From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Amidah
(
?????
, "standing") is one of the two main
prayers
of
Judaism
. It has that name because people say it standing up.
Jews
say it at every
prayer service
of the year.
It is also called
Shemoneh Esrei
(
????? ????
, "eighteen") because at first the weekday
version
of the prayer had eighteen
blessings
. (It now has nineteen.) In the
Talmud
, it is called
Tefilah
(
?????
). This simply means "prayer". It has that name because it is so
central
to Judaism.
The Amidah always has three sections.
- The first section has blessings of praise to God.
- The middle section is different between
weekdays
and
Shabbat
and
holidays
. On weekdays it has blessings asking for God's help. On Shabbat and holidays there is one blessing to thank God for Shabbat or the holiday.
- The last section has blessings to thank God for everything He does for us.
- Praises God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
- Praises God as having power over life and death
- Praises God for being holy
Middle section (weekday): asking God for help
[
change
|
change source
]
- Asks God for the ability to think and understand
- Asks God to help us follow the laws of His
Torah
- Asks God to forgive us for
sins
- Asks God to save us from trouble
- Asks God to
heal
the sick
- Asks God to bless produce and to provide us a
living
- Asks God to return Jewish exiles to the land of
Israel
- Asks God to give us fair judges on Earth
- Asks God to
punish
heretics
who then
slander
Jews
- Asks God to support
righteous
people
- Asks God to
rebuild
the
Temple in Jerusalem
- Asks God to bring the
Messiah
- Asks God to accept all our prayers
- Thanks God for allowing our prayers
- General blessing of thanks to God
- Thanks God for peace
The Amidah is said at least three times every day: at the morning, afternoon and evening prayer services. A person should say it standing. A person should say it loud enough to hear it. But it should be quiet enough that other people cannot hear it.
At the morning and afternoon services, the Amidah is repeated out loud by the prayer
leader
. When the Amidah is said out loud:
- The third blessing includes a section called
Kedushah,
or "holiness", centered around Isaiah's vision of angels declaring God's holiness.
[1]
- The eighteenth blessing includes a section called
Modim d'Rabbanan,
or "The Rabbis' Prayer of Thanks." The Talmud says that everyone must thank God himself or herself, even during public prayer.
[2]
The Amidah is not said out loud at night.
In
Reform Judaism
the Amidah is not said quietly. It is said out loud at every prayer service.
Changes on Shabbat and Jewish holidays
[
change
|
change source
]
On Shabbat and important Jewish holidays, the Amidah prayer changes in two important ways.
- People do not ask God to help them meet their needs. The middle section of the weekday Amidah is replaced by one blessing about the holiness of the Shabbat or holiday. The first three blessings and last three blessings are the same as on weekdays.
- The Amidah is said a fourth time.
[3]
This Amidah is called the
musaf,
or
additional
service. The middle blessing is about the additional offering given at the Temple in Jerusalem on Shabbat and holidays.
[4]
There are two Amidah prayers during the year that are different from any others. See the pages on these holidays for more
information
.
- On
Rosh Hashanah
, the
musaf
Amidah has nine blessings instead of seven.
- On
Yom Kippur
, a
fifth
Amidah, called
Ne'ilah
("closing") is said at the very end of the day.
A
siddur
(Jewish prayer book) is always the best reference for information about Jewish prayers:
Sacks, Lord Jonathan (2009),
The Koren Siddur
(Nusa? Ashkenaz, 1st Hebrew/English ed.), Jerusalem: Koren Publishers,
ISBN
978-965-301-067-3
.
It is a very good English/Hebrew siddur to use for learning about prayers.
- ↑
Isaiah 6:3
- ↑
Tractate
Sotah:
Babylonian Talmud 40a, Jerusalem Talmud 1:8.
- ↑
Reform Jews do not say this Amidah.
- ↑
Numbers 28
and
29