The Amidah
Moving from praise to petition to thanksgiving, the Amidah inculcates a
sense of connection to God.
By Rabbi Daniel Kohn
The Amidah is the
focus of every Jewish prayer service: Shacharit (the morning service), Minchah
(the afternoon service), Ma’ariv (the evening service), Musaf (the additional
service on Shabbat and holidays), and Ne’ilah (the concluding service on Yom
Kippur). As Kohn points out, the three-part structure of praise, petition, and
thanksgiving provides a reasonable sense of the progression of the series of
blessings. Nevertheless, the categories are not absolute: One should recognize,
for instance, that the prayer describing God as the one who resurrects the dead
(in the initial “praise” section) clearly has a petitionary aspect to it; God
has not, as yet, resurrected the dead. Similarly, as Kohn notes, the finally
blessing of thanksgiving, which praises God as the One who makes peace, is
clearly, and most poignantly, a sincere request from individuals and people
seeking a world of peace.
The Amidah is
the core of every Jewish worship service, and is therefore also referred to as HaTefillah,
or “The prayer.” Amidah,
which literally means, "standing," refers to a series of blessings
recited while standing. Using the image of master and servant, the Rabbis
declared that a worshipper should come before his or her master first with
words of praise, then should ask one's petitions, and finally should withdraw
with words of thanks. Thus, every Amidah is divided into three central sections:
praise, petitions, and thanks.
Originally, Jewish prayer was largely unstructured. Although the Rabbis eventually codified the
format and themes of each of the blessings, it was initially left to the
creativity of individual prayer leaders to generate the specific wording of the
blessings. Individual communities in different countries began to settle on
somewhat standard versions of the prayers over time. Today the variations between the traditional texts of the Amidah
in different communities are fairly minor.
The Amidah is recited silently by all members of a congregation--or
by individuals praying along--and then, in communal settings, repeated aloud by
the prayer leader or cantor, with the congregation reciting "Amen" to
all the blessings of the Amidah.
The First Three Blessings
The first three blessings of praise of the Amidah in every
worship service are always the same, with only minor variations for weekdays,
Shabbat, and holidays. The first
blessing is called Avot, Hebrew for "ancestors," and serves as
an introduction to God of our biblical heritage connecting us to the Divine.
Immediately before reciting the Amidah, the tradition developed of taking three
steps backward and then forward again to symbolize entering into God presence.
Mentioning the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--and in liberal congregations,
the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel--this blessing praises God for
remembering their good actions, and by implication, asking God to hear our
prayer favorably because of their merit. The blessing begins and ends with a
formal bow at the knees and hips, symbolically demonstrating our subservience
to God.
The second blessing of praise is called Gevurah
(might), which describes those powers which are only within the purview of the
Divine: "Your lovingkindness
sustains the living, your great mercies give life to the dead."
Articulating a fundamental Rabbinic belief in resurrection, this blessing is a
reminder of God's absolute power of life and death.
The final blessing of this opening section of praise is
called the Kedushah, or holiness. There
are two versions of this prayer, one when recited silently by individuals, the
other, much longer, is a series of prayers and responses by the leader and
congregation when the Amidah is repeated on behalf of the community. Both of these prayers emphasize the holiness
and sacred nature of God. The
individually-recited version simply states, "Holy are You and holy is Your
name. Holy are they who praise you daily." The core of the communally repeated blessing
is derived from the biblical prophet Isaiah's vision of God in the heavenly
Temple surrounded by the angels singing praises (Isaiah chapter 6). Isaiah described the angels calling one to
another, echoing the phrase, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the
whole world is filled with His glory."
This verse is introduced by claiming that the human chorus of voices
imitates the heavenly chorus, and thus, in a choreography designed to reflect
angels, individuals rock up upon the balls of their feet three times, for each
word "holy" that is said, symbolizing the fluttering of the angels
who recited this line of praise. Several more biblical verses are also recited,
ending in the blessing, "Praised are You, Adonai, the holy God."
The Middle Section
On weekdays, the middle section of the Amidah consists of 13
blessings that are individual and communal requests to God. Originally consisting of only 12 petitions,
the total number of blessings recited was 18, hence, an early synonym for the
Amidah was the Shemonah Esrei, or the Eighteen. However, in Rabbinic times another blessing was added resulting
in a total of 19, yet the original name of the Shemonah Esrei was
retained.
Of these 13 requests recited during the weekday Amidah, the
first five are essentially personal, or individual requests to God to improve
the situation of each person. The
individual prays to God to grant us intelligence and understanding, give us the
ability to repent of our transgressions, for God to be gracious and forgiving,
to send a redeemer, or messiah, to the Jewish people to end our affliction, and
finally, to grant healing to those who are sick and ailing. Despite the individual nature of these
requests, the language of the prayers are all in the plural emphasizing the
corporate nature of even singular Jewish identity.
The following eight blessings are focused more explicitly on
the communal and national needs of the Jewish people. There is a request for rain or dew in the proper season to ensure
agricultural bounty, a plea to end the dispersion of the Jewish people, and
prayers to restore true judges and establish justice in the world; to humble
the arrogant and those who seek to malign and injure the Jewish community; to
sustain the righteous of the house of Israel; rebuild Jerusalem; reestablish a
Davidic leadership; and a final petition to hear and answer the prayers of the
Jewish people.
On Shabbat and holidays, instead of requests that might
distract us by reminding us of our physical and national wants and needs, the
Rabbis established the middle section as an opportunity to celebrate the
holiness of the Sabbath day and/or the festival. On Shabbat, the entire middle
section of the Amidah describes Moses receiving the Ten Commandments followed
by the verses from the book of Exodus (31:16-17) that describe the observance
of Shabbat as a sign of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Furthermore, Shabbat is summarized as a gift
given only to the Jews out of God's love for His people. It concludes with a blessing thanking God
for sanctifying the Shabbat.
On festivals, particularly the pilgrimage holidays of Pesah,
Shavuot, and Sukkot, the middle portion of the Amidah similarly describes how
God has given these holidays as a gift to the Jewish people for joy and
celebration. There are also references
to the biblical patriarchs, King David, and Jerusalem to be remembered in
glory. Despite the official absence of
requests, the holiday prayers of the Amidah do in fact ask that God enable us
to enjoy and celebrate the holiday with gladness of heart and conclude with a
blessing thanking God for sanctifying the people of Israel and the holiday.
The Final Section
The final section of every Amidah concludes with blessings
of thanksgiving to God; like the first three blessings, these are identical for
weekday, Shabbat, and holiday versions of the Amidah. The first of these is called Avodah, which means service,
referring to the service of animal sacrifices in the days of the Temple. This prayer asks that God accept our prayers
as were the animal sacrifices of old and concluded by thanking God for
(ultimately) restoring God's presence to Zion, referring to both the land of
Israel and the city of Jerusalem. The
second concluding prayer of thanksgiving is called Hoda'ah, or
thanks. This prayer thanks God for the
gift of our lives and for the daily miracles which God bestows upon the world
each day. The beginning and end of this
prayer are marked by a bow at the hips, once again symbolizing the depth of our
gratitude to God.
At this point during the reader’s repetition of the Amidah,
the reader recites the three-fold priestly blessing, with the congregation
responding, “So may it be God’s will” after each line:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you
“May the Lord cause His favor to shine upon you and be gracious
unto you
“May the Lord lift His favor unto you and give you peace”
(Numbers 6:24-26).
Although customs vary, traditional synagogues outside of
Israel have the congregants
who are kohanim (of the priestly family) ascend and
invoke God’s blessing upon the congregation by reciting this blessing on the
holidays; in Israel, this is done every Shabbat, and in Jerusalem, every day.
The final prayer of thanksgiving to God is actually a final
petition to bestow justice, mercy, and peace on the world. Called Shalom, or peace, the
community asks that God grant peace, goodness, blessing and compassion upon
everyone; the themes and language are clearly derived from the priestly
blessing that precedes it. A different but parallel version of this prayer is
recited in the afternoon and evening Amidah prayers.
Although the official structure of the Amidah concludes with
the prayer for peace, the Rabbis of antiquity added on private, personal
meditations. The fairly standard version, which appears in most siddurim
(prayer boos} is the concluding meditation of Mar bar Ravina from the time of
the Talmud (Berachot 17a). However, it
is appropriate for individuals to recite their own prayers as well as this
point. The Amidah then formally
concludes with the recitation of the line, "May God who brings peace to
the universe, bring peace to us and all of the people, Israel. Amen." This
is recited while taking three steps backward, bowing to both sides, and taking
three steps forward again, formally retreating from God's symbolic presence.
Rabbi Daniel Kohn, the author of several books on Jewish
education and spirituality, currently writes and teaches throughout the San
Francisco Bay area.
