Should you make an extra effort to pronounce prayers and blessings clearly?

Question

Should someone make an extra effort to pronounce prayers and blessings clealry? Someone I know commented on how I "pronounced each word very clearly and didn't slur" (to put it in their own words) and I replied that I trained myself to do this years ago as I was told that it is commendable to pronounce each word carefully, making sure to enunciate each syllable and separate each word without slurring.

Obviously, it would be easy to say this would be a good idea, because it aids in kavana, etc. but is there actually any source to this? Please note that I am not speaking of "correct" pronunciation of Hebrew (havara). In all honesty, I use a very Lithuanian accent.

Answer 1

Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 61:21-22:

צריך בכל אל"ף שאחר מ"ם להפסיק ביניהם כגון ולמדתם אותם וקשרתם אותם ושמתם את ... שלא יהא נראה כקורא מותם מת. אף בפסוקי דזמרה ובתפלה צריך לדקדק בכך

[During Keriat Shema] one must pause before an aleph that follows a mem (e.g. ulmadtem otam, ukshartem otam, vesamtem et) ... so that he doesn't seem to be reading motam or met. One must also be particular about this in Pesukei DeZimrah and Amidah.

Answer 2

The Mishnah and subsequent Gemara in Berachos 15a-15b present a tannaitic dispute about the validity of reciting Shema without carefully pronouncing the words. The conclusion there is that it is valid even if the words were not pronounced carefully. However, Rambam rules (Hilchos Kerias Shema 2:8) that lechatchila one should still try to pronounce the words carefully. Thus it would seem to be a worthy idea.

However, the Gemara's discussion is only about Shema which is a Biblical obligation. One could argue that standard prayer, being only rabbinic, would have a lower threshold. Indeed, R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk in his commentary to the aforementioned ruling of Rambam explains how the tanna derived this law from the verse that speaks about Shema. If that is the case then it would seem to be specifically for Shema where there is a Scriptural derivation, but not for general prayer where there is no Scriptural derivation.

Answer 3

According to Rav Ya'akov Emden, yes (but that might not mean you have to do it).

He considers "systematic" pronunciation and "dialectal" pronunciation (havarah?) inextricably linked. At the very beginning of the Sulam Gadol introduction to his sidur, the first chavak "explains the quality of the proper pronunciation". Relevant highlights include

צריך להיות שלם בחיתוך השלון, כל מום לא יהיה בו - באות, בניקוד, בטעם.

[One] must be complete in lingual precision, no blemish should be present - in letter, pointing, or accent. . . Particularly not reading 'ע's as 'א's. . . Unlike we Ashk'nazim do with the weak 'ת' which we shamefully read like a 'ס'. Though we do great with vowels, unlike the S'faradim that don't distinguish between kamatz and patach. . .

He goes on to encourage the prayer to differentiate between the various vowels which have a tendency to be conflated, as well as between the varieties of sh'va, not to join words across phrase breaks, to pause appropriately, and to emphasize the correct syllables. But he concludes with a mitigation, which might explain the disparity between viewpoints in the question's motivating anecdote:

ובמי שאפשר לו ויודע הדברים אמורים

אבל מי שלא הגיע בידי מדה זו בנעורים

א"א להטריחו בהנחת הטעמים שטורחו רב ומייגע דבורו

והפסדו מרובה משכרו

לכן טוב שלא לבלבל הקורא אשר לא נסה באלה

במטבע תפלה

Paraphrasing, one who grew up learning these principles and internalizing them should implement them. But they are too burdensome to be taken on by those who didn't, so they are better off just leaving them alone.

_{The above quotes, as well as almost the entirety of the massive introduction to this sidur, are in rhyming couplets in the original.}