Avinu Malkeinu (part 1)

Two lines from Rabbi Akiva, a long list in the siddur

Rabbi Akiva (a great sage of about 1,900 years ago) is the name tied to this prayer. But the Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) quotes only two lines from him, in a story about a fast day when people prayed for rain. A rabbi quoted in the Kol Bo (a medieval collection of laws and customs) even says Avinu Malkeinu is not anywhere in the whole Gemara. The siddur's note says Rabbi Akiva set it up. We could not find who put the full list together.

Said after the Amidah because Rabbi Akiva spoke after

Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, about 1340) explains why this is said right after the Amidah. His reason is the story in Taanit: Rabbi Eliezer led the prayer on a fast day and was not answered, then Rabbi Akiva stepped up after him and said these words. So we say them after the prayer, as Rabbi Akiva did.

A pause that changes the meaning

One line asks God to "tear up the evil of our sentence." The Taz (Rabbi David HaLevi, Poland, died 1667) says "the evil of the sentence" must be said in one breath. Pause after "evil," and the next word can sound like a command, "decree." That is not what we are asking. He says cantors who pause there must be corrected. The Mishnah Berurah (a central law commentary, around 1900) repeats his ruling.

Which lines depend on the day

The siddur marks two lines by the day. "Renew for us a good year" is for the Ten Days of Repentance. "Bless us with a good year" is for public fast days. The siddur does not say why they differ. For the Ten Days, the Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) says to say it "evening and morning," and the Mateh Efrayim (a law guide from the early 1800s) reads "evening" as after Mincha, the afternoon prayer.

The cow wants to nurse more than the calf wants to drink

Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, a kabbalist in Tzfat in the 1500s, says it is right to call God "Avinu Malkeinu" and to call ourselves His children. A parent loves the child he brought into the world. He quotes the Gemara (the Talmud): more than the calf wants to drink, the cow wants to nurse. So when good seems held back, he writes, the reason is not on God's side. God always gives, like a father who loves his child. It is the child who may not be ready to receive. Now read "Avinu" again.

יותר משהעגל רוצה לינק הפרה רוצה להניק

Servant or child? Two ways to keep a mitzvah

The Zohar says that people who keep mitzvot in order to get a reward are on the servant side. People who keep them with no thought of reward are the children of the King. Then the Zohar ties this to the line "if as children, if as servants," which we say on Rosh Hashanah, and reads both as good: children, as in "You are children of Hashem your God," and servants, as in "the children of Israel are servants to Me." Now say "Avinu Malkeinu" and ask which one is talking.

אינון דעבדין פקודין שלא על מנת לקבל פרס, אינון בנוי דמלכא

Why a king can forgive

The Yismach Moshe (Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, a Chassidic rebbe in Hungary in the early 1800s) asks why "we have sinned before You" is followed by "we have no king but You." A rule in the Gemara says a king who forgives an insult to his own honor has not really erased it. The honor of a throne belongs to every king who was and will be. But God's kingship is His own, forever, so He is free to forgive.

מלך שמחל על כבודו אין כבודו מחול

How dare we say "Father"?

Rabbi Yechezkel Panet, a Chassidic rabbi of the early 1800s, asks the question out loud. As we cry "Avinu Malkeinu, we have sinned," how can we say "Father"? If He is a father, where is the honor we give Him? How can we say "King," when we lack the fear of Him? Just before, he links doing the "do" mitzvot to a child honoring a parent, and holding back from sin out of fear of the King to a servant before a master.

והאיך נעיז פנינו לומר אבינו אם אב הוא איה כבודו או לומר מלכנו אם אדוננו איה מוראו

Rabbi Akiva had nothing to lean on

In the Gemara, on a fast day, Rabbi Eliezer led the prayer for rain with 24 blessings. No rain came. Rabbi Akiva said "Avinu Malkeinu" and rain fell. A voice from heaven said it was because Rabbi Akiva was forgiving. Rabbi de Vidas, in his book Reshit Chokhmah, quotes Rabbi Yosef Yaavetz (a rabbi exiled from Spain in 1492) with another reason, tied to the Mishnah's advice to make prayer a plea, not a routine. Rabbi Eliezer had his ancestors' merit and trusted it. Rabbi Akiva came from converts, had no such merit, and thought of himself as nothing. So he was answered.

רבי עקיבא לא היה לו זכות אבות כי היה בן גרים ולא מחשיב עצמו לכלום, לכך נענה

On which days do I say it?

On public fast days and in the Ten Days of Repentance, which run from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. That is what this siddur's instruction says. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi custom to the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) writes that it is said evening and morning. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) explains that this means Shacharit and Mincha, the morning and afternoon prayers.

Do I say it on Shabbat?

Not according to this siddur's instruction. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) gives the reason: you do not ask for your needs on Shabbat. It adds that even Mincha on the Friday of Shabbat Shuvah (the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) skips it. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) says many who pray in the Sephardic rite, which is not the same as this siddur's Nusach Sefard, do say it on Shabbat in the Ten Days.

What if Tachanun is skipped that day, like at a bris?

You still say Avinu Malkeinu. The Rema rules this for the Ten Days, even when there is a bris (a circumcision) and no Tachanun. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (the law code of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Chabad Rebbe) says the same. Peninei Halakhah adds the same for a groom. Mateh Efrayim (a book of customs from about 200 years ago) says it is said even in a mourner's house.

Do I say the "we have sinned" lines on Rosh Hashanah?

Custom differs. The Rema says to say all of it in order, and the Mishnah Berurah agrees. Peninei Halakhah explains: these lines describe our general state and are not a formal confession. The Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo, who wrote the Shulchan Aruch) and the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, 1500s) skip lines that mention sin, since there is no confession on Rosh Hashanah. So does Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi in his siddur. The Mateh Efrayim adds that those who say them do not beat the chest at "chatanu lefanecha."

What about Erev Yom Kippur, and Yom Kippur on Shabbat?

On Erev Yom Kippur the Rema says his town did not say it, unless Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, when it is said that morning. The Mishnah Berurah adds that at Mincha it is never said. Peninei Halakhah says Sephardic custom is to say it on Erev Yom Kippur in every case. At Mincha of a Yom Kippur that falls on Shabbat, the Shulchan Aruch says to say it. The Rema says not in these lands, meaning Ashkenazi ones. The Mishnah Berurah explains the first view: it is the hour the verdict is sealed, so "if not now, when?"

Do I stand? What if I am davening alone?

Peninei Halakhah says it is customary to say it standing, because it is so important, and many open the ark. It also rules that someone who prays alone may say it. That follows the Be'er Heitev (a short commentary on the Shulchan Aruch from the 1700s). The Kaf HaChaim lists the same ruling for each day of the Ten Days.

Are any words said in a special way?

Three things, all from the Mishnah Berurah. Kaleh, "put an end to," is said with a patach under the kaf and a tzeire under the lamed, as printed here. Ro'a gezar dineinu, "the evil of our sentence," is said with no pause between ro'a and gezar, so that God tears up only the evil part of the decree. It says to object when cantors pause there in their tune. And ask first about the lighter wrong, then the heavier: "our mistakes and our rebellions," the reverse of the order printed here.