Berachos 30b: Why a child cries during Shmoneh Esrei

Berachos 30b: Even if the king greets him, he may not interrupt Shmoneh Esrei to answer him.

Mishnah Berurah 104:1: Even gesturing during Shmoneh Esrei is forbidden, except to tell a crying child to keep quiet.

ברכות ל: אפילו המלך שואל בשלומו לא ישיבנו. כתב המ”ב בסימן ק”ד סק”א בשם השערי תשובה דאפילו רמיזא בעלמא אסור אם לא לתינוק הבוכה מותר לו לרמז לו בידיו כדי שישתוק.

It was the Friday night meal in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem. That Friday had been Purim, so everyone was still in the Purim mood. Eliezer Papelow was asked to get up and say a few words of Torah. He said, “The Mishnah Berurah brings from the Shaarei Teshuvah that if a child is crying in the middle of the silent Shmoneh Esreh, one may make hand signals to him to be quiet. But if you look in the Shaarei Teshuvah itself, you will see that he does not say that the child was crying; he says the child was laughing. Why did the Mishnah Berurah change the case? The answer is that it has to do with the names of the sefarim. The Shaarei Teshuvah gives a case of a child laughing, because when it comes to teshuvah, a child has nothing to worry about – he has no sins – so he laughs. But the Mishnah Berurah says he was crying, because when it comes to mishnah, learning, a child has very little, so he cries!”