Eliezer prays by the well and finds Ribka. Abraham, according to our Sages, was the first to establish Shacharit, the morning prayer. And in this week’s Parasha we find Yitschak praying Mincha in the afternoon. Our Parasha invites us to think about Tefila.
So this is the right moment to begin a new section in Halakha of the Day: understanding the Amida, step by step, one berakha a week.
We begin today with an introduction.
WHAT IS THE AMIDA
The Amida is the most important prayer. Our Sages call it simply “Tefila,” as if to say: the prayer par excellence.
We say it three times a day: morning, afternoon, and evening. It was composed by the Men of the Great Assembly, Anshe Keneset haGedola, in the fifth century BCE. Its words come from the Torah, the Prophets, and the book of Tehilim.
The Amida consists of nineteen berakhot (blessings), each devoted to a specific theme. Next week, we will discuss its structure and the meaning of its order.
Today we focus on something that comes before all that: how to prepare ourselves to begin the Amida.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
There are three fundamental things to keep in mind:
KOBED ROSH (seriousness). We should not begin the Amida with our mind somewhere else, distracted or frivolous. We have to become aware of the extraordinary privilege of standing before God (דע לפני מי אתה עומד). It is like having a private audience with a King or a President. In that moment, nothing should occupy our mind except the One before whom we stand.
ARTICULATION. The words of the Amida must be pronounced, not merely thought. They are articulated in a low voice, in lachash: quiet enough that the person next to us cannot hear them, but loud enough that we can hear ourselves.
KAVANA (attention). The word comes from lekhaven: to aim, to direct. It means consciously directing our attention to the words we are saying, concentrating on their meaning and not letting our thoughts wander.
HASHEM, OPEN MY LIPS
Before beginning the Amida, our Sages instructed us to say a verse from Tehilim (51:17):
ה׳ שְׂפָתַ֣י תִּפְתָּ֑ח וּ֝פִ֗י יַגִּ֥יד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ׃
“HaShem, open my lips, so that my mouth may declare Your praise.”
To understand why they chose this verse in particular, we have to see it in context. Mizmor 51 is the psalm of Teshuba that David haMelekh composed after the episode with Bat Sheba. David is consumed by guilt and shame. He confesses his sin, asks to be purified, asks for a new heart. He prays with a broken heart. And then, near the end of the psalm, something strange happens. The King of Israel, the most eloquent poet the Jewish people ever had, runs out of words! The flow of the psalm stops. As if David, feeling so close to HaShem, suddenly could not find a way to go on speaking to Him. And what he says is: HaShem, I want to keep praying, but as I come closer to You I realize how small I am and how infinite You are. I need Your help to stand before You and not collapse: HaShem! Open my lips, so that I can speak to You.
David, overwhelmed by the sense of God’s closeness, asks for God’s help in order to pray to God.
This extraordinary verse prepares us to understand that the Amida is not just another prayer. In every other Tefila we speak “about” God; in the Amida we speak “to” God. If we take that seriously, if we picture ourselves, as we say the Amida, literally standing before God in a private audience, we will feel what David felt: an overwhelming sensation, a deep humility, and even a reverential fear that should leave us speechless. That is why we say this verse right before the first berakha. It is not a simple introduction. It invites us to become aware of what is about to happen. It helps us see that we are about to address God personally, and it inspires in us the humility, the awe, and the reverence that such an encounter with the Almighty should awaken.
Rabbi Yosef Bitton
