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Amidah
The Amidah (Hebrew: תְפִלָת הַעֲמִידָה, romanized: Tefilat HaAmidah, lit. 'the Standing Prayer'), also called the Shemoneh Esreh (שְׁמוֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה, 'Eighteen'), is an important prayer in Judaism. Religious Jews recite the Amidah during each of the three services prayed on weekdays: Morning (שַׁחֲרִית, Shacharit), afternoon (מִנחָה, Mincha), and evening (מַעֲרִיב, Ma'ariv; also called עַרבִית, Arvit). On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (ראש חודש, 'Head [of the] Month'), and Jewish holidays, after the morning Torah reading, a fourth Amidah is recited (מוּסָף, Mussaf). Once annually, a fifth Amidah is recited during the Ne'ila (נְעִילָה) service of Erev Yom Kippur. Due to the importance of the Amidah, in the Rabbinic literature it is referred to only as "ha-tefila" (הַתְּפִילָה, 'the prayer'). According to legend, the Amidah was composed by the Members of the Great Assembly (אנשי כנסת הגדולה, Anshei Knesset Ha-Gedolah; c. 515–332 BCE).[citation needed] However, the fact that the prayer contains—in addition to Biblical Hebrew—many Mishnaic terms, suggests it was composed and compiled during the Mishnaic period encompassing the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Accordingly, in Judaism, to recite the Amidah is a mitzvah d'rabbanan (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מִצְוָה דְּרַבָּנָן, lit. 'commandment of [the] Rabbis'), or a commandment of Rabbinic origin.
Although the title Shemoneh Esreh refers to the original number of component blessings in the prayer, the typical weekday Amidah actually consists of nineteen blessings. Among other prayers, the Amidah can be found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. The prayer is typically recited standing with feet firmly together, preferably while facing Jerusalem. In Orthodox public worship, the Amidah is usually first prayed quietly by the congregation and then repeated aloud by the hazzan (reader); it is not repeated during Ma'ariv. The repetition's original purpose was to give illiterate members of the congregation a chance to participate in the collective prayer by answering "amen". Conservative and Reform congregations sometimes abbreviate the public recitation of the Amidah according to their customs. When the Amidah is modified for specific prayers or occasions, the first three blessings and the last three remain unchanged, framing the Amidah used in each service. In comparison, the middle thirteen blessings are replaced by blessings (usually just one) specific to the occasion.
There has been a general consensus that some form of the eighteen blessings of the Amidah date to the Second Temple period. In the time of the Mishnah, it was considered unnecessary to prescribe its text and content fully. This may have been simply because the language was well known to the Mishnah's authors. The Mishnah may also have not recorded specific text because of an aversion to making prayer a matter of rigor and fixed formulæ.
According to the Talmud, Rabban Gamaliel II, the first leader of the Sanhedrin after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE, undertook to codify uniformly the public service, directing Simeon HaPakoli to edit the blessings (probably in the order they had already acquired) and made it a duty, incumbent on everyone, to recite the prayer three times daily. Still, this does not imply that the blessings were unknown before that date; in other passages, the Amidah is traced to the "first wise men", or to the Great Assembly. In order to reconcile the various assertions of editorship, the Talmud concludes that the prayers had fallen into disuse, and that Gamaliel reinstituted them.
The Talmud indicates that when Gamaliel undertook to codify the Amidah, he directed Samuel ha-Katan to write another paragraph inveighing against informers and heretics, which was inserted as the twelfth prayer in modern sequence, making the number of blessings nineteen. Other Talmudic sources indicate, however, that this prayer was part of the original 18; and that 19 prayers came about when the 15th prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem and of the throne of David (coming of the Messiah) was split into two.
On regular weekdays, the Amidah is prayed three times, once each during the morning, afternoon, and evening prayer services that are known respectively as Shacharit, Mincha, and Ma'ariv. One opinion in the Talmud claims, with support from Biblical verses, that the concept for each of the three services was founded respectively by each of the three biblical patriarchs. The prescribed times for reciting the Amidah thus may come from the times of the public tamid ("eternal") sacrifices that took place in the Temples in Jerusalem. After the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE, the Council of Jamnia determined that the Amidah would substitute for the sacrifices, directly applying Hosea's dictate, "So we will render for bullocks the offering of our lips." For this reason, the Amidah should be recited during the time period in which the tamid would have been offered. Accordingly, since the Ma'ariv service was originally optional, as it replaces the overnight burning of ashes on the Temple altar rather than a specific sacrifice, Maariv's Amidah is not repeated by the hazzan (reader), while all other Amidot are repeated.
On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and other Jewish holidays there is a Mussaf ("Additional") Amidah to replace the additional communal sacrifices of these days. On Yom Kippur, a fifth recitation, Ne'ilah, is added as well.
The weekday Amidah contains nineteen blessings. Each blessing ends with the signature "Blessed are you, O Lord..."; the opening blessing begins with this signature, as well.
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Amidah
The Amidah (Hebrew: תְפִלָת הַעֲמִידָה, romanized: Tefilat HaAmidah, lit. 'the Standing Prayer'), also called the Shemoneh Esreh (שְׁמוֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה, 'Eighteen'), is an important prayer in Judaism. Religious Jews recite the Amidah during each of the three services prayed on weekdays: Morning (שַׁחֲרִית, Shacharit), afternoon (מִנחָה, Mincha), and evening (מַעֲרִיב, Ma'ariv; also called עַרבִית, Arvit). On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (ראש חודש, 'Head [of the] Month'), and Jewish holidays, after the morning Torah reading, a fourth Amidah is recited (מוּסָף, Mussaf). Once annually, a fifth Amidah is recited during the Ne'ila (נְעִילָה) service of Erev Yom Kippur. Due to the importance of the Amidah, in the Rabbinic literature it is referred to only as "ha-tefila" (הַתְּפִילָה, 'the prayer'). According to legend, the Amidah was composed by the Members of the Great Assembly (אנשי כנסת הגדולה, Anshei Knesset Ha-Gedolah; c. 515–332 BCE).[citation needed] However, the fact that the prayer contains—in addition to Biblical Hebrew—many Mishnaic terms, suggests it was composed and compiled during the Mishnaic period encompassing the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Accordingly, in Judaism, to recite the Amidah is a mitzvah d'rabbanan (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מִצְוָה דְּרַבָּנָן, lit. 'commandment of [the] Rabbis'), or a commandment of Rabbinic origin.
Although the title Shemoneh Esreh refers to the original number of component blessings in the prayer, the typical weekday Amidah actually consists of nineteen blessings. Among other prayers, the Amidah can be found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. The prayer is typically recited standing with feet firmly together, preferably while facing Jerusalem. In Orthodox public worship, the Amidah is usually first prayed quietly by the congregation and then repeated aloud by the hazzan (reader); it is not repeated during Ma'ariv. The repetition's original purpose was to give illiterate members of the congregation a chance to participate in the collective prayer by answering "amen". Conservative and Reform congregations sometimes abbreviate the public recitation of the Amidah according to their customs. When the Amidah is modified for specific prayers or occasions, the first three blessings and the last three remain unchanged, framing the Amidah used in each service. In comparison, the middle thirteen blessings are replaced by blessings (usually just one) specific to the occasion.
There has been a general consensus that some form of the eighteen blessings of the Amidah date to the Second Temple period. In the time of the Mishnah, it was considered unnecessary to prescribe its text and content fully. This may have been simply because the language was well known to the Mishnah's authors. The Mishnah may also have not recorded specific text because of an aversion to making prayer a matter of rigor and fixed formulæ.
According to the Talmud, Rabban Gamaliel II, the first leader of the Sanhedrin after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE, undertook to codify uniformly the public service, directing Simeon HaPakoli to edit the blessings (probably in the order they had already acquired) and made it a duty, incumbent on everyone, to recite the prayer three times daily. Still, this does not imply that the blessings were unknown before that date; in other passages, the Amidah is traced to the "first wise men", or to the Great Assembly. In order to reconcile the various assertions of editorship, the Talmud concludes that the prayers had fallen into disuse, and that Gamaliel reinstituted them.
The Talmud indicates that when Gamaliel undertook to codify the Amidah, he directed Samuel ha-Katan to write another paragraph inveighing against informers and heretics, which was inserted as the twelfth prayer in modern sequence, making the number of blessings nineteen. Other Talmudic sources indicate, however, that this prayer was part of the original 18; and that 19 prayers came about when the 15th prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem and of the throne of David (coming of the Messiah) was split into two.
On regular weekdays, the Amidah is prayed three times, once each during the morning, afternoon, and evening prayer services that are known respectively as Shacharit, Mincha, and Ma'ariv. One opinion in the Talmud claims, with support from Biblical verses, that the concept for each of the three services was founded respectively by each of the three biblical patriarchs. The prescribed times for reciting the Amidah thus may come from the times of the public tamid ("eternal") sacrifices that took place in the Temples in Jerusalem. After the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE, the Council of Jamnia determined that the Amidah would substitute for the sacrifices, directly applying Hosea's dictate, "So we will render for bullocks the offering of our lips." For this reason, the Amidah should be recited during the time period in which the tamid would have been offered. Accordingly, since the Ma'ariv service was originally optional, as it replaces the overnight burning of ashes on the Temple altar rather than a specific sacrifice, Maariv's Amidah is not repeated by the hazzan (reader), while all other Amidot are repeated.
On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and other Jewish holidays there is a Mussaf ("Additional") Amidah to replace the additional communal sacrifices of these days. On Yom Kippur, a fifth recitation, Ne'ilah, is added as well.
The weekday Amidah contains nineteen blessings. Each blessing ends with the signature "Blessed are you, O Lord..."; the opening blessing begins with this signature, as well.
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