(Heb standing) The principal component of the daily prayers of Talmudic Judaism, recited while standing, and said silently except when in a congregational service. It consists of 19 (originally 18) benedictions, firstly in praise of God, secondly asking for his help (petitions), and closing with thanksgiving. An altered form of the prayer is also recited on sabbaths and festivals.
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The Amidah ("Standing"), also called the Shemoneh Esrei ("The Eighteen"), is the central prayer in the Jewish liturgy that observant Jews recite each morning, afternoon, and evening.
As the prayer par excellence, it is sometimes designated as simply "Tefillah" (prayer) and consists of a series of blessings, described as 18 in number for daily worship, hence "Shemoneh Esreh," but under scrutiny one finds that there are actually 19 blessings in the Amidah as listed below.
The first three blessings and the last three constitute, so to speak, the permanent stock, used at every service;
When Recited
The prescribed times for reciting the Amidah in Jewish services comes from the Council of Yavne determination that the Amidah prayer would be substituted for sacrifices following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E., directly applying Hosea's dictate:
Take with you words, and return unto the LORD;In Orthodox Judaism, the system of the congregation reciting and repeating the Amidah prayer at prescribed times formally substitutes the sacrifices offered in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, Orthodox Judaism has continued to maintain a close relationship between each public recitation of the Amidah prayer and a specific public sacrifice which it replaces and recalls. Many of the Amidah prayers, particularly the Mussaf prayers, mention the specific sacrifices that would have been offered, and include prayers for their future restoration and the acceptance of prayer in their place. Consistent with its relationship to the rhythm of the sacrificial system of the Temple the Amidah is publicly recited whenever a regular community sacrifice would have been offered in the days of the Temple, and it is recited during the time period that the sacrifice itself would have been offered.
The Amidah is said individually three times daily, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. The daily morning (shacharit) and afternoon (mincha) Amidah prayers, when said publicly (in the presence of a minyan or quorum of 10), are repeated by a chazzan or Reader, denoting the fact these public recitations are congregational responsibilities replacing the communal morning tamid and afternoon mincha offerings.
On Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath), Rosh Chodesh (Jewish new month), and Jewish Holidays there is a Mussaf (lit.
Conservative Judaism retains the traditional number and time periods during which the Amidah must be said, while omitting explicit supplications for restoration of the sacrificial cult. Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism, consistent with their views that the rhythm of the ancient sacrificial cult should no longer drive modern Jewish prayer, often omit some of the Amidah prayers, such as the Mussaf, omit temporal requirements, and omit references to the Temple and its sacrifices.
Prayers in the weekday Amidah
The prayers of the weekday Amidah are:
Known as Avot ("Ancestors") this prayer offers praise of God as the God of the Biblical patriarchs, "God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob." This prayer includes a mention of God's healing of the sick and resurrection of the dead. Known as Teshuvah ("return", "repentance") this prayer asks God to help Jews to return to a life based on the Torah, and praises God as a God of repentance. Known as Selichah, this asks for forgiveness for all sins, and praises God as being a God of forgiveness. Known as Birkat HaShanim ("blessing for years [of good]"), this prayer asks God to bless the produce of the earth. Known as Galuyot ("diasporas"), this prayer asks God to allow the ingathering of the Jewish exiles back to the land of Israel. Known as Birkat HaDin ("Justice") this asks God to restore righteous judges as in the days of old. Known as Tzadikim ("righteous") this asks God to have mercy on all who trust in Him, and asks for support for the righteous. Known as Bo'ne Yerushalayim("Builder of Jerusalem") asks God to rebuild Jerusalem and to restore the Kingdom of David. Known as Tefillah ("prayer") this asks God to accept our prayers, to have mercy and be compassionate. Known as Avodah ("service") this asks God to restore the Temple services and sacrificial services. Known as Hodaah ("thanksgiving") this is a prayer of thanksgiving, thanking God for our lives, for our souls, and for God's miracles that are with us every day.Final Benedictions
Prior to the final blessing for peace, the following is said:
At public recitations of the Amidah, the priestly blessing is said.
Concluding Meditation
The custom has gradually developed of reciting, at the conclusion of the latter, the supplication with which Mar, the son of Rabina, used to conclude his prayer (Talmud Berachot 17a):
My God, keep my tongue and my lips from speaking deceit, and to them that curse me let my soul be silent, and like dust to all.
Mainstream Ashkenazi Orthodox Judaism also adds the following prayer to the conclusion of every Amidah:
May it be your will, O my God and God of my fathers, that the Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days, and give us our portion in your Torah, and there we will worship you with reverence as in ancient days and former years. And may the Mincha offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to God, as in ancient days and former years.
It is also customary to add individual personal prayers as part of silent recitation of the Amidah.
Changes to the Amidah
Ancient changes
According to the Talmud, the 12th prayer in the modern sequence, the prayer against informers and heretics, was the 19th addition to the original 18, and was said to have been added by the council in Yavneh by Samuel ha-Katan, at the request of Rabban Gamaliel II.
Special Amidah for Shabbat
The Shabbat Ma'ariv (evening), Shacharit (morning), Mussaf (additional), and Mincha (afternoon) Amidah prayers all have special forms in which the middle 13 supplications are replaced by one, different for each service, so that each of these Shabbat Amidah prayers is composed of seven benedictions. It has an introductory portion, which on Sabbath has a different form for each of the four services, and another short portion, which is constant:
Our God and God of our Ancestors! Cleanse our hearts to serve You in truth: let us inherit, O Lord our God, in love and favor, Your holy Sabbath, and may Israel, who loves Your name, rest thereon.
On Sabbath-eve, after the congregation has read the "Tefillah" silently, the reader repeats aloud the so-called "Me-'En Sheba'," or summary (Ber. The congregation then continues:
Shield of the fathers by His word, reviving the dead by His command, the holy God to whom none is like;
Special Amidah for Festivals
On festivals a special "Sanctification of the Day" prayer, made up of several sections, repalaces the intermediate 13 blessings in the evening, morning, and afternoon prayers. The first section is constant:
Thou hast chosen us from all the nations, hast loved us and wast pleased with us;
A paragraph naming the special festival and its special character follow.
If the Sabbath coincides with it, special sections are added mentioning both the Shabbat and the festival.
Mussaf Amidah
On the Shabbat, festivals, and Rosh Hodesh (new month in the Jewish Calendar) a Mussaf (additional) Amidah is said, both silently and repeated by the Reader. The Mussaf service is technically a separate, free-standing service which could potentially be said any time between the shacharit (morning) and mincha (afternoon) services, but today is normally recited immediately after the regular morning service as part of single, but extended, worship session. In Orthodox Services, these prayers recount the special Mussaf sacrifice that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem on the occasion, and contains a plea for the building of a Third Temple and the restoration of sacrificial worship. Outside of the land of Israel, the Mussaf Amidah of major Jewish holidays is the only time the Priestly Blessing is chanted by actual kohanim (priests)
The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism has devised two forms for the Mussaf Amidah with varying degrees of difference from the Orthodox form.
Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism generally omit the Mussaf Amidah entirely.
Ne'ilah Amidah
On Yom Kippur, a fifth Amidah (in addition to the Ma'ariv (Evening), Shacharit (Morning), Mussaf (Additional), and Mincha (Afternoon) Amidah is recited and repeated at the closing of Yom Kippur.
Mode of prayer
The current majority practice is for the worshipper to take three steps back and three steps forward before beginning the Amidah.
The Shemoneh Esreh is prefaced by the verse "O Eternal, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim Thy praise" (Ps.
Prayers for rain in winter and dew in summer
In prayer number nine, the words "dew and rain" are inserted during the term from the 60th day after the autumnal equinox to Passover. The former has this form:
Bless us, our Father, in all the work of our hands, and bless our year with gracious, blessed, and kindly dews: be its outcome life, plenty, and peace as in the good years, for Thou, O Eternal, are good and does good and blesses the years.
In the rainy season (in winter) the phraseology is changed to read:
Bless upon us, O Eternal our God, this year and all kinds of its produce for goodness, and bestow dew and rain for blessing on all the face of the earth;
Extended prayers for rain and dew
On Shemini Atzeret, the traditional beginning of the rainy season in Israel, a special extended prayer for rain is added.
Changes by Liberal Denominations
Orthodox Judaism has not changed the text of the Amidah in modern times.
Conservative and Reform Judaism have altered the text to varying degrees to bring it into alignment with their view of modern needs and sensibilities.
Reform Judaism has changed the first benediction, traditionally invoking the phrase "God of our Fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob," one of the Biblical names of God. New editions of the Reform siddur explicitly say avoteinu v'imoteinu ("our fathers and our mothers"), and Reform and some Conservative congregations amend the second invocation to "God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob; God of Sarah, God of Rebekkah, God of Leah, and God of Rachel."
Liberal branches of Judaism makes some additional changes to the opening benedictions.
Prayer 17, Avodah ("service"), asks God to restore the Temple services, build a Third Temple), and restore sacrificial worship. (Some Conservative congregations remove the concluding silent prayer for the Temple entirely.) The Reform siddur also modifies this prayer, eliminating all reference to the Temple service and replacing the request for the restoration of the Temple with "God who is near to all who call upon you, turn to your servants and be gracious to us;
Conservative Judaism is divided on the role of the Mussaf Amdidah. More traditional Conservative congregations recite a prayer similar to the Mussaf prayer in Orthodox services, except they refer to Temple sacrifices only in the past tense and do not include a prayer for the restoration of the sacrificial cult.
Linguistic sources
The following analysis may indicate the Biblical passages underlying the Amidah.
Biblical sources
Benediction No. i.: "Blessed be Thou, our God and the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" recalls Ex.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Apocrypha of Ben Sira
Analogies in Ben Sira
Verse 1: "God of all" recalls benediction No.
Verse 2 contains the word = benediction No.
Verse 3 is a summary of the "Kedushah" = benediction No.
Verse 4 explains the knowledge asked for in No.
Verse 6 accounts for the petition against the enemy, No.
Verse 7 is the prayer for the exiles, No.
Verse 8 is the content of the prayer in behalf of the pious, No.
Verse 9 is the prayer for Jerusalem, No.
Verse 10 recalls No.
Verse 11 is clearly related to both Nos.
Instead of for the "judges," Ben Sira prays for the reestablishment of God's "judgments," in open allusion to the Exodus (Ex.
History of the Amidah
The language of the "Tefillah" would thus point to the mishnaic period, both before and after the destruction of the Temple, as the probable time of its composition and compilation.
While the Mishnah seems to have known the general content and sequence of the benedictions, much latitude prevailed as regards personal deviations in phraseology, at all events;
The Talmud names Simeon ha-Pa?oli as the editor of the collection in the academy of R.
Edited by Gamaliel II.
The historical kernel in these conflicting reports seems to be the indubitable fact that the benedictions date from the earliest days of the Pharisaic Synagogue.
R.
Old material is thus preserved in the eighteen benedictions as arranged and edited by the school of Rabban Gamaliel II.
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