The reason of this is that
Moses our Rabbi--peace be on him!--advanced before his prayer into the
three divisions, "darkness, clouds, and thick darkness" (Deut. iv. 11).
And this is also the reason why after finishing the Shemonah-esreh three
steps backward are to be made, returning through these three parts or
divisions.
This prayer is to be performed standing, and the feet so joined together
that they should seem as it were one foot only, in order to be like the
angels, of whom it is written (Ezek. i. 7), "And their feet were (so in
the original) a straight foot," that is to say, their feet appeared as
one foot.
This attitude is a sign that the power of locomotion is gone; he cannot
pursue and attain any other object than God. The Gentiles place their
hands together, intending to signify thereby that their hands are as it
were bound; but we, by placing our feet together, intend to signify that
they are as it were entirely bound, which is indicative of greater
humility; for with the hands bound one could still run away in search of
his own pleasure, which he cannot do when the feet are bound.
_Kitzur Sh'lh_, fol. 48, col. 2, and fol. 49, col. 1.
It is lawful for him who rides upon an animal to pray the eighteen
benedictions, and when he comes to the point when he should retrace
three steps, he is to back the animal he is mounted on three steps.
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