Tefillah 084

33:
We continue our survey of the elements which comprise the conclusion of the Musaf [Additional] service in most congregations. There is no set order for these elements so, for the sake of convenience, we shall follow their order in Siddur Sim Shalom.

34:
The Kaddish which marks the end of the Musaf Amidah is followed by a short piyyut [hymn] whose first words in Hebrew are Eyn Kelohenu [Siddur Sim Shalom page 182, siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 398]. In some congregations this passage is recited daily, but the prevailing custom in Conservative congregations is to recite it only towards the end of the service of Shabbat and festivals.

35:
Modern scholars have detected that the text as it appears in our modern prayerbooks is an altered version. The original order of the verses, which are very simple – almost naive – both in their format and in their content was as follows:

1. Mi Keloheynu: Who is like our God, our Lord, our King, our Saviour?
2. Eyn Keloheynu: There is none like our God, our Lord, our King, our Saviour.
3. Atah Hu Eloheynu: You are our God, our Lord, our King, our Saviour.
4. Barukh Eloheynu: Blessed be our God, our Lord, our King, our Saviour.
5. Nodeh l'Eloheynu: We acknowledge our God, our Lord, our King, our Saviour.

This order is much more logical than the order of the verses at present, which is 2, 1, 5, 4, 3. In the original formulation the verse "there is none like our God" was a natural response to the initial question "Who is like our God?" It seems that the order of the verses was changed at some stage in order to create a kind of messianic acrostic. The decades after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 were replete with messianic expectations and the hymn Lekha Dodi which we sing on Friday nights is just one expression of that pulsing expectation. (It was composed by Shelomo Alkabetz around the year 1550 in the hotbed of messianism that was the group of kabbalists that congregated around Rabbi Isaac Luria.) The initial Hebrew letters of the rearranged verses spell out the cryptic message "Amen is coming". In this context "Amen" is a cryptic reference to the awaited Messiah.

36:
In Siddur Sim Shalom the piyyut is concluded with an extra line which reads: "It is You to whom our ancestors offered incense." This is the traditional addition in most Ashkenazi prayer-books and it forms a fitting preface to what followed. The custom was to conclude the service with 'compulsory' learning from our classic sources. Since one of the last items in the daily ritual in the Bet Mikdash was to burn incense on the small golden altar inside the sanctuary the passage chosen for this learning was a baraita [Keritot 6a] which gives instructions as to how the incense was prepared. This was followed by the concluding passage from Tractate Berakhot [Berahkot 64a]. Both siddur Sim Shalom and siddur Va'ani Tefillati omit the passage concerning the incense, so the inclusion of the line "it is You to whom our ancestors offered incense" at the end of Eyn Keloheynu seems most strange. In Siddur Va'ani Tefillati the line is replaced with that which is current to this day in Sefaradi prayer-books:

This verse was obviously selected by the kabbalists because it could be interpreted as bearing a messianic message. In documents which have been recovered from the Cairo Genizah the hymn Eyn Keloheynu did not have either of these endings.

37:
Both siddur Sim Shalom and siddur Va'ani Tefillati have retained the passage from Tractate Berakhot. Although in both cases it may well have been retained simply in order to afford mourners yet another opportunity to recite Kaddish it certainly is an admirable pssage to 'learn' every Shabbat. The message of the passage is the blessing of peace. [Siddur Sim Shalom page 182, siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 398.] In some congregations at this point mourners may recite a special Kaddish that follows talmudic learning. [See Tefillah 010.] We shall comment on this at a later stage.

38:
The next item to de discussed is Aleynu [Siddur Sim Shalom page 183, Siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 406]. It is now generally accepted that this prayer was originally composed as an introduction to the Malkhuyot section of the Musaf Amidah of Rosh ha-Shanah. [See Rosh ha-Shanah, Chapter 4, Mishnah 5.] From very early times it has been called Teki'ata de-Rav – the Shofar Soundings of Rav – and so it may well be that the prayer was originally composed by the great Babylonian Amora, Rav in mid 3rd century CE. In the middle ages it became quite popular to recite it at the end of other services and in 16th century the great kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, "the Ari" instituted that it should be recited at the end of all services, every day of the year.

39:
Although there is no absolute halakhic requirement to do so it has become customary for the congregation to stand when reciting Aleynu, and in most Conservative congregations it seems to have attracted an importance and a reverence that is not particularly observed in in other rites. The prayer consists of two passages. The first passage is introductory and lauds God as the sole object of our worship. The second paragraph looks forward to an age when the whole of mankind will accept the yoke of God's sovereignty.

40:
The first paragraph of Aleynu has been subjected to much criticism and 'theological modification'. It would, perhaps, be helpful to offer a translation of the first part of this passage as it was originally formulated.

In Christian lands one phrase in this paragraph was subjected to acute disapproval. It was felt that the phrase "For they worship vanity and nothingness and pray to a god that cannot save" was directed at Christianity. Since the prayer was originally composed in 3rd century Babylon – if not earlier – and brings a verbatim quote from Isaiah 45:20 it is clearly a reference to paganism; but such logic went unheeded. In many countries the Jews were forbidden to recite these words and in 1703 in Brandenburg, Germany, by imperial edict police were stationed in the synagogues in order to enforce this prohibition! Thus, in time, in Ashkenazi prayer-books the problematic words were dropped. (They are still printed and recited in Sefaradi congregations and in most modern prayer-books in the State of Israel.)

41:
Most – maybe all – Conservative congregations still omit the 'offending' line. Indeed, in a growing number of congregations it seems that there is discomfort with other phrases in this prayer. People claim that the statement that the Jewish people is different from all other peoples is in our day and age derogatory. A statement such as "God has not made us like the nations of other lands and has not set us like other families of the earth, has not set our lot like theirs nor our destiny like that of all their multitudes" is seen as evincing overweening pride and an unacceptable particularism in an age which tries to celebrate the essential brotherhood of mankind. In such congregations a large part of the first paragraph of Aleynu is either omitted or the problematic phrases replaced with others. One version now reads as follows:

Another suggestion has been to quote directly from the words of the prophet Micah [Micah 4:5] and have the passage read as follows:

I do not know to what extent such emendations have permeated Conservative congregations.

To be continued.

Yehuda Falk asks about a difference between the Shaĥarit and Musaf Amidah. He writes:

In many (but not all) siddurim, the Musaf Amida opens with the pasuk "Ki shem adonai ekra, havu godel leloheynu". The Mincha amidah also opens with this pasuk. Shacharit and Arvit don't. What is the reason for the inclusion of this pasuk in some siddurim (and, for that matter, its exclusion in others)?

I respond:

The verse is an intrusion. It is a quotation from the Torah:

The verse is a pietistic accretion and is in addition to the verse required by Rabbi Yoĥanan [see Tefillah 050]. The reason why it does not appear in all prayerbooks is the simple fact that it is only a pietistic accretion. The reason why it does not precede the Amidah for Shaĥarit and Arvit even in those prayer-books where it does appear in Musaf and Minĥah is because halakhah forbids it since it would interrupt the connection between Ge'ulah and Tefillah: see Tefillah 050, explanation #1. The same ruling applies for Arvit.

After our last shiur I asked people to send me emails with suggestions as to what the next topic of the Halakhah Study Group might be. So far I have not received any suggestions. I hope this does not mean that the Halakhah Study Group will be discontinued. The address for your emails appears in the blurb that follows this and every other shiur.