The full Weekday Amidah (or Eighteen Blessings), according to Nusach Ashkenaz with optional additions for egalitarian rites or for within Israel, fully marked with ta’amei miqra (also known as cantillation marks or trope). Ta’amei miqra originally marked grammar and divisions in any Hebrew sentences, and older Hebrew manuscripts such as those from the Cairo Geniza often show ta’amei miqra on all sorts of texts, not just the Biblical texts we associate them with today. This text has the Eighteen Blessings (which number nineteen) of the weekday Amidah, and is suitable to use as a text for any standard weekday service. Note: this does not include any of the pre- or post-Amidah texts, such as Ashrei, Kriyat Shema, Tachanun, or Aleinu. It also doesn’t include additions for festivals, fast days, or the Days of Repentance. Those may be coming in the future, though! . . . This vidui prayer for those privileged to live past the age of 50 is found in Rabbi Mosheh ben Zevulun Eliezer Halperin’s Zikhron Mosheh (Lublin: 1611), siman 13. . . . Rosa Emma Salaman’s “Prayer for Daily Guidance” was written December 20, 1851 and published in the Occident 10:2, Iyar 5612/May 1852, p. 85. 226. . . . A meditation on prayer and earnest offering. . . . Basil L.Q. Henriques’s prayers “In Thankfulness” were first published in The Fratres Book of Prayer for the Oxford and St. George’s Synagogue Jewish Lads Club in 1916, and later reprinted in the Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue (1929), “Special Prayers” section, pages 88-90. The prayer appears to be an expansion of the penultimate modim (thanksgiving) prayer near the conclusion of the Amidah. . . . Basil L.Q. Henriques’s prayers “For Peacefulness” were first published in The Fratres Book of Prayer for the Oxford and St. George’s Synagogue Jewish Lads Club in 1916, and later reprinted in the Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue (1929), “Special Prayers” section, page 88. The prayer appears to be an expansion of the prayer for peace at the conclusion of the Amidah. . . . This translation of Rabbi Yehuda Lev Ashlag’s Supplicatory blessings for the Amida was originally published by Adam Zagoria-Moffet at his website. Rav Ashlag’s blessings were transcribed and published from an undated manuscript transcribed by Ohr HaSulam: Mercaz Moreshet Bal HaSulam, here. . . . A prayer-teaching for grounding one’s intention at the onset of the Amidah. . . . A version of the weekday Amiday by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi emphasizing personal prayer, set side-by-side with a Sefaradi text of the Amidah. . . . Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his adaptation of Rabbi Joseph F. Stern’s (East London Synagogue, ca. early 20th c.) adaptation of the “Havinenu,” short form of the Amidah in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . Tags: 3rd century C.E., 40th century A.M., abbreviated alternative formulas, עמידה amidah, devotional interpretation, הביננו havinenu, interpretive translation, Nehardea, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, Prayers in the Jerusalem Talmud, Prayers of Nehardea, Private Amidah, weekday amidah This is Effron Esseiva’s morning Amidah (standing prayer) for weekdays. Effron writes, “It’s called Shmonei Esrei (18) because it used to have eighteen brakhot (blessings). However, it has an additional brakha to bring it to nineteen. This is my interpretation of the Teissa Esrei (19) with abridged kavvanot (intentions).” . . . Rain is important in every society, but particularly so in places like Eretz Yisrael, where rain only falls during a defined portion of the year. It is critical, then, that the “rainy season” in fact be rainy, since no rain can be expected for the remainder of the year. Accordingly, prayers, liturgies, and fast days relating to rain (or the lack thereof) played, and continue to play, a prominent role in Jewish tradition. Our tefillot today contain two major references to rain: “hazkarat geshamim” (better known as “mashiv haruaḥ umorid hagashem“) and “she’eilat geshamim“, found in the weekday Amidah in the 9th berakhah, “birkat hashanim“. There, an alternating liturgy was established: during the dry months, we say “v’tein berakhah“, whereas during the rainy season, we say “v’tein tal umatar livrakhah“, an explicit request for the rain to fall. Consensus emerged around the opinion of Rabban Gamliel in Mishnah Ta’anit 1:3 that “she’eilat geshamim” should begin on the 7th of Marḥeshvan (15 days after Shmini Atzeret, the 22nd of Tishrei). This would give pilgrims from as far away as the Euphrates (a 15-day journey) sufficient time to return home in dry weather. This is current practice in Eretz Yisrael to this day. . . . As powerful a practice as a standing meditation may be, reciting the familiar words of the Amidah with intention can prove to be a major challenge. The words may become rote, and the davvener may wonder if the ancient formulas are even meaningful to them. In this adaptation of the Amidah, Oren Steinitz treats each B’rakhah as a prompt to remind ourselves what we are praying for and shares his own thoughts as an example. Rabbi Steinitz originally wrote the “Memory Amidah” in 2013, during the Davennen Leadership Training Institute cohort 7, and revised it for sharing here through the Open Siddur Project in 2016. . . . A paraliturgical reflection of the weekday Amidah for a shame resilience practice. . . . An opening prayer for divine communication and closeness. . . . An alternative weekday aliyah. . . . A prayer for the ingathering of Jews from the Diaspora to Erets Yisrael. . . . An alternative yehi ratson prayer at the very end of the Amidah. . . . |
![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
