Amida

Amidah

עמידה

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על הצדיקים

THE RIGHTEOUS

Hebrew

עַל הַצַּדִּיקִים וְעַל הַחֲסִידִים
וְעַל זִקְנֵי שְׁאֵרִית עַמְּךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל
וְעַל פְּלֵיטַת בֵּית סוֹפְרֵיהֶם
וְעַל גֵּרֵי הַצֶּדֶק, וְעָלֵינוּ
יֶהֱמוּ נָא רַחֲמֶיךָ יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ
וְתֵן שָׂכָר טוֹב לְכָל הַבּוֹטְחִים בְּשִׁמְךָ בֶּאֱמֶת
וְשִׂים חֶלְקֵנוּ עִמָּהֶם, וּלְעוֹלָם לֹא נֵבוֹשׁ, כִּי בְךָ בָּטָחְנוּ
וְעַל חַסְדְּךָ הַגָּדוֹל בֶּאֱמֶת נִשְׁעָנְנוּ.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, מִשְׁעָן וּמִבְטָח לַצַּדִּיקִים.

Sephardi

Al hatzadikim ve'al hachasidim
ve'al ziknei she'erit amecha beit Yisrael
ve'al pleitat beit sofreihem
ve'al geirei hatzedek, ve'aleinu
yehemu na rachamecha Adonai Eloheinu
veten sachar tov lechol habotchim beshimcha be'emet
vesim chelkeinu imahem, ule'olam lo nevosh, ki vecha batachnu
ve'al chasdecha hagadol be'emet nish'anenu.
Baruch atah Adonai, mish'an umivtach latzadikim.

English

To the righteous, the pious, the elders of the remnant of Your people the house of Israel, the survivors among their scholars, the righteous converts, and to us, may Your compassion be aroused, please, LORD our God. Grant a good reward to all who sincerely trust in Your name. Set our lot with them, so that we may never be ashamed, for in You we trust, and upon Your great loving-kindness we truly depend. Blessed are You, LORD, who is the support and trust of the righteous.

בנין ירושלים

REBUILDING JERUSALEM

Hebrew

וְלִירוּשָׁלַיִם עִירְךָ בְּרַחֲמִים תָּשׁוּב
וְתִשְׁכֹּן בְּתוֹכָהּ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ
וּבְנֵה אוֹתָהּ בְּקָרוֹב בְּיָמֵינוּ בִּנְיַן עוֹלָם
וְכִסֵּא דָוִד עַבְדְּךָ מְהֵרָה לְתוֹכָהּ תָּכִין.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, בּוֹנֵה יְרוּשָׁלָיִם.

Sephardi

Velirushalayim ircha berachamim tashuv
vetishkon betochah ka'asher dibarta
uvene otah bekarov beyameinu binyan olam
vechise David avdecha meheirah letochah tachin.
Baruch atah Adonai, boneh Yerushalayim.

English

To Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You dwell in it as You promised. May You rebuild it rapidly in our days as an everlasting structure, and install within it soon the throne of David, Your servant. Blessed are You, LORD, who builds Jerusalem.

Commentary

… righteous, the pious, the elders, scholars and converts. פְּלֵיטַת בֵּית סוֹפְרֵיהֶם The survivors among their scholars is a reference to those Jews who endured religious persecution under the Greeks and Romans, and later, those who survived the Crusades and those who lived through the Holocaust. Judaism lost many of its greatest scholars as martyrs.

בנין ירושלים Blessing 14: Rebuilding Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the home of the Jewish soul, the place to which we turn in prayer and for whose restoration Jews prayed in every generation. The book of Psalms has left us an indelible description of how Jews felt when the city fell to the Babylonians in the sixth century BCE: "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion... May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy" (Psalm 137). Jerusalem is mentioned more than 600 times in the Hebrew Bible.

… tarianism that split the Jewish world during the late Second Temple period. There were Jews in the Hellenistic age who turned against their own people. Faith (emuna) in Judaism involves the idea of loyalty - to a people and its heritage. This prayer is a protest against disloyalty.

The Talmud (Berakhot 28b) says that, to formulate this prayer, Rabban Gamliel turned to Shmuel HaKatan. Rabbi Kook pointed out that Shmuel HaKatan was known for his attachment to the principle, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls" (Avot 4:24). Only a person who deeply loved his fellow human beings could be entrusted with the task of constructing this prayer, which must be free of animosity and schadenfreude.

על הצדיקים Blessing 13: The Righteous. After mentioning those who harm the Jewish people, we go on to describe those who endow it with greatness: the …