Modeh Ani

Who wrote it?

Nobody knows. The oldest book we have it in is Seder HaYom ("The Order of the Day") by Rabbi Moshe ben Machir, who lived in Ein Zeitun, next to Tzfat. It was printed in Venice in 1599. That makes Modeh Ani about 400 years old, which is young for the siddur. Much of what comes after it is closer to 2,000.

What did people say before that?

The Gemara has its own wake-up prayer: Elokai Neshama, "My God, the soul You put in me is pure." It was said the moment you woke up. But it has God's name in it, and over time the morning blessings moved to after washing hands. Modeh Ani says thank you without the name, so it never has to wait.

An even older "modeh ani"

More than 1,600 years ago, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani taught that in the morning a person should say: "I thank You (modeh ani lefanecha) for bringing me out of darkness into light." The same three opening words.

The last two words are borrowed

They come from Eichah, the book we read on Tisha B'Av about the destruction of Jerusalem. The full line there: "They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness."

Get up like a lion

The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) opens with one instruction: be strong like a lion to get up in the morning. Modeh Ani is the first move. You say it before you have had time to argue with yourself.

Your soul goes up at night

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) teaches that every night, when a person sleeps, the soul goes up above. There it is found owing a great deal. And still, God returns it to the body and makes it new. The Zohar calls that "great faithfulness." Now read the words "with compassion" again.

וְסָלְקָא נִשְׁמָתָא לְעֵילָא, וְאִשְׁתַּכְּחַת בְּכַמָּה חִיּוּבִין קַמֵּי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא. וּמְהֵימְנוּתָא רַבָּה, דְּקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא אַחְזַר לָהּ לְגוּפָא, וּמְחַדֵּשׁ לָהּ.

Faithfulness belongs to the night

The Zohar links two verses. Tehillim says: "Your faithfulness in the nights." Eichah says: "New every morning, great is Your faithfulness." Faithfulness is a night word. It is what you hold on to when you cannot see. Modeh Ani is said at the moment the night ends.

וְאוּקְמוּהָ אֱמוּנָה בַּלַּיְלָה, כְּמָה דְאַתְּ אָמֵר וְאֱמוּנָתֶךָ בַּלֵּילוֹת. וּכְתִיב חֲדָשִׁים לַבְּקָרִים רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ.

Thank you is how you find your "I"

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) explains the word "I" in Modeh Ani. Next to the whole universe, one person is tiny, and it is easy to feel like you do not count. But when you realize that you were given life as a gift, you discover what you are worth. Then, he writes, a person is happy to say "I" without holding back.

אז בא האדם להכיר את גדולת ערכו... ומוצא את עצמו מאושר לומר בפה מלא: אני.

Say it with joy

Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, one of the early Chassidic masters, wrote a short list of daily habits. Number nine: the instant you wake up, say Modeh Ani. Then thank God for your mitzvot in the language you actually speak. And make sure your heart is full of joy when you say it.

ירגיל את עצמו תיכף ומיד כשיתעורר משינתו, יאמר "מודה אני"... ויראה שיהיה לבו מלא שמחה.

Do I have to wash my hands first?

No. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) rules that Modeh Ani needs no hand washing, even if your hands are dirty, because it has none of God's names or titles in it. Seder HaYom (1599), the oldest book we have it in, says the same. The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, 1700s) notes that some say you do need to wash first. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) answers: most authorities say you do not, and that is the view we follow.

What can't I say before I wash my hands?

Words of Torah out loud, and any blessing with God's name. Modeh Ani is the exception. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (the code of law by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Chabad Rebbe) explains: none of God's names is in it, so its words have no holiness of their own. Words of Torah do. Thinking about Torah is allowed. His siddur adds that God's name in a blessing waits until your hands are clean. The Mishnah Berurah agrees about Torah, and adds that it also waits for the blessings over the Torah.

When exactly do I say it?

Right away. The sources word it a little differently. Seder HaYom: "when he gets up, he should say right away." The Mishnah Berurah: "right when he gets up." The Shulchan Aruch HaRav: "as soon as he wakes from his sleep." The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short guide to daily Jewish law from the 1860s) is the most specific: "while still on his bed." The instruction in this siddur puts the two together: as soon as you wake up, still in bed. None of these sources says what to do if you only remember later.

Do I have to jump out of bed the second I wake up?

No. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) writes: get up quickly as soon as you wake. The Mishnah Berurah comments: not literally. Wait a little and do not stand up suddenly, since that harms the body. The Gemara he cites (Gittin 70a) lists "slept and stood up" among five things closer to death than to life. The first Chabad Rebbe's code of law says both: get up quickly, but wait a little, until you finish Modeh Ani lying down or sitting.

Where is the pause?

After bechemlah, "with compassion." The Mishnah Berurah rules that you pause there and then say rabbah emunatecha, "great is Your faithfulness," with no break, because those two words are a quote from Eichah 3:23. Yad Efraim (a commentary by Rabbi Efraim Zalman Margoliot of Brody, about 200 years ago) calls it a mistake to say bechemlah rabbah in one breath, since that separates "great" from "Your faithfulness." The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch says to pause a little there too, and the Chabad siddur prints a period.

Do girls say modah?

That is how the sources print it. Modeh is the masculine form of "I thank" and modah is the feminine. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) has a volume on women's prayer, and there the line is written with modah. Siddur Edot HaMizrach, a Sephardic siddur, prints an instruction: "A woman says: modah." The Koren siddur prints both forms side by side, here and again in Elokai Neshama, a few paragraphs on, which has the same two words.

Do I have to say it?

The law books call it a good practice and a custom. The Mishnah Berurah: it is "good to say." The first Chabad Rebbe, in his siddur: it is "good to get in the habit of saying" it. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, from around 1900): "the custom is to say" it. Peninei Halakhah sums up: "the later authorities wrote that it is good to say." None of these four uses the language of obligation.