Avot: our ancestors

The first line is from David's worst moment

Before the first blessing you say, "My Master, open my lips, and my mouth will tell Your praise." It is a verse from Tehillim 51, a psalm whose heading says David wrote it when the prophet Natan came to him after he had been with Bathsheva.

Why that line is not a break

In the morning the Amidah comes right after the blessing that ends "Who redeemed Israel," and the Gemara wants no gap between them (the Emet Veyatziv page tells that story). So is saying "My Master, open my lips" a break? The Gemara says no. Since the Sages made this verse part of the prayer, the whole Amidah counts as one long prayer.

Three men, three daily prayers

Rabbi Yosi son of Rabbi Chanina taught that the three fathers named in this blessing set up the three daily prayers. Avraham began the morning prayer, Yitzchak the afternoon prayer, and Yaakov the evening prayer, and the Gemara brings a verse for each. The Parashat HaTamid page tells the other view, that the prayers match the daily Temple offerings, and how the Gemara keeps both.

Three names, three promises

Resh Lakish (Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, a teacher quoted in the Gemara) matched the three names to God's promise to Avraham in Bereishit 12:2. "I will make you a great nation" is "God of Avraham." "I will bless you" is "God of Yitzchak." "I will make your name great" is "God of Yaakov." The last promise, "and you will be a blessing," is why the blessing ends with Avraham alone: "Shield of Avraham." Abudarham adds the verse behind "shield": "Fear not, Avram, I am a shield to you" (Bereishit 15:1).

Who put the Amidah in order?

The Gemara gives two answers. One says Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen blessings in order for Rabban Gamliel (the leader of the Sages) in Yavneh, after the Temple was destroyed. The other says 120 elders, including several prophets, set them up. The Gemara joins them: the elders arranged them, the people forgot, and Shimon HaPakuli restored them. Then Rabban Gamliel asked who could compose a blessing against heretics, and Shmuel HaKatan did. So an Amidah called "Eighteen" has nineteen.

Why three steps forward

The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, a leading 16th-century authority) quotes a medieval book, the Rokeach: take three steps forward before you pray, since the Tanach has three "approaches" in prayer: Avraham, Yehuda and Eliyahu.

Each one found God on his own

The prayer says "God of Avraham, God of Yitzchak, and God of Yaakov," and repeats "God of" every time. A teaching quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Chassidut, who lived in the 1700s) says that is on purpose. A person should not lean on how his father searched for God. Yitzchak and Yaakov did not simply lean on Avraham's conclusions. Each one looked for God for himself. Now read the three names again.

לכן אנו אומרים אלהי בכל אחד ואחד

Why the blessing ends with Avraham

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) tells that King David asked God why no blessing ends with his name, the way this one ends with Avraham's: "Shield of Avraham," from the verse "I am your shield." God answers that He had already tested and refined Avraham, and Avraham stands before Him completely steady. David replies: then test me too. The Zohar adds that after his sin with Bathsheva, David remembered what he had asked for.

אברהם כבר בחנתיו וצרפתיו, וקאים קמאי בקיומא שלים

The first line opens a door

The Zohar Chadash (a collection of added Zohar teachings) pictures a person's prayer stuck outside a palace. Forces of judgment, stirred up by sins, have shut the gates. The palace is called Adonai. When those forces are cleared away, God opens the palace and the prayer goes in. That, it says, is what "Adonai, open my lips" means: open the palace. It also points out that the Hebrew word for palace, heichal, adds up to the same number as Adonai (65).

אדני שפתי תפתח, פתח היכ"ל דאיהו אדנ"י בחושבן

The ancestors' merit is not used up

The Gemara (Shabbat 55a) records a view that the merit of the ancestors tamah, a word that usually means "ran out." Kedushat Levi (by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, a leading early Chassidic rebbe) quotes this as starting when the Temple was destroyed, and reads the word the other way, as tamim, "whole." While the Temple stood, he says, there was some accusation against that merit. Since God poured out His anger on the Temple's wood and stones, when He remembers the ancestors' merit, nothing accuses it at all. It is remembered whole.

כשהקדוש ברוך הוא זוכר זכות אבות אין בו שום קטרוג כלל

God gives with the love Avraham gave

The Sefat Emet (Torah teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the Rebbe of Ger in Poland, who died in 1905) says the great thing about Avraham's ten tests is that he passed them all with love, and his love never moved by a hair. God repays measure for measure. So when God helps Israel because of the ancestors, even when we have not earned it, He helps with love. That, he says, is the meaning of the line "brings a redeemer to their children's children for the sake of His Name, with love."

ולא זז אהבתו כמלא נימא מכל הנסיונות

What do I do with my feet, and what are the three steps?

Feet side by side, as if they were one foot (Gemara, Berakhot 10b). The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) explains: to be like the angels, whose feet look like one foot (Yechezkel 1:7). The Mishnah Berurah (a standard commentary, c. 1900) says it still counts if you did not. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) cites a view: take three steps forward first, as a way of drawing near. The Mishnah Berurah and the Aruch HaShulchan (another code, c. 1900) say the custom is to step back first, then forward.

Which way do I face, and where do I look?

Toward the Land of Israel, and in your mind toward Jerusalem and the Temple site. In Israel, face Jerusalem. If you are west of Israel, face east (Mishnah Berurah). If you cannot tell the direction, the Shulchan Aruch says to aim your heart at God in heaven. For your eyes, the Gemara (Yevamot 105b) says: eyes down, heart up. The Shulchan Aruch adds: bend your head a little and picture yourself standing in the Temple. Some say to close your eyes, but praying from a siddur with open eyes is fine (Mishnah Berurah).

At Mincha or Musaf, may I say a verse before the Amidah?

Yes, before "Adonai sefatai tiftach," but not after it. The Mishnah Berurah explains: the Sages fixed that verse as part of the Amidah, so it already counts as prayer, and nothing may come between it and the rest. In the morning you may not: the Shulchan Aruch permits no verse at all between the blessing that ends Ga'al Yisrael and the Amidah except this one.

Do I say the Amidah silently or out loud?

Quietly, but not only in your head. The Shulchan Aruch: move your lips so you hear yourself, but do not raise your voice. Some, following the Zohar, say not even to hear yourself. The Mishnah Berurah prefers hearing yourself; quieter still counts. Alone, you may be louder if you cannot concentrate otherwise. In a group you may not, since it disturbs others. The hard question on whispering tells where the rule comes from.

What if my mind wanders during the Amidah?

The Shulchan Aruch says to focus in every blessing, and if you cannot, at least in the first one, Avot. One version of the Gemara (Berakhot 34b) says the same. The Shulchan Aruch adds that if you did not focus on Avot, you pray again. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) says that today we do not repeat, since a second try would probably wander too. The Mishnah Berurah says to make a habit of focusing at least on the closing line of each blessing, and to know what the words of Avot and Modim mean.

When do I bow, and how far?

Four times: at the start and end of this blessing, and of Modim. The Shulchan Aruch says not to bow at the start or end of any other blessing. The Gemara (Berakhot 12a) and the Shulchan Aruch: bow at the word Baruch, stand up straight at Hashem's Name. The Mishnah Berurah: bend your knees at Baruch, bow at Atah until the bones of your spine bulge, and rise at the Name. The Shulchan Aruch says not to bow so low that your mouth is at your belt. If you are old or sick, bending your head is enough.

It is the Ten Days of Repentance and I forgot Zochreinu. Do I go back?

The Shulchan Aruch says you do not go back to the start of the Amidah. The Rema adds: even if you are still standing in the Amidah, as long as you finished that blessing. The Mishnah Berurah explains that finished means you said Hashem's Name in the closing line. Before that, you may go back and add it. The reason: the Geonim (heads of the Babylonian academies after the Gemara) added this line, so skipping it does not ruin the blessing. The Rema says the same for Uchtov (Modim) and Uvsefer (Sim Shalom).