Tefillah 033

11:
After the cantor has invited the congregation to join in public worship (Bar^ekhu and its response) the service proceeds to the benedictions that precede the recital of Sh^ema. The Shema itself, as we shall see in due course, consists of three discrete paragraphs that are quotations from the Torah. The sages instituted that the recital of the Shema itself should be preceded by benedictions. It is a well-known fact that usually when we perform one of the commandments of the Torah we recite a benediction praising God "who has sanctified us with His commandments, one of which is the command to…" where we supply the appropriate command. Whether the recitation of Shema was ever preceded by such a benediction is a moot point among scholars and it is most unlikely that it will ever be resolved. One thing, however, is clear: today there is no such benediction preceding the Shema, and such has been the case for very many centuries – millennia, in fact.

12:
Instead of such a benediction the sages instituted benedictions of a different kind. The mishnah (quoted above) stipulates that in the morning service two benedictions must precede the recitation of the Shema and it must be followed by one benediction. Only then can the service proceed to the next section.

13:
The general content of each of these benedictions has also been established by precedent set by the sages:

• The first benediction before the Shema is to refer to the passage from night to day at God's behest. (Of course, in the evening the reverse is the case and the benediction refers to the change from day to night.)
• The second benediction is concerned with God's love for Israel as expressed in giving us the Torah and requiring us to live by its stipulations.
• The third benediction, the one that comes after the recitation of the Shema, is concerned with God as Redeemer in general and as our Redeemer from Egyptian bondage in particular.

14:
Not only did the sages stipulate the number of benedictions in the section of the service and their general content, but they also stipulated their liturgical format. What they did not do is to stipulate the exact wording of each benediction.

15:
As regards the first of these three benedictions the sages require that it be 'long' and that it be 'concluded'. Both of these designations are technical terms and are not to be understood literally. A 'long' benediction is one that starts with the words Barukh attah Adonai etc and, after the intervening passage which contains the specifics of the benediction, it concludes with the repetition of the phrase Barukh attah Adonai followed by its specific panegyric. The other two benedictions are both 'short' and 'concluded': that is to say that they do not have the opening phrase Barukh attah Adonai but they do conclude with Barukh attah Adonai followed by its specific panegyric.

16:
Before we go into details it might be useful to outline these benedictions as they appear in the prayerbooks. In siddur Sim Shalom the first benediction starts on page 107 and reaches its conclusion on page 110. The second benediction is found on page 111, and the third benediction starts on page 113 and concludes on page 114, just before the Amidah. In Siddur Va'ani Tefillati the first benediction starts on page 333 and concludes on page 338, at the top. The second benediction is the remainder of page 338, and the third benediction starts on page 340 and concludes on page 342.

To be continued.

In Tefillah 030 I wrote: Some congregations … have the custom of adding Psalm 130 after Yishtabaĥ on the Shabbat after Rosh ha-Shanah, Shabbat Shuvah.

Dan Werlin writes:

I have seen the custom of reciting Psalm 130, but not just for Shabbat Shuvah, for the entire Aseret Yemei Teshuvah [ten penitential days]. The inclusion of Psalm 130 for all ten days is mentioned in the Mateh Efraim (584:9 and 619:37) and the Magein Avraham (n. 2 to Orech Chayim 54). Are there different traditions?

I respond:

Those congregations that have the custom of reciting Psalm 130 on Shabbat Shuvah also recite it on the weekdays that separate Yom Kippur from Rosh ha-Shanah. Already in a response to a different query in last week's shiur I pointed out that since this series of shiurim is based upon the Shabbat morning service I have limited myself to what happens in that service. I fear that if I did not do so the material would become cumbersome and confusing.