Amida

Amidah

עמידה

Visible layers

קדושת השם

HOLINESS

Hebrew

אַתָּה קָדוֹשׁ וְשִׁמְךָ קָדוֹשׁ
וּקְדוֹשִׁים בְּכָל יוֹם יְהַלְלוּךָ סֶּלָה
כִּי אֵל מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל וְקָדוֹשׁ אָתָּה.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, הָאֵל הַקָּדוֹשׁ. / בעשרת ימי תשובה: הַמֶּלֶךְ הַקָּדוֹשׁ. /

Sephardi

Atah kadosh veshimcha kadosh
Ukedoshim bechol yom yehalelucha selah
Ki Eil melech gadol vekadosh atah.
Baruch ata Adonai, ha'El hakadosh. (Be'aseret yemei teshuvah: hamelech hakadosh.)

English

You are holy and Your name is holy, and holy ones praise You daily, Selah! For You, God, are a great and holy King. Blessed are You, LORD, the holy God. / Between Rosh HaShana & Yom Kippur: the holy King./

If forgotten, repeat the Amida.

דעת

KNOWLEDGE

Hebrew

אַתָּה חוֹנֵן לְאָדָם דַּעַת
וּמְלַמֵּד לֶאֱנוֹשׁ בִּינָה.
חָנֵּנוּ מֵאִתְּךָ חָכְמָה בִּינָה וָדַעַת.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, חוֹנֵן הַדָּעַת.

Sephardi

Atah chonen le'adam da'at
Umelamed le'enosh binah.
Chaneinu me'itcha chochmah binah vadaat.
Baruch atah Adonai, chonen hadaat.

English

You grace humanity with knowledge and teach mortals understanding. Grace us with the wisdom, understanding and knowledge that come from You. Blessed are You, LORD, who graciously grants knowledge.

תשובה

REPENTANCE

Hebrew

הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ
וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ
וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶיךָ.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, הָרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָה.

Sephardi

Hashiveinu Avinu leToratecha
Vekarveinu malkeinu la'avodatecha
Vehachazireinu biteshuvah shelemah lefanecha.
Baruch atah Adonai, harotzeh biteshuvah.

English

Bring us back, our Father, to Your Torah. Draw us near, our King, to Your service. Lead us back to You in perfect repentance. Blessed are You, LORD, who desires repentance.

Commentary

דעת Blessing 4: Knowledge. This is the first of the "request" blessings. King Solomon, when asked by God to name the thing he most desired (1 Kings 3:5-15), asked for wisdom; so do we. Knowledge is prior to emotion, because "the heart is deceitful above all things" (Jer. 17:9). Untutored emotion can be misdirected, even destructive.

This paragraph replicates the structure of the Amida as a whole. It begins with praise ("You grace humanity with knowledge"), proceeds to request ("Grace us with the...knowledge"), and ends in acknowledgment ("Who graciously grants knowledge").

תשובה Blessing 5: Repentance. Knowledge and understanding allow us to see where we have drifted from the right path of life. So we ask God to help us find the way back to repentance.

קדושת השם Blessing 3: Holiness. The threefold reference to holiness ("You are holy and Your name is holy, and holy ones praise You daily") mirrors the threefold declaration of the angels in Isaiah's vision: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts." Kadosh, "holy," means "set apart, distinct." When used of God, it refers to His transcendence, the fact that He stands outside nature, creating and sustaining it. When used of Israel, it means that we too are summoned to stand apart from the idols of the age, living instead in close and continuous proximity to God.

The first three paragraphs of the Amida (excluding the Kedusha), form a composite unit. The first speaks of the beginning of covenantal time in the days of the patriarchs. The second is about the end of time: resurrection. The third is about holiness, beyond space and time.