Megillah, Daf Kaf Bet, Part 6

 

תנו רבנן: קידה – על אפים, שנאמר: +מלכים א‘ א‘+ ותקד בת שבע אפים ארץ. כריעה – על ברכים, וכן הוא אומר: +מלכים א‘ ח‘+ מכרע על ברכיו. השתחואה – זו פישוט ידים ורגלים, שנאמר: +בראשית ל"ז+ הבוא נבוא אני ואמך ואחיך להשתחות לך ארצה.

 

Our rabbis have taught: Kidah means falling upon the face, as it says, "Then Bathsheba bowed [vatikod] with her face to the earth" (I Kings 1:31).

Keri’ah means going down on the knees, and so it says, "[Solomon arose] from kneeling [mikroa] on his knees" (I Kings 8:34).

Hishtahava’ah means spreading out of the hands and feet, as it says, "Shall I and your mother and your brothers come to prostrate ourselves [lehishtahavot] before you to the ground" (Genesis 37:10).

 

This baraita explains the different forms of bowing referred to in the Bible.

לוי אחוי קידה קמיה דרבי ואיטלע.

והא קא גרמא ליה? והאמר רבי אלעזר: לעולם אל יטיח אדם דברים כלפי מעלה, שהרי אדם גדול הטיח דברים כלפי מעלה ואיטלע, ומנו – לוי! – הא והא גרמא ליה.

 

Levi displayed a kidah in the presence of Rabbi and became lame.

But did this cause his lameness? Did not R. Elazar Say: One should never cast words against Heaven, because a great man complained against heaven and he became lame; and who was he? Levi?

Both things caused it.

 

Evidently, there was a tradition that Levi had become "lame." [I realize that this is a derogatory word, but it captures the intent of the Talmud.] According to one explanation, this was a result of him trying to pull off the difficult "kidah" maneuver. Rashi explains that this is done by putting one’s thumbs on the ground and leaning on them fully when bowing down until his face is on the ground. This would require tremendous core strength, because one can’t put all of one’s weight on one’s thumbs. It was too much for Levi and he went lame. Don’t try it at home.

According to another tradition he went lame because he "casted words against Heaven." In Tractate Taanit we learn that he accused God of going up to the Heavens and not caring about what happens in the world. In other words, he called into question whether God is involved in the world. You might not want to try this at home either.

The Talmud resolves the difficulty by saying that he went lame for both reasons. I think this is a bit of a "lame" resolution, but I’ll live with it.

 

אמר רב חייא בר אבין: חזינא להו לאביי ורבא דמצלי אצלויי.

 

R. Hiyya b. Abin said: I saw Abaye and Rava leaning over.

 

When doing "Tahanun" Abaye and Rava, both "important men" would not fall on the way down on their faces. They would simply lean on their sides. This is closer to what we do today. We don’t bow all the way down to the ground, we just put our head down on our arm.