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Why do we take steps before the Shemona Esrei?

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1  
Your title asks one thing, and your question body asks another. Which do you mean to ask? Can you bring them into alignment, please? – msh210♦ Oct 28 '11 at 6:53
At times when they are in alignment, they do not allow the question to be asked, and say the quality is no good! – Gershon Gold Oct 28 '11 at 16:08
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@GershonGold, you can do something like (title) "How to take steps for sh'mone esre" and (body) "I see people taking some steps before starting sh'mone esre. What are the laws and customs of this practice?", or (title) "Why steps for sh'mone esre" and (body) "I see people taking some steps before starting sh'mone esre. Why do they do this: is this obligatory/customary? If so, what's the reason for the law/custom?". – msh210♦ Oct 28 '11 at 16:26
Are you asking why (as addressed by the answers below) or are you asking the method? – Seth J Nov 1 '11 at 13:39
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All righty. Now that the "how" has been asked separately and the "why" is what's addressed by the answers given below (and the "how" has not), I'm editing this question so it's asking "why" not "how". – msh210♦ Jul 5 '12 at 18:08
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2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

You step forward to meet with the King of Kings.

You first step backwards in case where you are, you can't just step forwards.

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Then why more than one step? – wizlog Oct 28 '11 at 19:37
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One step doesn't really signal approaching... two step is Zugim and we avoid Zugim. Three makes its a solid thing. – avi Oct 29 '11 at 18:11
see here (and sources cited): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amidah#Three_steps – Menachem Nov 27 '11 at 3:16
up vote 3 down vote

If you watch the movie "The Queen" with Helen Mirren, there is a scene that is awesome and quite relevant. The Tony Blair character is about to meet the Queen after becoming Prime Minister, and the page about to let him into the chamber to meet her, explains to him that you do this three step thing before approaching the Queen.

That really caught my eye! I know why! (Also I love about 5 minutes later, trying to break the ice, she informs Blair that her first Prime Minister that she did this meet and greet with was Winston Churchill).

So as Avi notes, this is what we do for a mortal ruler, Kaviyachol, even more so for the King of Kings.

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Why did two people down vote this without giving a reason? – avi Nov 1 '11 at 8:13
Maybe if I add Kaviyachol? Would that make it better. I had wondered as well why the downvotes. – geoffc Nov 1 '11 at 12:48

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