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עָלֵינוּ

Aleinu

Closes every service. Said standing, with a bow.

Daven with it Read it here

Also said at Mincha and Arvit.

Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.

At a glance

Tradition says: Yehoshua wrote it when he took Jericho
Hidden inside: Yehoshua's earlier name, Hoshea, backward
On Rosh Hashanah: It opens the section about God as King
In numbers: Aleinu and "and standing" both add up to 166

The words

Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.

After the last prayer of the service. Say Aleinu standing:
עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל לָתֵת גְּדֻלָּה לְיוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית
It is our duty to praise the Master of everything to give greatness to the Shaper of creation
What it means
Aleinu means "on us": it is up to us to praise. The Kol Bo (a medieval collection of laws and customs) says to say it standing, and notes that Aleinu adds up to 166, the same as the Hebrew for "and standing." Abudarham (a Spanish commentator on the prayers, 1300s) reads the opening as "it is our obligation to praise."
Kol Bo 16; Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
שֶׁלֺּא עָשָׂנוּ כְּגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת וְלֺא שָׂמָנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה
that He did not make us like the nations of the lands and did not place us like the families of the earth
What it means
Abudarham says the verb is "made" because he finds no verse about God "making" any other nation, only Israel, as in "Israel rejoices in its Maker" (Tehillim 149:2). The prayer says what it is contrasting two lines later, in the words "for they bow down."
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Tehillim 149:2
שֶׁלֺּא שָׂם חֶלְקֵנוּ כָּהֶם וְגוֹרָלֵנוּ כְּכָל הֲמוֹנָם.
that He did not assign our portion like theirs and our lot like all their crowds
What it means
that He did not set our portion like theirs, or our lot like all their crowds.
Abudarham gives two sources for this line. The first is Yirmeyahu (the prophet Jeremiah) 10:16: "Not like these is the portion of Yaakov." The second: our portion is to keep God's words, as in "Hashem is my portion; I said I would keep Your words" (Tehillim 119:57). That, he says, is not their portion.
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Yirmeyahu 10:16; Tehillim 119:57
שֶׁהֵם מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים לָהֶבֶל וָרִיק וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים אֶל אֵל לֹא יוֹשִׁיעַ,
for they bow down to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god that cannot save
What it means
The wording comes from the Prophets. "Vanity and emptiness" is from Yeshayahu (the prophet Isaiah) 30:7, about Egypt's useless help, and "a god that cannot save" is Yeshayahu 45:20.
Yeshayahu 30:7 and 45:20
Pause briefly, then bow as you say "va'anachnu kor'im" (we bow):
וַאֲנַחְנוּ כּוֹרְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמוֹדִים לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא,
And we bend the knee, bow low, and give thanks before the King of the kings of kings the Holy One, blessed is He
What it means
"King of kings" was a title for human emperors (Ezra 7:12, Daniel 2:37). The Mishnah (the first written collection of Jewish law) gives God the title "King of the kings of kings," with one more "kings" added (Pirkei Avot 3:1).
Ezra 7:12; Daniel 2:37; Pirkei Avot 3:1
שֶׁהוּא נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם וְיוֹסֵד אָרֶץ, וּמוֹשַׁב יְקָרוֹ בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל, וּשְׁכִינַת עֻזּוֹ בְּגָבְהֵי מְרוֹמִים,
who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and whose glorious seat is in the heavens above and the Presence of whose might is in the highest heights
What it means
who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, whose glorious seat is in the heavens above, and the Presence of whose might is in the highest heights.
These phrases come from verses. "Stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth" appears in Zecharyah (the prophet Zechariah) 12:1 and in Yeshayahu (the prophet Isaiah) 51:13. Abudarham links "His glorious seat in the heavens" to Tehillim 103:19: "Hashem set His throne in the heavens."
Zecharyah 12:1; Yeshayahu 51:13; Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
הוּא אֱלֺהֵינוּ אֵין עוֹד, אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּנוּ אֶפֶס זוּלָתוֹ
He is our God, there is no other Our King is true nothing exists besides Him
What it means
The Kol Bo says it heard that Yehoshua (Joshua, who led Israel into the Land after Moshe) wrote Aleinu when he captured Jericho, and signed it backward with his early name, Hoshea. The first letters of "Aleinu," "she-lo sam," "va'anachnu kor'im" and "Hu Eloheinu" are ayin, shin, vav, heh: Hoshea in reverse.
Kol Bo 16; Tashbetz Katan 253
כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶךָ
as it is written in His Torah You shall know today and bring it back to your heart
What it means
The first paragraph talks about God ("He is our God," "His Torah"). The second turns and talks to God ("we hope in You," "Your Torah"). The Kol Bo notes that the first paragraph is in the third person, and says "in His Torah" is the right wording here.
Kol Bo 16
כִּי יְיָ הוּא הָאֱלֺהִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת אֵין עוֹד.
that Hashem is God in the heavens above and on the earth below there is no other
The second paragraph:
עַל כֵּן נְקַוֶּה לְךָ יְיָ אֱלֺהֵינוּ לִרְאוֹת מְהֵרָה בְּתִפְאֶרֶת עֻזֶּךָ
Therefore we hope in You Hashem our God to see soon the glory of Your might
What it means
Abudarham reads "therefore" as pointing back to the first paragraph: because God brought us close to serve Him, we hope for His rescue.
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
לְהַעֲבִיר גִּלּוּלִים מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהָאֱלִילִים כָּרוֹת יִכָּרֵתוּן
to remove idols from the earth and the false gods will be completely cut off
What it means
Abudarham ties these lines to the prophets. "Remove idols from the earth" follows Zecharyah 13:2, "I will cut off the names of the idols from the earth." "The false gods will be cut off" follows Yeshayahu 2:18, "the false gods will vanish completely."
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Zecharyah 13:2; Yeshayahu 2:18
לְתַקֵּן עוֹלָם בְּמַלְכוּת שַׁדַּי וְכָל בְּנֵי בָשָׂר יִקְרְאוּ בִשְׁמֶךָ,
to fix the world under the kingship of Shaddai and all humanity will call on Your name
What it means
Abudarham says that when idolatry is cut off, God's Presence returns to the whole world and the world is repaired. He ties "all humanity will call on Your name" to Tzefaniah (the prophet Zephaniah) 3:9: "I will turn the peoples to a clear language, so they all call in Hashem's name and serve Him shoulder to shoulder."
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Tzefaniah 3:9
לְהַפְנוֹת אֵלֶיךָ כָּל רִשְׁעֵי אָרֶץ,
to turn to You all the wicked of the earth
What it means
Abudarham ties these words to Zecharyah 8:22: "Many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek Hashem."
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Zecharyah 8:22
יַכִּירוּ וְיֵדְעוּ כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל כִּי לְךָ תִכְרַע כָּל בֶּרֶךְ תִּשָּׁבַע כָּל לָשׁוֹן.
will recognize and know all who live in the world that to You every knee will bend every tongue will swear loyalty
What it means
All who live in the world will recognize and know that every knee will bend to You, and every tongue will swear loyalty.
Yeshayahu 45 holds these ideas within a few verses. Verse 20 has "a god that cannot save," verse 22 has "Turn to Me, all the ends of the earth, for there is no other," and verse 23 has "to Me every knee will bend, every tongue will swear." In that chapter, God speaks to the survivors of the nations.
Yeshayahu 45:20-23
לְפָנֶיךָ יְיָ אֱלֺהֵינוּ יִכְרְעוּ וְיִפֹּלוּ, וְלִכְבוֹד שִׁמְךָ יְקָר יִתֵּנוּ,
In front of You, Hashem our God they will kneel and fall down and to the honor of Your name they will give glory
וִיקַבְּלוּ כֻלָּם אֶת עֹל מַלְכוּתֶךָ, וְתִמְלֺךְ עֲלֵיהֶם מְהֵרָה לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד,
and they will all accept the yoke of Your kingship and You will rule over them soon forever and ever
What it means
"The yoke of the kingdom" is the Sages' language. In the Mishnah, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says the first paragraph of Shema comes before the second so that a person first takes on the yoke of heaven's kingship, and then the yoke of the commandments. Abudarham notes that Aleinu borrows the phrase.
Mishnah Berakhot 2:2; Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
כִּי הַמַּלְכוּת שֶׁלְּךָ הִיא וּלְעוֹלְמֵי עַד תִּמְלוֹךְ בְּכָבוֹד,
For the kingdom is Yours and for all the ages of eternity You will rule in glory
כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ יְיָ יִמְלֺךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד.
as it is written in Your Torah Hashem will reign forever and ever
What it means
On Rosh Hashanah, Aleinu opens the Musaf section about God as King, called Malchuyot, and ten verses about kingship follow. This verse is the first of them.
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Shibbolei HaLeket 290
וְנֶאֱמַר וְהָיָה יְיָ לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְיָ אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד.
And it is said Hashem will be King over all the earth on that day Hashem will be one and His name one
What it means
The Gemara asks why this verse says Hashem will be one "on that day," when He is one already. The Hashem Melech prayer, earlier in the morning, quotes the same verse and gives the Gemara's two answers.
Pesachim 50a
Some add these three verses after Aleinu. This siddur prints them:
אַל תִּירָא מִפַּחַד פִּתְאֹם וּמִשֹּׁאַת רְשָׁעִים כִּי תָבֹא
Do not fear sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes
What it means
Esther Rabbah (a midrash, the rabbis' teachings on Megillat Esther) says that after Haman's decree was sealed, Mordechai met three schoolchildren, and these were their three verses. The Taz (a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) said them daily while the chazzan said Sim Shalom, and says the people of Provence did too.
Esther Rabbah 7:13; Turei Zahav on Orach Chaim 132:2
עֻצוּ עֵצָה וְתֻפָר דַּבְּרוּ דָבָר וְלֹא יָקוּם כִּי עִמָּנוּ אֵל.
Make your plan and it will be broken speak your word and it will not stand for God is with us
וְעַד זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא וְעַד שֵׂיבָה אֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל.
Even to old age I am the same and even to gray hair I will carry you
What it means
These are God's words. In Yeshayahu 46:3 God speaks to the people "carried by Me from the womb," and then promises to keep carrying them, to old age and to gray hair.
Yeshayahu 46:3-4
אֲנִי עָשִׂיתִי וַאֲנִי אֶשָּׂא וַאֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל וַאֲמַלֵּט.
I have made you and I will lift you and I will carry you and I will rescue you

How to say it

Say Aleinu standing. Pause briefly after "lo yoshia," then bow as you say "va'anachnu kor'im" (we bow). The pause keeps "we bow" from sounding like part of the line about idols. The bow is so you do not look like you deny God.

Rema, Orach Chaim 132:2; Tur, Orach Chaim 133; Mishnah Berurah 132:9

The story

Who wrote it?

Tradition says Yehoshua (Joshua), Moshe's student who led the Israelites into the Land, wrote it. An answer from the Geonim (the heads of the Babylonian yeshivot in the early Middle Ages) says he set it up when Israel entered the Land, and that what the prayer says points to it. The Kol Bo (a medieval book of Jewish law and customs) writes, "I heard" that he set it up when he conquered Jericho. Neither names an older source, so this is a tradition, but an old one.

Teshuvot HaGeonim, Shaarei Teshuva 43; Kol Bo 16

His name is hidden inside

Moshe renamed his student: Hoshea became Yehoshua (Bamidbar 13:16). The Kol Bo says Yehoshua signed the old name into Aleinu, backward. Take the first letter of Aleinu, of "she'lo sam chelkenu," of "va'anachnu," and of "hu Eloheinu." Read them from the last to the first and they spell Hoshea.

Kol Bo 16; Bamidbar 13:16

Why we stand, and a number

The Kol Bo says to say Aleinu standing, and points to two things. A book it calls Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer says there is great praise in Aleinu. And the word Aleinu has a number value of 166, the same as the Hebrew word for "and standing," u'me'omad. Hebrew letters double as numbers, and matches like this are an old way of hinting at a rule.

Kol Bo 16

A prayer built from verses

Aleinu means "it is on us." Abudarham (a Spanish scholar who explained the prayers in the 1300s) reads the opening as "it is a duty on us to praise the Master of all." Then he goes phrase by phrase and names a verse behind most of them. "We bow and kneel" echoes Tehillim 95:6: "Come, let us bow and kneel before Hashem our Maker." "Master of all" echoes "Master of all the earth."

Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Tehillim 95:6

It has a home on Rosh Hashanah

On Rosh Hashanah, the Musaf prayer has a section called Malchuyot, "kingship," with ten verses about God as King. Aleinu comes right before those verses, and that is where Abudarham explains it. Rabbi Yosef Karo, in his Beit Yosef (a commentary on the Tur, an earlier law code), writes in passing that there, Aleinu was set up only to lead into the verses: first we praise God, then we read them. The Kol Bo already says to say it after every service.

Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf; Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 591; Kol Bo 16

Someone is listening

The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) says to say Aleinu with awe and fear. Its reason: all the hosts of heaven are listening, and God stands with His heavenly entourage, and they all answer, "Happy is the people for whom this is so" (Tehillim 144:15).

Mishnah Berurah 132:8; Tehillim 144:15

Three verses children told Mordechai

The last paragraph is three verses. A Midrash (a collection of rabbinic teachings and stories) on Esther says Mordechai met three children coming from school. He asked one for his verse, and each gave one: "Do not fear sudden terror," "Make your plan, and it will be broken... for God is with us," and "Even to old age I am the same." Haman, his order against the Jews just sealed, was following. The Turei Zahav (a 1600s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) says people in Provence said them daily.

Esther Rabbah 7:13; Turei Zahav, Orach Chaim 132:2

Hard questions

Does "fix the world" mean I should be volunteering?

You may know "tikkun olam" as a phrase for charity and social action. In Aleinu it ends a hope: "to fix the world under the kingship of Shaddai." What does the prayer say fixes the world?

Look at the words just before. The hope is to remove idols from the earth. Abudarham takes it step by step. Once impurity is cut off from the world, God's Presence returns to all of it, and then the world is fixed. On this reading the fixing is a result. It happens when the thing that damages the world is gone and God is present again.

The same root shows up in another famous place. The Mishnah (the core text of the Oral Torah) says witnesses sign a divorce document "for the good order of the world," mipnei tikkun ha'olam. There it is a practical rule, not a prayer about the end of history.

On Abudarham's reading, then, this sentence is not about charity or volunteering. Whether the phrase can stretch that far is a bigger conversation, and these sources do not settle it.

One more word is unusual: Shaddai. Abudarham asks why, and quotes the Midrash Tanchuma, where God tells Moshe that His names depend on what He is doing. He is called Elokim when He judges, and Tzevaot when He fights the wicked. He is called Shaddai when He holds a person's sins in suspense. Abudarham says that is what God does from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur: He waits to see if people come back. Without that wait, he writes, no one would ever be redeemed.

Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf,Mishnah Gittin 4:3,Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 20

Why does everyone stop in the middle of a sentence and then bow?

Read the middle of Aleinu in one breath: they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god that cannot save, "and we bend the knee, bow low, and give thanks before the King of the kings of kings." In Hebrew, the end of the first half runs straight into "va'anachnu kor'im," "and we bow."

The Tur (a law code from the early 1300s) says to pause briefly before "and we bow," so it will not look as if those words go back to what came before. The Rema (a Polish rabbi whose notes on the Shulchan Aruch record Ashkenazi custom) repeats the rule and puts the pause right after "a god that cannot save." The Tashbetz Katan (a medieval book of customs) puts the worry plainly: it should not look as if "and we bow" is about the group it just described.

Then comes the bow itself. The Magen Avraham (a major commentary on the Shulchan Aruch from the 1600s) says to bend and bow "so that he does not look like a denier." The Mishnah Berurah says the same: you must bow so that you do not look like a denier. The sources care about two things: how the words sound and how the body looks.

A small detail shows how carefully the words were weighed. The Kol Bo says that someone who says "aval anachnu" ("but we") instead of "va'anachnu" ("and we") is making a mistake. The Tashbetz Katan says why: the letter vav of "va'anachnu" is part of Yehoshua's hidden name. Abudarham's text goes the other way. It reads "but we," and he says the common "and we" is not right, for the same worry as the pause: it could sound as if it goes back to "a god that cannot save." Our siddur says "va'anachnu."

So the pause and the bow do two jobs. The pause protects what the ear hears. The bow protects what the eye sees.

Tur, Orach Chaim 133,Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:2, Rema,Tashbetz Katan 253,Magen Avraham 132:2,Mishnah Berurah 132:9,Kol Bo 16,Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf

Sparks

Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.

Chassidut

The first word means "it is on us"

Sod Yesharim (by Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, a Chassidic rebbe in 1800s Poland) says Yehoshua set this praise when Israel entered the Land. In the desert, clouds of glory surrounded them; nothing was hidden. In the Land, God was hidden inside plowing and planting. So it opens with "aleinu" ("on us"). Rav Hai Gaon (a Babylonian sage, around 1000) tied it to the Gemara: saying "on me" is like loading something on your shoulder. At first it is a load. Later you see that the Ark carries those who carry it, and so does every mitzvah.

מאן דאמר עלי כמאן דטעין אכתפיה דמי... נושא הארון את נושאיו וכן הוא באמת כל המצות שהמה נושאין את נושאיהם

Sod Yesharim, Rosh Hashanah 44; Megillah 8a

Zohar

You already hold the answer in your heart

This prayer quotes: "You shall know today, and bring it back to your heart, that Hashem is God." The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) asks why the verse is built backward. It should say "know that Hashem is God," and then "bring it back to your heart." It also asks why the word is "levavcha" and not the shorter "libcha." Its answer: look at your own two hearts, the good urge and the bad urge. They are mixed into each other, and they are one. Start there, it says, and then you will find that Hashem is God, joined into one in the same way.

לְבָבֶךָ: יֵצֶר טוֹב וְיֵצֶר רָע, דְּאִתְכְּלִיל דָּא בְּדָא, וְאִיהוּ חַד

Zohar, Parashat Vaera

Chassidut

"No other" means no second thing at all

The verse says Hashem is God "in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other." The Tanya (the main book of Chabad Chassidut, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who died in 1812) asks why the verse needs "bring it back to your heart." No one thinks a second god lives in the water under the earth. His answer: you might think the world is a separate thing that God just runs. Next to God, he says, even solid earth is nothing, like the light of the sun inside the sun. Now read "there is no other" again.

הַכֹּל בָּטֵל בִּמְצִיאוּת אֶצְלוֹ, כְּמוֹ אוֹר הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּשֶּׁמֶשׁ

Tanya, Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah, chapters 1 and 6

Chassidut

The word "enough" is inside Shaddai

The prayer hopes "to fix the world under the kingship of Shaddai." Sod Yesharim asks the obvious thing: did God make a world that needs fixing? He starts from the Gemara, which reads Shaddai as "I am the One who said to My world: enough." The world was spreading outward, and God stopped it. Limits look like flaws, because anything limited runs out. But he says the limits are what let creation find its way back to its source. The hope is to see that someday.

שכל אלו הגבולים המסתעפים ממנו המה לא להפסד ולהעדר ח"ו כי אם אדרבה שיהיה בכח הבריאה על ידם לחזור להמקור

Sod Yesharim, Rosh Hashanah 47; Chagigah 12a

Chassidut

Even your climb is carried

The last verse in this prayer says: "I have made you, and I will lift you, and I will carry you, and I will rescue you." The Ohev Yisrael (a Chassidic master of the early 1800s) quotes an old Midrash that reads "lift" as lifting Israel on eagles' wings, and "carry" as bearing with them after the golden calf. His point: while life presses on you, you cannot even want to rise by yourself. God sends a ray of light, only as much as you can bear. So every step up, he says, came from God's help. Now read "I will lift you" again.

ר"ל הנשיאות שנתנשאו בנ"י כפעם בפעם ממדריגה למדריגה הכל הוא מאתי ע"י הסיוע והעזר שלי

Ohev Yisrael, Parashat Yitro

Halacha

The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.

Do I have to stand? Can I take off my tefillin yet?

Stand. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi custom to the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) writes that Aleinu is said standing. The Ben Ish Hai (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, whose book came out in 1898) says the whole prayer is said standing. He adds that the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Kabbalist of Safed) warned not to take off tzitzit and tefillin until the end of "Hashem is one and His name is one."

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:2 (Rema); Ben Ish Hai, Year One, Ki Tisa 18

Do I really have to bow at "we bow"?

Yes. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) says you must bow here, or it looks like you deny what you just said. Eliyah Rabbah (a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, printed in 1757) quotes the Shelah (an early 1600s Torah and Kabbalah author) with the same warning. Bows are not usually added at lines of praise, but the Mishnah Berurah explains that here you say "we bow" about yourself. The Ben Ish Hai describes the bow as lowering the head and a little of the body.

Mishnah Berurah 132:9 and 113:9; Eliyah Rabbah on Orach Chaim 51:8; Ben Ish Hai, Year One, Ki Tisa 18

Why does everyone pause right before "we bow"?

The Rema rules that at "a god that cannot save" you stop for a moment before saying "And we bow." The Arukh HaShulchan (a code of law by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, around 1900) gives the reason: so that "and we bow" is not heard as referring to what came before, God forbid. The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, 1700s) adds: do not say "but we bow." Stop, then begin "And we..."

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:2 (Rema); Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 133:1; Moreh BeEtzba 35

What if I'm not with the group, or an Amen comes up mid-line?

The Ben Ish Hai rules on both. If you are not praying with the group and you hear them say "and we bow," bow with them. It is not required the way bowing at "modim" in the Amidah is. And if a moment to answer Amen comes while you are saying "they bow to vanity and emptiness" or "pray to a god that cannot save," do not answer Amen there.

Ben Ish Hai, Year One, Ki Tisa 18

Is Aleinu only for the morning?

No. The Mishnah Berurah says to say it after all three daily prayers, following the Arizal. The one exception is a large synagogue where Maariv follows Mincha right away; there it is said once, after Maariv. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) quotes the Arizal's teachings that it is said after each prayer, "not like those who say it only in the morning." The next paragraph, Al ken nekaveh, goes with it.

Mishnah Berurah 132:7; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 132:11 and 132:13; Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 133:1

Who says Kaddish after Aleinu? Can I if my parents are alive?

The Rema rules that the mourner's Kaddish follows Aleinu. If no mourner is there, someone with no living parents says it. Someone whose parents are alive may also say it, as long as they do not mind. The Mishnah Berurah adds that the "parents may mind" limit is only for this Kaddish, not for leading the prayers. The Kaf HaChaim notes that in the Arizal's order, this Kaddish comes before Aleinu.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:2 (Rema); Mishnah Berurah 132:11; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 132:17

My friend's siddur words one line differently. Which is right?

The Mishnah Berurah says Aleinu has several versions and you should not change from yours, because each one has a basis. One example is in the Arukh HaShulchan: some say "and the throne of His glory is in the heavens," others say "and the seat of His glory," which is the wording in this siddur. The Chida, a Sephardic authority, rules to say "and the seat of His glory" and not to change it.

Mishnah Berurah 132:7; Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 133:1; Moreh BeEtzba 35

Sources

Show the 10 sources quoted on this page

Teshuvot HaGeonim, Shaarei Teshuva 43
יהושע תקנו כשנכנסו ישראל לארץ שיאמרו זה התיקון להבדיל בין משפחות האדמה וגויי הארצות ושכבר קבלו עליהם אלוה
Yehoshua set it up when Israel entered the Land, so that they would say this prayer to set themselves apart from the families of the earth and the nations of the lands, and to say that they had already accepted God.
Kol Bo 16
שבח גדול יש בעלינו לשבח על כן צריך לאומרו מעומד ותמצא עלינו עולה בגימטריא ומעומד ... ושמעתי שיהושע תקנו בשעה שכבש יריחו וחתם בו שם קטנותו למפרע. ע׳ עלינו. ש׳ שלא שם. ו׳ ואנו כורעים. ה׳ הוא אלהינו
There is great praise in Aleinu, so it must be said standing. You will find that Aleinu adds up to the same number as "and standing." ... I heard that Yehoshua set it up when he conquered Jericho, and that he signed the name of his youth into it, backward. Ayin: Aleinu. Shin: she'lo sam. Vav: va'anachnu kor'im. Hei: hu Eloheinu.
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
שלא שם חלקנו כהם שנאמ' לא כאלה חלק יעקב כי יוצר הכל הוא ועוד כי חלקנו לשמור דברך שנא' חלקי ה' אמרתי לשמור דברך ולא כן חלקם
"That He did not set our portion like theirs," as it says, "Not like these is the portion of Yaakov, for He is the Maker of all." And also because our portion is to keep Your word, as it says, "Hashem is my portion; I said I would keep Your words." Theirs is not so.
Abudarham, Rosh Hashanah Musaf
כיון שתכרת הטומאה מן העולם תחזור השכינה בכל העולם ואז יהיה העולם מתוקן ... ולפי שבראש השנה תולה חטאת האדם עד יום הכפורים לראות אם ישוב אמר כאן שם שדי
Once impurity is cut off from the world, God's Presence returns throughout the world, and then the world is fixed. ... And because on Rosh Hashanah He holds a person's sins in suspense until Yom Kippur, to see whether he will return, He says the name Shaddai here.
Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 591
עלינו לשבח לא נתקן אלא מפני שאנו צריכים לומר פסוקי מלכיות אנו משבחים קודם לשי"ת שהבדילנו מן התועים
Aleinu was set up only because we need to say the verses of Malchuyot. First we praise the Blessed One, who separated us from those who go astray.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:2, Rema
וכשמגיע אל לא יושיע יפסיק מעט קודם שיאמר ואנחנו כורעים
When he reaches "a god that cannot save," he should pause briefly before saying "and we bow."
Yeshayahu 45:20
פליטי הגוים לא ידעו הנשאים את עץ פסלם ומתפללים אל אל לא יושיע
Survivors of the nations: they do not know, those who carry their wooden idols and pray to a god that cannot save.
Esther Rabbah 7:13
שאל לאחד מהם פסק לי פסוקיך אמר לו אל תירא מפחד פתאם ומשאת רשעים כי תבא ... פתח השלישי ואמר ... ועד זקנה אני הוא ועד שיבה אני אסבל
He asked one of them, "Say your verse to me." He said: "Do not fear sudden terror, or the ruin of the wicked when it comes." ... The third began and said: "Even to old age I am the same, and even to gray hair I will carry you."
Mishnah Berurah 132:8
ויש לומר עלינו באימה וביראה כי כל צבא השמים שומעים והקב"ה עומד עם פמליא של מעלה וכולם עונים ואומרים אשרי העם שככה לו
Aleinu should be said with awe and fear, because all the hosts of heaven are listening, and God stands with His heavenly entourage, and they all answer, "Happy is the people for whom this is so."
Mishnah Gittin 4:3
העדים חותמין על הגט מפני תיקון העולם
The witnesses sign the divorce document for the good order of the world.

Every prayer in the siddur

Aleinu

At a glance

The words

How to say it

The story

Who wrote it?

His name is hidden inside

Why we stand, and a number

A prayer built from verses

It has a home on Rosh Hashanah

Someone is listening

Three verses children told Mordechai

Hard questions

Does "fix the world" mean I should be volunteering?

Why does everyone stop in the middle of a sentence and then bow?

Sparks

The first word means "it is on us"

You already hold the answer in your heart

"No other" means no second thing at all

The word "enough" is inside Shaddai

Even your climb is carried

Halacha

Do I have to stand? Can I take off my tefillin yet?

Do I really have to bow at "we bow"?

Why does everyone pause right before "we bow"?

What if I'm not with the group, or an Amen comes up mid-line?

Is Aleinu only for the morning?

Who says Kaddish after Aleinu? Can I if my parents are alive?

My friend's siddur words one line differently. Which is right?

Sources

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