Only When Traveling in a Dangerous Place?
5. Dangerous place. The Gemara says (שם) that when a person goes to a truly dangerous place, i.e., one with a known danger of wild animals, bandits, or the like, he is agitated and does not have the composure to daven properly. Therefore, he cannot say Shemoneh Esrei or even the abridged tefilah of Havineinu. Instead, he should say the following short tefilah: “צרכי עמך מרובין ודעתם קצרה, יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלקינו שתתן לכל אחד ואחד כדי פרנסתו ולכל גויה וגויה די מחסורה, ברוך אתה ה' שומע תפילה.” When he reaches town and calms down, he must say Shemoneh Esrei (שו"ע או"ח סי ק"י ס"ג) if it is still within the zman (מ"ב סקי").
6. Place without danger. Although this short tefilah was instituted for dangerous places, Tefilas Haderech was instituted even when traveling to a place without any serious danger (כל בו סי' פ"). While all travel involves danger (ירושלמי ברכות פ"ד ה"), it is just a small aspect of danger and not a specific, known danger. It is for this that Tefilas Haderech was instituted (אור זרוע ח"א הל' קריא"ש סי' מ").
