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Shabbat - Morning Service

The Amidah

t'filat ha-amidah

תְּפִלַּת הָעֲמִידָה

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

Using Patriarchs:

Hebrew

מֶלֶךְ עוֹזֵר וּמוֹשִׁיעַ וּמָגֵן.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה,
מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם.

Israeli

melech ozer umoshia umagen.
baruch atah Adonai,
magen Avraham.

English

The sovereign who helps and saves and shields is You. Barukh atah Adonai, Shield of Abraham.

Using Patriarchs and Matriarchs:

Hebrew

מֶלֶךְ עוֹזֵר וּפוֹקֵד
וּמוֹשִׁיעַ וּמָגֵן.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה,
מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם וּפוֹקֵד שָׂרָה.

Israeli

melech ozer ufoked
umoshia umagen.
baruch atah Adonai,
magen Avraham ufoked Sarah.

English

The sovereign who helps and guards, saves and shields is You. Barukh atah Adonai, Shield of Abraham and Guardian of Sarah.

Second B’rakhah: Saving Care of God

Hebrew

אַתָּה גִּבּוֹר לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָי,
מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים אַתָּה,
רַב לְהוֹשִׁיעַ.

Israeli

atah gibor le-olam Adonai,
mechayeh metim atah,
rav lehoshia.

English

Ever mighty are You, Adonai—life You give to the dead—Your saving power is great:

Until Pesah from Sh’mini Atzeret:

Hebrew

מַשִּׁיב הָרוּחַ וּמוֹרִיד הַגֶּשֶׁם.

Israeli

mashiv haruach umorid hageshem.

English

The wind You cause to blow and the rain to fall,

[Some add, from Pesah until Sh’mini Atzeret:

Hebrew

מוֹרִיד הַטָּל.

Israeli

morid hatal.

English

The dew You cause to fall,]

Hebrew

מְכַלְכֵּל חַיִּים בְּחֶסֶד,
מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים בְּרַחֲמִים רַבִּים,
סוֹמֵךְ נוֹפְלִים, וְרוֹפֵא חוֹלִים, וּמַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים,
וּמְקַיֵּם אֱמוּנָתוֹ לִישֵׁנֵי עָפָר.
מִי כָמוֹךָ בַּעַל גְּבוּרוֹת וּמִי דּוֹמֶה לָּךְ,
מֶלֶךְ מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה וּמַצְמִיחַ יְשׁוּעָה.

Israeli

mechalkel chayim b'chesed,
mechayeh metim b'rachamim rabim,
somech noflim, verofei cholim, umatir asurim,
umekayem emunato lishenei afar.
mi chamocha ba-al g'vurot umi domeh lach,
melech memit umechayeh umatzmiach yeshu-ah.

English

Through kindness and love You sustain the living, and give life to the dead with great mercy, the falling You support, the sick You heal, the chains of the bound You loosen, and with those who sleep in the dust You keep faith. Who, Almighty, is like You, and who can be compared to You? The sovereign who brings death and life, causing redemption to flourish.

We add on Shabbat Shuvah:

Hebrew

מִי כָמוֹךָ אָב הָרַחֲמִים, זוֹכֵר יְצוּרָיו לְחַיִּים בְּרַחֲמִים.

Israeli

mi chamocha av harachamim, zocher yetzurav lechayim b'rachamim.

English

Who is like You, compassion’s source, who with compassion remembers Your creatures for life?

Hebrew

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים.

Israeli

vene-eman atah lehachayot metim.
baruch atah Adonai, mechayeh hametim.

English

Faithful are You in bringing life to the dead. Barukh atah Adonai, who gives life to the dead.

Continue on page 162 with “Holy are You,” when the Amidah is recited silently.

Commentary

SHIELD OF ABRAHAM מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם. This phrase is derived from Genesis 15:1, the first time we hear Abraham speak to God. There Abraham—the paragon of faith—expresses to God his fears, skepticism, and insecurity about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Authentic prayer may encompass feelings of doubt as well as faith, challenge and frustration as well as praise and gratitude. Some who include the matriarchs at the beginning of this prayer conclude with this ending, so as not to change the received wording of the conclusion of a b’rakhah.

GUARDIAN OF SARAH וּפוֹקֵד שָׂרָה. Or: “the one who remembered Sarah” (after Genesis 21:1). We, who stand here today, are the fruit of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah.

SUPPORT THE FALLING סוֹמֵךְ נוֹפְלִים. After Psalm 145:14. For centuries, human rulers have defined “power” as the ability to exert control over others, often through the threat of physical injury. Quite differently, God’s power is described here as manifested as ḥesed, love and generosity, especially to those who are most vulnerable. The other attributes describing God in this paragraph are also taken from biblical texts: Exodus 15:26 (“heal the sick”), Psalm 146:7 (“loosen the chains of the bound”), and 1 Samuel 2:6 (“brings death and life”).

GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים. Over the millennia, many Jewish perspectives on the afterlife have been proposed. Many sages (including Saadiah Gaon, 10th century, and Maimonides, 12th century) caution against speculation about the specific implications of the doctrine of bodily resurrection of the dead. They understand it to be an articulation of God’s supreme power: God cares even for the dead. Some moderns understand that the lives of those who died before us are a part of the stream of life, continuing to affect us, though we can never know precisely how.

God of Our Ancestors The God we know seems so much greater, so much vaster, than the God of former generations. The universe we live in is so much more known and charted; we measure distances in light years and send persons and machines coursing through space. The lenses through which we see the small as well as the vast have forever changed our way of viewing the world; the pace at which we seek and find knowledge has changed our way of learning. To say “our God and God of our ancestors” is to assert that the One of whom we speak in such an age is the same One as the God of small-town Jewish scholars and shopkeepers of a hundred years ago. This is no small admission, no small act of humbling, for such as ourselves. —ARTHUR GREEN …

Life to the Dead A Ḥasidic master taught: There are parts of ourselves that have become deadened. When we pray this blessing we should ask ourselves, “What part of myself needs to be awakened? What should I be concerned with, that I have forgotten?”