Commentary for Berakhot 20:26
וא"ר יוסי בר' חנינא משום ראב"י אל יעמוד אדם במקום גבוה ויתפלל אלא במקום נמוך ויתפלל שנא' (תהלים קל, א) ממעמקים קראתיך ה'
R. Jose b. R. Hannina also said in the name of R. Eliezer b. Jacob : Let not a man stand on an elevated place and pray, but let him pray in a lowly place; as it is said, "Out of the depths have I called Thee, O Lord" (Ps. cxxx. 1 ).
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
Hence in Babylon it was customary to have the reading desk, where the Precentor stood, at a lower level than the floor of the Synagogue. In modern Synagogues the Precentor's platform is raised ; see Oesterley and Box, p. 338. But according to Elbogen, the recommendation of the Talmud to pray in a lowly place is intended to apply to the individual, not the Precentor. Cf. J. Q. R. xix. p. 705 n.
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