Amida

Koren Shalem Siddur·PDF 174-175·Amidah

עמידה

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קדושת השם

HOLINESS

Hebrew

אַתָּה קָדוֹשׁ וְשִׁמְךָ קָדוֹשׁ, וּקְדוֹשִׁים בְּכָל יוֹם יְהַלְלוּךָ סֶּלָה, כִּי אֵל מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל וְקָדוֹשׁ אָתָּה. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה, הָאֵל הַקָּדוֹשׁ. בְּעֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְשׁוּבָה: הַמֶּלֶךְ הַקָּדוֹשׁ.

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 and Yom Kippur: the holy King. If forgotten, repeat the Amida.

Sephardi

Atah kadosh v'shimcha kadosh, u'kedoshim b'chol yom yehalelucha selah, ki El Melech gadol v'kadosh Atah. Baruch Atah Adonai, ha'El hakadosh. Ba'aseret y'mei teshuvah: HaMelech hakadosh.

דעת

KNOWLEDGE

Hebrew

אַתָּה חוֹנֵן לְאָדָם דַּעַת וּמְלַמֵּד לֶאֱנוֹשׁ בִּינָה. חָנֵּנוּ מֵאִתְּךָ חָכְמָה בִּינָה וָדָעַת. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה, חוֹנֵן הַדָּעַת.

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.

Sephardi

Atah chonen l'adam da'at u'melamed le'enosh binah. Choneinu me'itcha chochmah binah vada'at. Baruch Atah Adonai, chonen hada'at.

תשובה

REPENTANCE

Hebrew

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

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.

Sephardi

Hashiveinu Avinu l'Toratecha, v'karveinu Malkeinu la'avodatecha, v'hachazireinu bitshuvah shleimah lefanecha. Baruch Atah Adonai, harotzeh bitshuvah.

// Commentary

קְדוּשַׁת הַשֵּׁם 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.

דַּעַת 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”).

תְּשׁוּבָה 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.