefilah as presented by the Rambam. God willing, we'll answer both questions next time.
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מקורות:
נוסח אשכנז - ברכה ראשונה שלפני קריאת שמע של מעריב
נוסח אשכנז - ברכה ראשונה שלפני קריאת שמע של שחרית שבת
רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר אהבה, הלכות תפילה וברכת כוהנים א:א-ד
רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר אהבה, הלכות ברכות א:ה-ו
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This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Shirley, and since she didn't specify a dedicatory message, then I'm going to dedicate this to the entire Sinclair family - Shirley, David, and Ken.
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