Which Direction Should I Face During Prayer? - Sources for Episode 122

(26) Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let the promise that You made to Your servant my father David be fulfilled. (27) “But will God really dwell on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built! (28) Yet turn, my ETERNAL God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and prayer that Your servant offers before You this day. (29) May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall abide there’; may You heed the prayers that Your servant will offer toward this place. (30) And when You hear the supplications that Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon. (31) “Whenever one person commits an offense against another, and the latter utters an imprecation to bring a curse upon the former, and comes with that imprecation before Your altar in this House, (32) oh, hear in heaven and take action to judge Your servants, condemning the one who is in the wrong and bringing down the punishment of their conduct on their head—while vindicating the other, who is in the right, by rewarding them according to their righteousness. (33) “Should Your people Israel be routed by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then turn back to You and acknowledge Your name, and they offer prayer and supplication to You in this House, (34) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and restore them to the land that You gave to their ancestors. (35) “Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain, because they have sinned against You, and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent of their sins, when You answer them, (36) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, after You have shown them the proper way in which they are to walk; and send down rain upon the land that You gave to Your people as their heritage. (37) So, too, if there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts or caterpillars, or if an enemy oppresses them in any of the settlements of the land. “In any plague and in any disease, (38) in any prayer or supplication offered by any person among all Your people Israel—each of whom knows their own affliction—when they spread their palms toward this House, (39) oh, hear in Your heavenly abode, and pardon and take action! Render to that individual according to their ways as You know their heart to be—for You alone know every human heart.

“When Your people take the field against their enemy by whatever way You send them, and they pray to GOD in the direction of the city that You have chosen, and of the House that I have built to Your name,

When Daniel learned that it had been put in writing, he went to his house, in whose upper chamber he had had windows made facing Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down, prayed, and made confession to his God, as he had always done.

Rabbi Yitzḥak says: One who wishes to become wise should face south, and one who wishes to become wealthy should face north. And your mnemonic for this is that in the Temple the Table, which symbolized blessing and abundance, was in the north, and the Candelabrum, which symbolized the light of wisdom, was in the south of the Sanctuary. And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: One should always face south, as once he becomes wise he will subsequently also become wealthy, as it is stated with regard to the Torah: “Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor” (Proverbs 3:16). The Gemara asks: But Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says that the Divine Presence is in the west. How, then, can one pray facing south? The Gemara explains that one should turn aside slightly, so that he faces southwest. Rabbi Ḥanina said to Rav Ashi: An individual such as you, who lives to the north of Eretz Yisrael, should face south when you pray. And from where do we derive that Babylonia is located to the north of Eretz Yisrael? As it is written in a prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians: “Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land” (Jeremiah 1:14).

The Sages taught in a Tosefta: A blind person and one who is unable to approximate the directions and, therefore, is unable to face Jerusalem in order to pray, may focus his heart towards his Father in Heaven, as it is stated: “And they shall pray to the Lord” (I Kings 8:44).

One who was standing in prayer in the Diaspora should focus his heart toward Eretz Yisrael, as it is stated: “And they shall pray to You by way of their land which You have given to their fathers” (I Kings 8:48). One who was standing in Eretz Yisrael should focus his heart toward Jerusalem, as it is stated: “And they shall pray to the Lord by way of the city that You have chosen” (I Kings 8:44). One who was standing in Jerusalem should focus his heart toward the Temple, as it is stated: “And they shall pray toward this house” (II Chronicles 6:32). One who was standing in the Temple should focus his heart toward the Holy of Holies, as it is stated: “And they shall pray toward this place” (I Kings 8:35). One who was standing in the Holy of Holies should focus his heart toward the seat of the ark-cover [kapporet], atop the ark, the dwelling place of God’s glory. One who was standing behind the seat of the ark-cover should visualize himself as if standing before the ark-cover and turn toward it.Consequently, one standing in prayer in the East turns to face west, and one standing in the West turns to face east. One standing in the South turns to face north, and one standing in the North turns to face south; Consequently, all of the people of Israel focus themselves focusing their hearts toward one place, the Holy of Holies in the Temple.

A person who prays must be careful to tend to [the following] eight matters. [However,] if he is pressured, confronted by circumstances beyond his control, or transgresses and does not attend to one them, they are not of absolute necessity. They are: 1) standing;2) facing the Temple;3) preparation of his body;4) proper clothing;5) proper place;6) control of his voice;7) bowing; and8) prostration.

When he gets up to pray if he was standing outside the Land of Israel, he should return his face toward the Land of Israel and focus also on Jerusalem and to the Temple and to the Holy of Holies. If he was standing in Jerusalem he should return his face to the Temple and focus also to the Holy of Holies. If he was standing behind the (Ark) he should return his face to the (Ark)....