105. Which Way to Face

18:9 One should try not to belch or yawn during Shemoneh Esrei. If it is unavoidable, cover your mouth. One may also not spit; if drool is coming out of one’s mouth and it’s distracting, he may wipe it away with a handkerchief. If this is not possible, he can lean to the left and spit it out behind him. If he can’t spit behind him, he should do so to his left; if he can’t do it to the left, then to the right. If a person is bitten by a louse, he should remove it by handling it with his garment; if he touched it with his bare hands, they would need to be washed (see Mishnah Brurah 97:11). If his tallis slips off, he can fix it so long as it is still on him; if it has fallen completely off of him, retrieving it would be considered an interruption. If a sefer, such as a siddur or a Chumash, falls on the floor and the fact that it’s laying there is disturbing one’s ability to concentrate on his prayers, he may pick it up in between blessings. Anything that one may not do during Shemoneh Esrei is forbidden until a person takes his three steps back at the end, though there are varying opinions when it comes to when one may respond to other prayers. 18:10 We pray facing the direction of Israel as per I King 8:48, “They will pray to You in the direction of their land.” Specifically, one should try to face Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies. Therefore, those of us in Western countries face east; those who live elsewhere should face in the appropriate direction. In this way, Jews all over the world direct their prayers towards the same place, Jerusalem, for which is the “gateway to Heaven” from which prayers ascend. This is why the Temple is called “Talpiot,” as in Shir HaShirim 4:4, which means a tower toward which everyone turns. If one cannot turn to face Israel, he should direct his heart towards God. If a person realized, mid-Shemoneh Esrei, that he was facing the wrong way, he should not move his feet. Instead, he should turn his face. If this is not possible, he should complete his prayers as is, directing his heart (figuratively) towards Jerusalem. Similarly, if there are idols to the east, one should pray facing a different direction. (Even when the aron kodesh is on a different wall, one should face east; if everyone else in shul is facing a different direction, he should not differ from them but he should still turn his face eastward – see Mishnah Brurah 94: 10.)