Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
The laws of Tashlumin (making up for prayers unavoidably missed) are delineated in Halachipedia
“If one forgot to say Shacharit one should say Mincha twice, the first for Mincha and the second as a makeup (Tashlumin) of Shacharit.” Etc.
To whom are we “making up” when we do tashlumin? I find it difficult to think that HaShem is so to speak missing that prayer.
Should we think rather that our Rabbis gave us the opportunity to make up for the lost opportunity to make a connection to HaShem?
This article by Rabbis Aviad Bartov and Noam Malchi suggests three possible conceptual understandings of tefillat tashlumin.
As an opportunity to ‘fix’ the omission of the previous prayer.
As a fine for having missed the previous prayer.
As the actual prayer that was missed, being prayed at a non-ideal time.
