עמידה | Weekday Affirmations Based on the Amidah, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (2009)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=21107

Date: 2018-08-08

Last Updated: 2025-03-27

Categories: Weekday Amidah

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., affirmations, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Renewal, neo-lurianic, North America

Excerpt: Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included these Weekday Affirmations based on the Amidah, in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	[You can add personal affirmations to the following.]
	I affirm… The power of positive affirmations. I affirm that the Shekhinah Surrounds me, And blesses me. I affirm the light beings Of God’s service, Who support and guide me.
אָבוֹת	Avot I affirm the blessings Of Avraham and Sarah, in my life.
תְּחִיָּה	T’ḥiyah I affirm the sacrifice of Yitsḥak, And God’s power over my life, And death.
קְדֻשָּׁה	Ḳedushah I affirm God’s holiness, And my growth toward it.
שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים	הָ Shover oyvim I place myself Under the protection of the Sefirah of Keter, Which will shield me From all harm and neutralize it.
אַתָּה חוֹנֵן	הַ Atah ḥonen I invoke the inflow of Ḥochmah, To align my intellect With clarity and purpose, To inspiration and realization.
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ	הֵ Hashivenu I invoke the care of Binah, To lead me to God’s heart.
סְלִיחָה	הֶ Seliḥah I invoke the abundance of Ḥesed, To bring me to atonement.
גְּאֻלָּה	הְ Ge’ullah I invoke the power of Gevurah, To see me through trouble And lead me to redemption.
רְפוּאָה	הוֹ Refu’ah I place myself In the compassionate heart Of God’s Tiferet, And affirm the healing, balancing, integrative, Centering light within me.
בְּרָכָה, מָשִׁיחַ, שְׁכִינָה	הִ Brakhah, Mashiaḥ, Shekhinah I support myself On the pillar of Netzaḥ, Channeling to me All manner of Blessing and prosperity, And place it at the disposal Of the redeeming Mashiaḥ, Unfolding to witness The Shekhinah’s residing in Tsiyyon.
קִבּוּץ גָּלוּיוֹת, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, מוֹדִים	הֻ Kibbutz Galuyot, Yerushalayim, Modim I support myself On the pillar of Hōd, Making order in my life, Gathering all the forces From dispersion, And settling them In the blessed Yerushalayim, Where I offer my thanks To God’s Glory.
צְדָקָה וּמִשְּׁפַּת, צַדִּיקִים, שָׁלוֹם	הוּ Tsedakah Umishpat, Tsaddikim, Shalom I base myself On the foundation Of Yesōd, To act righteously and justly. To assist Every righteous effort In the world, And to become Peaceful, To work for peace.
שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה	ה Shome’a T’fillah I affirm that Malkhūt, The Shekhinah, is the one Offering these affirmations in me, And is attracting The flow of blessings, To suffuse my life.
אָמֵן…אָמֵן׃	Amen…Amen.

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Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included these Weekday Affirmations based on the Amidah, in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). I have replaced anglicizations and removed capitalization for divine pronouns. –Aharon N. Varady

One might wonder where the practice of reciting daily affirmations intersects with Jewish prayer. These wikipedia articles on Affirmations (New Age) and especially, Affirmative Prayer provide some information on how affirmations have been used in the context of self-improvement movements, including the bygone Jewish Science movement. Reflecting on the language of these kabbalistic affirmations by Reb Zalman, I feel that he subverts the self-centered formulas typical of positive thinking “prayers” and centers the Jewish values of worldly tikkun through individuals taking upon themselves to act righteously and justly.

Source(s)

Contributor: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
  Bio: Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
  Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalman_Schachter-Shalomi
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/zalman-schachter-shalomi

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