Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.
Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.
The siddur's note: this blessing covers God's love, the gift of the Torah, and belief that God is One and Master of all.
אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם אֲהַבְתָּנוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ חֶמְלָה גְדוֹלָה וִיתֵרָה חָמַלְתָּ עָלֵינוּ.
With everlasting love You have loved us, Hashem our God You have had great and overflowing compassion for us
The Gemara (the record of rabbinic discussion, about 1,500 years old) says the rabbis disagreed on how this blessing opens. Shmuel (a rabbi of the Gemara) said "Ahavah Rabbah." The Sages said "Ahavat Olam," and they quote Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:3: "With an everlasting love I have loved you."
Berakhot 11bאָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ בַּעֲבוּר שִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל וּבַעֲבוּר אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבָּטְחוּ בְךָ וַתְּלַמְּדֵם חֻקֵּי חַיִּים לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם כֵּן תְּחָנֵּנוּ וּתְלַמְּדֵנוּ.
Our Father, our King for the sake of Your great name and for our ancestors who trusted in You and You taught them the laws of life to do Your will with a whole heart so be gracious to us and teach us
Our Father, our King, for the sake of Your great name and for our ancestors who trusted in You, and You taught them the laws of life, to do Your will with a whole heart: in the same way, be gracious to us and teach us.
Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, about 1340) reads "so" as a comparison: as You were gracious to our ancestors and taught them, be gracious to us.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shemaאָבִינוּ אָב הָרַחֲמָן הַמְרַחֵם רַחֵם עָלֵינוּ וְתֵן בְּלִבֵּנוּ בִּינָה לְהָבִין וּלְהַשְׂכִּיל לִשְׁמֹעַ לִלְמוֹד וּלְלַמֵּד לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת וּלְקַיֵּם אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי תַלְמוּד תּוֹרָתֶךָ בְּאַהֲבָה.
Our Father, merciful Father who shows compassion, have compassion on us and put into our hearts understanding to grasp and to think things through to listen, to learn and to teach to keep, to do and to carry out all the words of Your Torah's teaching with love
Our Father, merciful Father, who shows compassion, have compassion on us. Put understanding into our hearts, to grasp and to think things through, to listen, to learn and to teach, to keep, to do and to carry out all the words of Your Torah's teaching, with love.
וְהָאֵר עֵינֵינוּ בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ וְדַבֵּק לִבֵּנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ וְיַחֵד לְבָבֵנוּ לְאַהֲבָה וּלְיִרְאָה אֶת שְׁמֶךָ,
Light up our eyes with Your Torah and make our hearts cling to Your commandments and make our heart one to love and to be in awe of Your name
Light up our eyes with Your Torah, make our hearts cling to Your commandments, and make our heart one, to love and to be in awe of Your name.
Abudarham points to Tehillim 86:11: "Make my heart one, to fear Your name." The prayer adds one word to the verse: "to love." It asks for a single, undivided heart that holds both love and awe.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Tehillim 86:11לְמַעַן לֹא נֵבוֹשׁ וְלֹא נִכָּלֵם וְלֹא נִכָּשֵׁל לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד,
so that we will not be ashamed and not disgraced and will not stumble forever and ever
So that we will not be ashamed, disgraced or stumble, forever and ever.
Abudarham ties these words to verses. For "not ashamed" he points to Tehillim 25:2: "My God, in You I trusted, let me not be ashamed." For "not disgraced forever" he points to Yeshayahu 45:17, about Israel being saved: "You will not be ashamed or disgraced for ever and ever." The wording he comments on has only those two verbs. "Stumble" is not in it.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Tehillim 25:2; Yeshayahu 45:17כִּי בְשֵׁם קָדְשְׁךָ הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּוֹרָא בָּטָחְנוּ נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ.
For in the name of Your holiness the great, the mighty and the awesome we have trusted let us rejoice and be glad in Your salvation
For in Your holy name, the great, the mighty and the awesome, we have trusted. Let us rejoice and be glad in Your salvation.
Two verses are folded in here. "We trusted in His holy name" is Tehillim 33:21, with "Your" in place of "His." Abudarham ties "let us rejoice and be glad" to Yeshayahu 25:9, which pictures the day God saves: "We hoped in Him... let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
Tehillim 33:21; Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Yeshayahu 25:9וְרַחֲמֶיךָ יְיָ אֶלֹהֵינוּ וַחֲסָדֶיךָ הָרַבִּים אַל יַעַזְבוּנוּ נֶצַח סֶלָה וָעֶד.
And Your compassion, Hashem our God and Your many kindnesses may they not abandon us forever, Selah, and ever
May Your compassion, Hashem our God, and Your many kindnesses never abandon us, forever, Selah, and ever.
A teaching in the Gemara says that wherever the words netzach, selah or va'ed appear, they mean something with no end, ever. This line has all three. Abudarham quotes that teaching to show that the right wording here is va'ed, not la'ad.
Eruvin 54a; Abudarham, Blessings on the ShemaIf you wear a tallit, this is where many people gather its four tzitzit into the left hand.
מַהֵר וְהָבֵא עָלֵינוּ בְּרָכָה וְשָׁלוֹם מְהֵרָה מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת כָּל הָאָרֶץ וּשְׁבוֹר עוֹל הַגּוֹיִם מֵעַל צַוָּארֵנוּ וְתוֹלִיכֵנוּ מְהֵרָה קוֹמְמִיּוּת לְאַרְצֵנוּ.
Hurry and bring upon us blessing and peace quickly from the four corners of all the earth and break the yoke of the nations off our necks and lead us quickly standing tall to our land
Hurry and bring upon us blessing and peace quickly, from the four corners of all the earth. Break the yoke of the nations off our necks and lead us quickly, standing tall, to our land.
Ateret Zekenim, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, quoting an earlier book called Lechem Min HaShamayim, says that at "the four corners of the earth" you take your four tzitzit (the fringes on a tallit's corners) in your left hand, against your heart, and hold them until "ne'emanim venechmadim la'ad" after the Shema.
Ateret Zekenim on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 60:1כִּי אֵל פּוֹעֵל יְשׁוּעוֹת אָתָּה וּבָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ מִכָּל עַם וְלָשׁוֹן
For You are a God who works salvations and You chose us from all peoples and languages
Abudarham matches each half to a verse. "Works salvations" is Tehillim 74:12: "working salvations in the middle of the earth." "Chose us from all peoples" is Devarim 10:15: God "chose their children after them, you, out of all the peoples."
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Tehillim 74:12; Devarim 10:15וְקֵרַבְתָּנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל סֶלָה בֶּאֱמֶת בְּאַהֲבָה לְהוֹדוֹת לְךָ וּלְיַחֶדְךָ בְּאַהֲבָה וּלְאַהֲבָה אֶת שְׁמֶךָ.
You brought us near, our King, to Your great name Selah, in truth, with love to thank You and to declare You One, with love and to love Your name
You brought us near to Your great name, our King, Selah, in truth and with love, to thank You and declare You One with love, and to love Your name.
Abudarham says "to declare You One and to love Your name" points straight at the Shema, which declares that God is One and tells us to love Hashem. He ties "You brought us near" to Tehillim 73:28: "As for me, being near God is good for me."
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Tehillim 73:28בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ הַבּוֹחֵר בְּעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאַהֲבָה.
Blessed are You, Hashem who chooses His people Israel with love
Abudarham ties "chooses His people Israel with love" to Devarim 7:7-8: God chose Israel because of love, not because it was the biggest nation.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Devarim 7:7-8Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas (Tzfat, 1500s, author of the book Reishit Chochmah) counts thirteen different signs of love packed into this blessing. Among them: pity, the fathers' trust, the Torah, understanding, rescue, being chosen, being brought close. Then he notices the last words, "to proclaim Your oneness and to love," and points out that the Hebrew words for love (ahavah) and one (echad) both add up to 13.
Reishit Chochmah, Gate of Love 7:60This blessing comes right after the one about the lights of the sky. Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, around 1340) passes on the reason given in an earlier book of customs: the sun shines only by day, but the Torah this blessing talks about shines day and night. That book points to Tehillim 19, which goes from the sun straight to "the Torah of Hashem is perfect." Then Abudarham raises a problem: at night this blessing sits next to the blessing about the coming of evening, not the lights.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Tehillim 19The blessing is full of big ideas: God chose us, gave us Torah, and is one. Yet its closing line, "who chooses His people Israel with love," ends on love. Abudarham points this out and gives a reason: telling of God's oneness, if it does not come out of love and a whole heart, does no good at all. The Shema, which is about God's oneness, comes right after.
Abudarham, Blessings on the ShemaMost blessings open with "Baruch atah," Blessed are You. This one does not. The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) and the Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law, by Rabbi Yosef Karo, 1500s) say it is because the blessing comes right after Yotzer Or. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (a law code by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, about 1800) says it simply: the "Baruch" in Yotzer Or is enough for it.
Tur, Orach Chaim 60; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 60:1; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 60:1The prayer says "for the sake of our fathers who trusted in You." Abudarham ties these words to Yirmeyahu 2:2, where God says: "I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me into the wilderness, a land that was not sown." That verse looks back to Israel's early days in the desert. It pictures trust as a whole people following God into a desert with no crops.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema; Yirmeyahu 2:2Shmuel says in the Gemara: if you woke up early to learn, say a Torah blessing before the Shema. After the Shema you do not need one, because this blessing already covered it. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) explains that it holds a "kind of" Torah blessing: the lines asking God to put it in our hearts to learn, teach, keep, do and uphold all the words of the Torah. The Halacha section says when it counts.
Berakhot 11b, with RashiYour siddur opens this blessing with "Ahavat Olam," everlasting love. A friend who davens Ashkenaz (the custom of most Jews with Central and Eastern European roots) opens it with "Ahavah Rabbah," great love. The argument goes back to the Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah, finished about 1,500 years ago).
In Berakhot 11b, Rav Yehudah says in Shmuel's name that the opening is "Ahavah Rabbah." A teaching quoted next ends with the Rabbis saying "Ahavat Olam," and they bring a verse: "I have loved you with an everlasting love."
The Rif (Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi, 1000s), who boiled the Gemara down to its rulings, followed the Rabbis. So did the Rambam (Maimonides, 1100s). Rabbi Yosef Karo, in his Beit Yosef (a commentary on the Tur), adds that this is the custom of Sefarad, meaning Spain. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code from the late 1800s) says it plainly: Ahavah Rabbah is the Ashkenaz text and Ahavat Olam is the Sefard text.
Ashkenaz went another way. The Tur says the Geonim (heads of the Babylonian academies, about 1,000 years ago) settled the argument by splitting it: Ahavah Rabbah in the morning, Ahavat Olam at night, so both opinions are honored. Abudarham says some Geonim did rule that way, and one, Mar Sar Shalom, wrote that his academy had started doing it. But two later Geonim, Rabbeinu Sherira and Rabbeinu Hai, wrote that they did not believe Mar Sar Shalom had said so. In Nehardea, they wrote, nobody ever said Ahavah Rabbah, morning or evening. Abudarham adds that in his day the custom had followed them.
One more twist. In the Gemara as we print it, the teaching says "do not say Ahavat Olam, say Ahavah Rabbah." In the Rif, and in Abudarham's quote of the same teaching, it says the opposite. The Aruch HaShulchan notices this and says he is surprised the earlier law authorities never mention our Gemara's wording.
So neither siddur is a mistake. Each community kept the opening its own teachers ruled for, and even the Gemara's text has come down in two versions.
Berakhot 11b,Tur and Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 60,Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 60:1,Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema,Rambam, Laws of Reading the Shema 1:6The first two words are a quote. In Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:3, God says: "I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I drew you on with kindness." The verse before it says: "The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness." In the verse, the line comes right after a description of survivors, not people having an easy time.
The Tanach itself admits that people doubt it. In Malachi 1:2, God says, "I have loved you," and the people answer, "How have You loved us?"
Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) points to that exchange in his commentary on the blessings of the Shema. He is not soft on the question. He calls the people who ask "How have You loved us?" complainers of little faith, in every generation and most of all in his own, which he saw as a time when redemption was starting to show. His answer is the end of the same verse in Malachi, "I loved Yaakov," and then the words of this prayer.
What does love look like inside the prayer? Abudarham ties the word "pity" in the first line to Malachi 3:17, where God says He will have pity on those who revere Him "as a man has pity on his son who serves him." He says pity is placed next to love because Yeshayahu 63:9 puts them together: "In His love and in His pity He redeemed them." In these verses, love is shown by what God does: a parent's pity and rescue. After its opening lines, the prayer asks for teaching and understanding.
The prayer does not argue the case. It states the claim in its first words and then asks.
Yirmeyahu 31:2-3,Malachi 1:2 and 3:17,Yeshayahu 63:9,Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema,Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, Blessings of the Shema 6Read quickly, this line can sound like a wish for other nations to lose. The sources suggest looking at where the words come from.
Abudarham says two phrases in this part, "break the yoke" and "lead us upright," come from one verse, Vayikra 26:13: "I am Hashem your God, who took you out of Egypt, from being slaves to them. I broke the bars of your yoke and led you upright." There the yoke is slavery. Rashi, quoting the Sifra (an early collection of teachings on Vayikra), says the word for "upright" means standing tall.
The Gemara and the Rambam describe what the hope is. In Sanhedrin 99a, Shmuel says the only difference between this world and the days of Mashiach is "subjugation to kingdoms." The Rambam repeats it. A few paragraphs later he says what the sages and prophets did not long for: to have power over the whole world, to rule over other nations, or to be honored by the peoples. They longed to be free for Torah and its wisdom, with no oppressor and no one to interrupt.
The Rambam is not commenting on this prayer. But he says what the freedom was for.
These sources do not settle every question a modern reader might have about the line. In them, the yoke is rule over Israel by others, and the hope is freedom. The Rambam says outright that the hope is not to dominate anyone. If this line still bothers you, it is a fair one to bring to a teacher.
Abudarham, Blessings on the Shema,Vayikra 26:13, with Rashi,Sanhedrin 99a,Rambam, Laws of Kings and Wars 12:2 and 12:4Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.
Rabbi Shlomo of Radomsk (a Chassidic rebbe in Poland who died in 1866) starts with a problem. Love lives in the heart, so it cannot be forced. Yet the Torah commands us to love God, and that command comes in the Shema, right after this blessing. His answer is the blessing itself. God shows love to us first and lights it up in our hearts. When people take to heart that God wants them, the love comes back, like a face looking back at you from water. That, he says, is the command "you shall love."
האהב' תלוי' בלב ולא תבא בהכרח... כאשר ישים האדם אל לבו אהבת הש"י אליו... ישוב לאהבתו
Tiferet Shlomo, on the Torah, Parashat YitroRabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (a great Chassidic master who died in 1809) asks about the words "great and extra mercy." How can God's mercy be extra? He starts from the Gemara: whoever shows mercy to people gets mercy from heaven, so our own mercy pulls mercy down. But even when we do nothing to stir it, God shows mercy anyway. That, he says, is the "extra": mercy we did nothing to bring.
ואפילו בעת שאין אנו יכולים בכח מעשינו לעורר רחמנותו... וזהו חמלה גדולה ויתירה חמלת עלינו
Kedushat Levi, Likutim 146The blessing before this one is about angels, who stand in awe of God. The Tanya (the main book of Chabad Chassidut, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who died in 1812) reads the two blessings as a pair. Out of love, God set aside all the heavenly hosts and let His presence rest on us, so that He is called "our God." That is why the mercy is "extra": it goes beyond the closeness to God that the angels have. And what He chose, the Tanya adds, is our physical selves, bodies no different in their physical side from anyone else's.
שֶׁהִנִּיחַ כָּל צְבָא מַעְלָה הַקְּדוֹשִׁים, וְהִשְׁרָה שְׁכִינָתוֹ עָלֵינוּ
Tanya, Likutei Amarim, chapter 49The prayer asks God to "make our hearts one." Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseczno Rebbe, a Chassidic leader in Poland who was killed in the Holocaust in 1943) says the first step toward a single heart is not being one person all day and a different person when you pray and learn, in thought, speech and action. He adds that this does not mean staying out of ordinary life. It means giving everything you do one aim: serving God. Now read "make our hearts one" again.
ראשית היחוד הוא שלא יהיה אחר בכל היום, ואחר בשעת התורה ותפלה
Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Derekh HaMelekh, Pesach 8:12The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.
Many people gather them. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) says the custom is to gather the tzitzit at "from the four corners of the earth," and some take just the two in front. It shows love for the mitzvah but is not required. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says to hold them in your left hand near your heart during Shema. The Arizal (the Tzfat kabbalist, 1500s), quoted by the Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary), has you gather all four from "maher vehave aleinu."
Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 60:9; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 24:2; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 24:8The Shulchan Aruch rules "Ahavat Olam," and Nusach Sefard has it that way. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) adds that some say "Ahavah Rabbah," the custom in all of Ashkenaz. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary) says "Ahavat Olam" is said morning and evening, following the Rif and the Rambam, and quotes the Arizal (the Tzfat kabbalist, 1500s) that it is not proper to say "Ahavah Rabbah." The first hard question tells the history.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 60:1; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 60:1The Shulchan Aruch (59:4) says not to answer Amen right after the closing words, since it interrupts before Shema. But the Rema records the custom in 61:3: if you finish before the leader, you answer Amen after him. The Mishnah Berurah (a central law commentary, around 1900) says later authorities follow this, but it is better to finish together so you need no Amen. Praying alone, some say "El melekh ne'eman," whose first letters spell Amen.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 59:4; Rema, Orach Chaim 61:3; Mishnah Berurah 59:25It can. Shmuel says (Berakhot 11b) that once you have said Shema, this blessing has already covered the Torah blessing. The Shulchan Aruch rules that Ahavat Olam covers it if you learn right after, with no break, and the Mishnah Berurah says even a little learning is enough. The Shulchan Aruch doubts that saying Shema counts as learning, and the Mishnah Berurah cites the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, 1700s) proving it does not. So the Shulchan Aruch says to take care to say Birkot HaTorah first.
Berakhot 11b; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 47:7-8; Mishnah Berurah 47:15-17Shema still counts, the Shulchan Aruch rules, but you have not done the blessings. Go back and say them without Shema. The same paragraph adds that it seems better to go back and say Shema again with them. Order is more forgiving: if you said this blessing before Yotzer Or (the blessing before it), you have fulfilled the blessings. The Mishnah Berurah adds that, after the fact, the same holds if Emet Veyatziv (the blessing after Shema) came before Shema, or if the blessings came after it, even after the Amidah.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 60:2-3; Mishnah Berurah 60:5Some books say yes. The Aruch HaShulchan says it is proper to remember Sinai at "and You chose us," Amalek (the nation that attacked Israel after the Exodus) at "Your great Name," and, at "to thank You," that the mouth was made for thanks, not gossip. The Magen Avraham (a 1600s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) records these from kabbalistic writings. But the Aruch HaShulchan adds that the Gemara and the law authorities never require them. Only remembering the Exodus is a daily duty.
Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 60:3-4; Magen Avraham 60:2תניא נמי הכי אין אומרים אהבת עולם אלא אהבה רבה ורבנן אמרי אהבת עולם וכן הוא אומר ואהבת עולם אהבתיך על כן משכתיך חסד
It was also taught: one does not say "Ahavat Olam," only "Ahavah Rabbah." The Rabbis say "Ahavat Olam," and so it says: "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I drew you on with kindness."
ואהבת עולם אהבתיך על כן משכתיך חסד
I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I drew you on with kindness.
ופסק רב אלפס כרבנן והגאונים הכריעו לומר שחרית אהבה רבה וערבית אהבת עולם לצאת ידי שניהם וכן נוהגין באשכנז ואינה פותחת בברוך לפי שהיא סמוכה לברכת יוצר אור
The Rif ruled like the Rabbis. The Geonim decided to say "Ahavah Rabbah" in the morning and "Ahavat Olam" at night, to satisfy both, and so they do in Ashkenaz. It does not open with "Baruch" because it comes right after the Yotzer Or blessing.
אבל הרמב"ם כתב בשניהם אהבת עולם וכדברי הרי"ף וכן מנהג בני ספרד
But the Rambam wrote "Ahavat Olam" in both, like the Rif, and that is also the custom of the people of Sefarad.
ברכה שניה היא "אהבה רבה" לפי נוסח אשכנז, ו"אהבת עולם" לפי נוסח ספרד.
The second blessing is "Ahavah Rabbah" in the Ashkenaz text and "Ahavat Olam" in the Sefard text.
שיש בה מעין ברכת התורה ותן בלבנו ללמוד וללמד לשמור ולעשות ולקיים את כל דברי תלמוד תורתך
It has a kind of Torah blessing in it: "put in our hearts to learn and to teach, to keep and to do and to uphold all the words of the study of Your Torah."
ומסיים הברכה על האהבה לא על הייחוד מפני שספור הייחוד אם לא יהיה מאהבה ומלב שלם לא יועיל כלום
The blessing ends on love, not on oneness, because telling of the oneness, if it is not out of love and a whole heart, will not help at all.
והם י"ג מיני אהבה שנזכרו בברכה זו כמנין אהב"ה
These are thirteen kinds of love mentioned in this blessing, matching the number value of the word ahavah.
אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים מהית להם עבדים ואשבר מטת עלכם ואולך אתכם קוממיות
Who took you out of Egypt, from being slaves to them. I broke the bars of your yoke and led you upright.
לא נתאוו החכמים והנביאים ימות המשיח לא כדי שישלטו על כל העולם ולא כדי שירדו בעכו"ם ולא כדי שינשאו אותם העמים... אלא כדי שיהיו פנויין בתורה וחכמתה ולא יהיה להם נוגש ומבטל
The sages and prophets did not long for the days of Mashiach to rule the whole world, to rule over other nations, or to be honored by the peoples... but to be free for Torah and its wisdom, with no oppressor and no one to interrupt.
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