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וּבָא לְצִיּוֹן

Uva LeTzion (part 2)

Verses of mercy, a prayer to understand and keep the Torah, then verses of trust.

Daven with it Read it here

Also said at Arvit.

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

At a glance

When: Weekday mornings, right after the Aramaic Kedushah
What's in it: 14 verses and two prayers built partly from verses
An early copy: Machzor Vitry, France, about 1100
Abudarham's count: 18 mentions of God's name in the whole section

The words

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

Kedushah DeSidra continues. A verse from Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles) I 29:18:
יְיָ אֱלֺהֵי אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שָׁמְרָה זֹאת לְעֹלָם לְיֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבוֹת לְבַב עַמֶּךָ וְהָכֵן לְבָבָם אֵלֶיךָ.
Hashem, God of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yisrael, our fathers keep this forever as the shaping of the thoughts of Your people's hearts and set their hearts firmly toward You
What it means
Hashem, God of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yisrael, our fathers: keep this forever, to shape the thoughts of Your people's hearts, and set their hearts firmly toward You.
In Chronicles, David says this after the people gave freely to build the Temple. The commentary printed under the name of Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) says "this" is that gift. Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, around 1340) says that here it asks that this Kedushah shape our thoughts and aim our hearts at God.
Divrei HaYamim I 29:18 (commentary printed as Rashi's); Abudarham, Post Amidah 26
From Tehillim (Psalms) 78:38:
וְהוּא רַחוּם יְכַפֵּר עָוֹן וְלֺא יַשְׁחִית וְהִרְבָּה לְהָשִׁיב אַפּוֹ וְלֺא יָעִיר כָּל חֲמָתוֹ.
And He, the merciful One, forgives wrongdoing and does not destroy and again and again turns back His anger and does not stir up all His rage
What it means
And He, the merciful One, forgives wrongdoing and does not destroy. Again and again He turns back His anger and does not stir up all His rage.
This verse also opens Vehu Rachum, the long prayer of pleading added on Mondays and Thursdays, and the Romemu page tells its story. Look at the verse just before it: in Tehillim 78:37, that generation's heart "was not firm" with God. "Firm" there is the same root as "set firm" in the line above. God forgives anyway.
Tehillim 78:37-38; Divrei HaYamim I 29:18
From Tehillim 86:5:
כִּי אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי טוֹב וְסַלָּח וְרַב חֶסֶד לְכָל קֹרְאֶיךָ.
For You, my Master, are good and forgiving and great in kindness to all who call to You
What it means
Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) says "good" means good to every creature, as in "Hashem is good to all" (Tehillim 145:9). "Forgiving" is for those who sin. Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator who died in the 1160s) says: good to the good, and forgiving to sinners.
Radak and Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 86:5
From Tehillim 119:142:
צִדְקָתְךָ צֶדֶק לְעוֹלָם וְתוֹרָתְךָ אֱמֶת.
Your righteousness is justice forever and Your Torah is truth
What it means
Radak says "Your Torah is truth" means two things. All its mitzvot are true, and the promises it makes to those who keep it are true and will not turn out false.
Radak on Tehillim 119:142
From Michah (Micah) 7:20:
תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ מִימֵי קֶדֶם.
You will give truth to Yaakov kindness to Avraham which You swore to our fathers from long ago
What it means
You will give truth to Yaakov and kindness to Avraham, which You swore to our fathers in days of old.
Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) reads this as God keeping His promises. The "truth" is what He promised Yaakov. The "kindness" is the reward for Avraham's kindness. And the oath, he says, was made at the binding of Yitzchak.
Rashi on Michah 7:20
From Tehillim 68:20:
בָּרוּךְ אֲדֹנָי יוֹם יוֹם יַעֲמָס לָנוּ הָאֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ סֶלָה.
Blessed is my Master day after day He loads us with blessing the God who is our rescue Selah
What it means
The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah, the first written collection of their teachings) tells of two sages. Shammai the Elder saved the finest animal he found all week for Shabbat. Hillel the Elder had a different way, and the Gemara points to this verse. Rashi says Hillel trusted that a fine animal would come his way for Shabbat.
Beitzah 16a, with Rashi
From Tehillim 46:8:
יְיָ צְבָאוֹת עִמָּנוּ מִשְׂגָּב לָנוּ אֱלֺהֵי יַעֲקֹב סֶלָה.
Hashem of hosts is with us a stronghold for us is the God of Yaakov Selah
What it means
Hashem of hosts is with us. The God of Yaakov is a stronghold for us. Selah.
These three verses, in this order, are also said at Havdalah, the ceremony that ends Shabbat (Siddur Sefard). The Pitum HaKetoret and Romemu pages tell what the Yerushalmi (the Gemara of the Land of Israel) says about the first two.
Siddur Sefard, Havdalah; Yerushalmi, Berakhot 5:1
From Tehillim 84:13:
יְיָ צְבָאוֹת אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם בֹּטֵחַ בָּךְ.
Hashem of hosts, happy is the person who trusts in You
From Tehillim 20:10:
יְיָ הוֹשִׁיעָה הַמֶּלֶךְ יַעֲנֵנוּ בְיוֹם קָרְאֵנוּ.
Hashem, save us may the King answer us on the day we call
Not a verse. A prayer built from pieces of verses and the sages' own words:
בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֱלֺהֵינוּ שֶׁבְּרָאָנוּ לִכְבוֹדוֹ וְהִבְדִּילָנוּ מִן הַתּוֹעִים
Blessed is He, our God who created us for His glory and set us apart from those who go astray
What it means
Abudarham says this line is built from verses. "Created us for His glory" comes from Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 43:7, and he explains glory here as praising Him. "Set us apart" comes from Vayikra (Leviticus) 20:26, where God says, "I set you apart from the peoples to be Mine."
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 27-28; Yeshayahu 43:7; Vayikra 20:26
וְנָתַן לָנוּ תּוֹרַת אֱמֶת וְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם נָטַע בְּתוֹכֵנוּ
and gave us the Torah of truth and eternal life He planted within us
What it means
and gave us the Torah of truth, and planted eternal life within us.
Abudarham traces "Torah of truth" to Tehillim 119:142, which you said above. The blessing after a Torah reading uses the same words, and the page for that blessing explains "planted."
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 29; Tehillim 119:142
הוּא יִפְתַּח לִבֵּנוּ בְּתוֹרָתוֹ וְיָשֵׂם בְּלִבֵּנוּ אַהֲבָתוֹ וְיִרְאָתוֹ
May He open our heart to His Torah and put in our heart love of Him and awe of Him
What it means
May He open our heart to His Torah, and put love of Him and awe of Him in our heart.
וְלַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנוֹ וּלְעָבְדוֹ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם לְמַעַן לֺא נִיגַע לָרִיק וְלֺא נֵלֵד לַבֶּהָלָה.
and to do His will and to serve Him with a whole heart so that we will not toil for nothing and not give birth for terror
What it means
and to do His will and serve Him with a whole heart, so that we will not toil for nothing and not give birth for terror.
Abudarham says the ending comes from Yeshayahu 65:23. There it is a promise about a blessed future, and Radak says "not give birth for terror" means parents will not see their children die. Here the siddur makes it first person: "we."
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 31; Yeshayahu 65:23, with Radak
Another prayer, not a verse:
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ יְיָ אֱלֺהֵינוּ וֵאלֺהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁנִּשְׁמֹר חֻקֶּיךָ בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְנִזְכֶּה וְנִחְיֶה וְנִרְאֶה וְנִירַשׁ טוֹבָה וּבְרָכָה לִשְׁנֵי יְמוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ וּלְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.
May it be Your will, Hashem our God and God of our fathers, that we keep Your laws in this world and be worthy to live, to see, and to inherit goodness and blessing in the days of the Messiah and in the life of the World to Come
What it means
Abudarham says "keep Your laws in this world" comes from Tehillim 119:5: "If only my ways were set firm to keep Your laws." He says why "this world": it is the world of action, and through action we earn the goodness and blessing of the World to Come.
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 32; Tehillim 119:5
From Tehillim 30:13, the end of Mizmor Shir:
לְמַעַן יְזַמֶּרְךָ כָבוֹד וְלֺא יִדֹּם יְיָ אֱלֺהַי לְעוֹלָם אוֹדֶךָּ.
so that my soul will sing to You and not go silent Hashem, my God, I will thank You forever
What it means
The Hebrew says "so that glory will sing to You." Radak says glory here means the soul, and he ties it to David's question a few verses earlier, "Will dust thank You?" The Mizmor Shir page has the whole discussion.
Radak on Tehillim 30:13
From Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 17:7:
בָּרוּךְ הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר יִבְטַח בַּייָ וְהָיָה יְיָ מִבְטַחוֹ.
Blessed is the person who trusts in Hashem and Hashem is their security
What it means
The verse before this one in Yirmiyahu is the opposite: "Cursed is the man who trusts in people." After this one comes a picture of the trusting person as a tree by water that does not worry in a dry year. The Halleluyah 146 page asks if this rules out relying on people.
Yirmiyahu 17:5-8
From Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 26:4:
בִּטְחוּ בַייָ עֲדֵי עַד כִּי בְּיָהּ יְיָ צוּר עוֹלָמִים.
Trust in Hashem forever for in Yah Hashem is the Rock of the ages
From Tehillim 9:11:
וְיִבְטְחוּ בְךָ יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ כִּי לֺא עָזַבְתָּ דֹרְשֶׁיךָ יְיָ.
And they will trust in You those who know Your Name for You have not abandoned those who seek You, Hashem
What it means
And those who know Your Name will trust in You, for You have not abandoned those who seek You, Hashem.
Ibn Ezra says people will trust God when they see that He was a stronghold for the oppressed, as the verse just before says. Radak says "You did not abandon those who seek You" means You were with them in their time of trouble.
Ibn Ezra and Radak on Tehillim 9:11
From Yeshayahu 42:21:
יְיָ חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר.
Hashem wanted for the sake of His righteousness to make the Torah great and glorious

The story

An early copy asks for something different

In Machzor Vitry (a prayer book from northern France, about 1100), the "May it be Your will" paragraph asks to keep God's laws in this world and ends: "and with the righteous, who inherit the Garden of Eden, may our rest be." It has no "days of the Messiah." Where we say "His love and His fear," it says only "His fear." The Edot HaMizrach siddur, which follows Sephardic and Middle Eastern custom, also leaves out the Messiah words. Our wording is one version, not the only one.

Machzor Vitry, Order of Shacharit 93; Siddur Edot HaMizrach, Uva LeSion 3

The same two ideas end Pirkei Avot

Pirkei Avot (a book of the rabbis' sayings) has a sixth chapter, added after the Mishnah's five. It ends with two teachings. First: everything God created, He created only for His glory, the verse behind "created us for His glory." Then Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya (a sage of the Mishnah), in words from the end of Mishnah Makkot: God wanted to give Israel merit, so He gave them much Torah and many commandments, with this prayer's last verse: "Hashem wanted, for the sake of His righteousness, to make Torah great."

Pirkei Avot 6:11; Mishnah Makkot 3:16

The Messiah's days are not the World to Come

The prayer asks for both, and the sources treat them as two different things. The Ahavat Olam page brings Shmuel's teaching that the days of the Messiah change one thing: Israel is no longer ruled by other nations. The Rambam (Maimonides, died 1204) adds that the world keeps its normal order then, and that the sages longed for that time to be free for Torah and so earn the World to Come. He describes the World to Come as life with no death in it.

Berakhot 34b; Rambam, Laws of Kings 12:1-4 and Laws of Repentance 8:1

Who is "the King," and where does the sentence break?

The Hebrew of "Hashem hoshia hamelech yaanenu" can be cut two ways: "Hashem, save the king" and then "may He answer us," or "Hashem, save!" and then "May the King answer us." Ibn Ezra (Spain, 1100s) says the first cut is wrong because of the accent mark that pauses after "hoshia." He concludes the King is God, the true King. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, about 1200) agrees that "the King" is the One who is King of the world, and says these were the words people cried out in battle.

Ibn Ezra and Radak on Tehillim 20:10

Hard questions

If fear of God is my choice, why ask God to put it in my heart?

The prayer says: "May He open our heart to His Torah, and put into our heart love of Him and fear of Him." That sounds like asking God to do the work for us. The HaMaavir Sheinah page takes up a question like this one, with the Gemara's rule from Rabbi Chanina (a sage of the Gemara): "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except fear of Heaven." Being righteous or wicked is up to you.

Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, 1300s) saw the problem here. Fear of Heaven is in a person's hands, he says. So why ask God for it? His answer: once a person has started, he can ask God to help him along, as the rabbis said, "One who comes to purify himself is helped."

That saying has a home in the Gemara, in a passage about a verse from this prayer: "Trust in Hashem forever, for in Yah Hashem is the Rock of worlds." The Gemara reads "Yah" as two letters: God made two worlds, one with the letter hey and one with the letter yud. This world was made with the hey. That letter is open at the bottom, like a porch, "so that anyone who wants to leave can leave." But one leg of the hey hangs apart. Why? "Because if he turns back, they bring him in."

Why can he not just walk back in the way he left? The Gemara answers with a teaching of Resh Lakish (another sage of the Gemara): one who comes to become pure is helped, and one who comes to become impure is given an opening. Rashi says a person trying to become pure needs help against his evil urge, so an extra opening is made for him.

These sources do not settle every question about free will. But the choice is yours, and once you have started, asking for help is part of the path.

Berakhot 33b,Rashi on Berakhot 33b,Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 30,Menachot 29b,Shabbat 104a

It says God set us apart from "those who go astray." Is everyone else wrong?

Start with the exact words. The prayer thanks God for setting us apart "from the ones who go astray," not from "the nations." Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, 1300s) ties the line to two verses. One is God's words in Vayikra: "I set you apart from the peoples to be Mine." The other is in Yeshayahu: "Those who go astray in spirit will know understanding." He does not say what he draws from it, but it is a verse where the people who strayed end up understanding.

The same Hebrew root appears in Avraham's words to Avimelech: "when God made me wander from my father's house." Onkelos, the old Aramaic translation of the Torah, turns that into: "when the nations strayed after the works of their hands, God brought me near to His worship from my father's house." Rashi reads it another way: anyone who leaves his place and has no settled home is called a wanderer. No source here says the prayer is quoting that verse. It is a connection you can check yourself.

On who has a place with God, the Gemara records an argument over a verse in Tehillim: "The wicked will return to the grave, all the nations that forget God." Rabbi Eliezer reads it to mean that no one from the nations has a share in the World to Come. Rabbi Yehoshua answers that the verse speaks only of the nations that forget God. (Both were sages of the Mishnah.) The Gemara says the Mishnah follows Rabbi Yehoshua.

The Rambam (Maimonides, died 1204) turns this into law. Anyone who accepts the seven commandments given to the descendants of Noach and is careful to keep them is among the righteous of the nations and has a share in the World to Come. He adds a condition: the person must keep them because God commanded them in the Torah, not because his own reasoning led him there.

So the tradition holds more than one voice. Who has a place with God was argued over, and was not settled by one line of the siddur.

Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 28,Vayikra 20:26,Yeshayahu 29:24,Bereishit 20:13 with Onkelos and Rashi,Sanhedrin 105a,Rambam, Laws of Kings 8:11

Why would God give so many commandments? Doesn't each extra rule add a way to fail?

The prayer ends with a verse from Yeshayahu: "Hashem wanted, for the sake of His righteousness, to make Torah great and glorious." The Mishnah uses it to answer your question. At the end of tractate Makkot, Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: "The Holy One wanted to give Israel merit. That is why He gave them so much Torah and so many commandments." The same teaching, with the same verse, is printed at the end of Pirkei Avot.

"To give merit" is the key phrase. The Hagbah page gives the example of the Bartenura (Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura, who wrote a widely used commentary on the Mishnah around 1500): staying away from crawling creatures you would never eat anyway now earns a reward. More commandments means more moments where you get credit.

The Rambam (Maimonides) adds a second thought in his commentary on the same Mishnah. If a person does one commandment properly, with no other motive, out of love, he earns the World to Come through that one act. With so many commandments, the Rambam writes, it is impossible for a person to get through life without doing at least one of them exactly right. He says that is what Rabbi Chananya meant, and he counts it among the principles of faith in the Torah.

The verse itself has other readings. Rashi says God wants to show you and open your ears, for the sake of righteousness, and that is why He makes the Torah great for you. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, about 1200) reads it as a promise about the time of redemption: God will make His Torah great and glorious then, for His own sake and not for yours.

The Mishnah chose to teach Rabbi Chananya's reading, and the Rambam treats it as a foundation. Whether it feels true to you is a fair thing to ask.

Mishnah Makkot 3:16,Bartenura on Mishnah Makkot 3:16,Rambam, Commentary on the Mishnah, Makkot 3:16,Pirkei Avot 6:11,Rashi and Radak on Yeshayahu 42:21

Sparks

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

Zohar

The urge you fight is the one that wants to learn

David's prayer in this passage asks God to keep "the yetzer of the thoughts of the heart" of the people forever. Yetzer usually means the urge you fight, the evil inclination. The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) says the world needs that urge the way it needs rain: without it there would be no joy in learning. Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (a Chassidic master of the 1800s), in his Peri Tzadik, goes further. He says the yetzer was made mainly to give people a hunger for Torah, and he reads the word in this same verse as desire.

אִצְּטְרִיךְ יִצֶּר הָרָע לָעוֹלָם כְּמִטְרָא לָעוֹלָם, דְּאִלְמָלֵא יִצֶּר הָרָע, חֶדְוָותָא דִשְׁמַעְתָּא לָא לֶיהֱוִי

Zohar, Parashat Toldot (1:138a); Peri Tzadik, Parashat Vayigash

Rav Kook

Prayer is the life of the hour. Torah lasts.

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) says prayer and Torah do different jobs. Prayer is "the life of the moment": it gives life to this hour. Torah is "eternal life," above nature. In the Gemara, Rava said of a man praying at length that he was leaving eternal life for the life of the hour. There is a time for each, Rav Kook says, and your own pull is a clue: when your heart leans to learning, it is Torah time. The set prayer times, he adds, were fixed for everyone, as times when people lean toward prayer.

והיא חיי השעה, כלומר, שמחיה את השעה... אבל התורה חיי עולם היא, למעלה מהטבע

Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, Essays on Prayer, "Prayer and Torah"

Maharal

Why trust has no end date

The verse says to trust in Hashem "forever." The Maharal (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) points to that word. Sometimes a person's luck is bad and good things seem out of reach. The Gemara reads the name "Yah" in the verse as two worlds, this one and the next. So trust forever, the Maharal writes: God can send good from the world above, which is all good, even to someone whose luck here is bad.

כי העוה"ז ועוה"ב נברא בשם י"ה ולכך יש לבטוח בו ית' עדי עד שיכול להשפיע אליו מעולם העליון שהוא כולו טוב אף אם יש לו מזל רע בעוה"ז

Maharal, Netivot Olam, Netiv HaBitachon 1; Menachot 29b

Chassidut

Why so many commandments? A gift.

The Mishnah says God gave Israel so many commandments because He wanted to give them merit, and it quotes the last verse of this prayer. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonne, a leading student of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Chassidut), raises the famous problem: more commandments means more ways to fail, so how is that a gift? His answer: God wanted a love of Torah to enter their hearts. He reads "make Torah great" as Torah making the person great. And the wish to learn comes first.

רצה הקב"ה לזכות את ישראל שיזכו בכתרה של תורה שיכנס בלבם חשק אהב' התורה לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצות

Toldot Yaakov Yosef, Parashat Ki Teitzei; Mishnah Makkot 3:16

Halacha

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

Is there a blessing when I take my tefillin off?

No. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that no blessing is said when removing tefillin. The Mishnah Berurah (a central law commentary, around 1900) notes that the Gemara says the people of "the West" (the Land of Israel) did bless, "to keep His statutes," when they took them off for the night. The Eliyah Rabbah (by a rabbi of Prague, around 1700) says it is good to start removing them while saying "Yehi ratzon, that we keep Your statutes." The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short law guide) agrees.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 29:1; Mishnah Berurah 29:1; Niddah 51b; Eliyah Rabbah 25:25; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 10:19

Why do some people keep their tefillin on even longer?

The Shulchan Aruch cites a view from Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), kept by the meticulous: leave them on through three Kedushot and four Kaddishim. The Arukh HaShulchan (a law code, around 1900) counts the last as the mourner's Kaddish after Aleinu. The Mishnah Berurah counts differently, but says to wait for that Kaddish where it is said daily. It and the Shulchan Aruch HaRav (the first Chabad Rebbe's code, about 1800) say the Arizal (the Tzfat kabbalist, 1500s) waited until after "Al ken nekaveh lecha" in Aleinu.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:13; Shulchan Aruch HaRav 25:37; Mishnah Berurah 25:55; Arukh HaShulchan 25:28

There was a Torah reading today. Does that change when they come off?

The Shulchan Aruch says the custom is to wait until the scroll is back in the ark. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) says that applies where it goes back after Uva Letzion. Where it goes back right after the reading, as in his region, remove them as on any other day. The Arukh HaShulchan says to wait until the reading is done, and never to remove them in front of the scroll, since baring your head before it is brazen. Step to the side.

Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 25:13; Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 25:28

Is there a day they come off earlier, or later?

On Rosh Chodesh they come off before davening ends. The Shulchan Aruch says: before Musaf (the extra Amidah). The Mishnah Berurah says that where the scroll goes back right after the reading, that is after the Kaddish before Musaf. He cites the Eliyah Rabbah: remove them after Uva Letzion, before "Yehi ratzon," so nothing comes between that Kaddish and the prayer. On a day with a brit milah (circumcision), wait until after it, since milah is a sign and so are tefillin, per the Mishnah Berurah. The Kitzur agrees.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:13; Mishnah Berurah 25:55 and 25:59; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 10:19

Why do some people say these three verses at the synagogue door?

Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, died 1909) quotes a handwritten book called Keter Malchut: when you walk into a synagogue, say the verses beginning "Hashem Tzevaot immanu," "Hashem Tzevaot ashrei adam" and "Hashem hoshia," in that order, each tied to one of the Avot: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov. If you can, say them standing at the door. In his Od Yosef Chai he says to take care to say them on leaving too.

Ben Ish Chai, Year 1, Miketz 3; Od Yosef Chai, Ki Tisa 27

Sources

Show the 10 sources quoted on this page

Machzor Vitry, Order of Shacharit 93
יהי רצון מלפניך ... אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו שנשמור חוקיך בעולם הזה ונזכה ונחיה ונירש ונראה לחיי העולם הבא ועם הצדיקים יורשי גן עדן תהא מנוחתינו
May it be Your will, our God and God of our fathers, that we keep Your laws in this world, and merit to live, to inherit and to see the life of the World to Come. And with the righteous, who inherit the Garden of Eden, may our rest be.
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 28
והבדילנו מן הטועים על שם ואבדיל אתכם מן העמים להיות לי. וכתיב וידעו תועי רוח בינה
"He set us apart from those who go astray" is based on: "I set you apart from the peoples to be Mine." And it is written: "Those who go astray in spirit will know understanding."
Abudarham, Weekday Prayers, Post Amidah 30
ואע"פ שביד האדם היא יראת שמים להיות צדיק או רשע ... הוא מבקש מאת השם לסייעו כיון שהתחיל ליראה אותו על דרך מה שאמרו רבותינו בא ליטהר מסייעין אותו
Although fear of Heaven is in a person's own hands, to be righteous or wicked, he asks God to help him, since he has already begun to fear Him. This follows what our rabbis said: one who comes to purify himself is helped.
Berakhot 33b
הכל בידי שמים, חוץ מיראת שמים. שנאמר: ועתה ישראל מה ה׳ אלהיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה
Everything is in the hands of Heaven except fear of Heaven. As it says: "And now, Israel, what does Hashem your God ask of you, but to fear..."
Menachot 29b
מפני שדומה לאכסדרה, שכל הרוצה לצאת יצא. ומאי טעמא תליא כרעיה? דאי הדר בתשובה מעיילי ליה.
Because it is like a porch: anyone who wants to leave can leave. And why does its leg hang? Because if he turns back in repentance, they bring him in.
Beitzah 16a
אבל הלל הזקן מדה אחרת היתה לו, שכל מעשיו לשם שמים, שנאמר: ברוך ה׳ יום יום
But Hillel the Elder had a different habit: all his deeds were for the sake of Heaven, as it says: "Blessed is Hashem day after day."
Pirkei Avot 6:11
כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו, לא בראו אלא לכבודו... רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל, לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצות
Everything the Holy One created in His world, He created only for His glory... The Holy One wanted to give Israel merit, so He gave them much Torah and many commandments.
Rambam, Commentary on the Mishnah, Makkot 3:16
כשיקיים אדם מצוה מתרי"ג מצות כראוי וכהוגן ... הנה זכה בה לחיי העולם הבא ... כי המצות בהיותם הרבה אי אפשר שלא יעשה אדם בחייו אחת מהם על מתכונתה ושלמותה
When a person does one of the 613 commandments properly and fittingly... he earns the World to Come through it... Since the commandments are so many, it is impossible that in his life a person does not do one of them exactly right.
Rambam, Laws of Kings 8:11
כל המקבל שבע מצות ונזהר לעשותן הרי זה מחסידי אומות העולם ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא. והוא שיקבל אותן ויעשה אותן מפני שצוה בהן הקב"ה בתורה
Anyone who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to keep them is among the righteous of the nations and has a share in the World to Come. This is so when he accepts and keeps them because the Holy One commanded them in the Torah.
The commentary printed as Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 29:18
שמרה זאת לעולם. זכור לנו זאת הנדבה למצוה רבה ולצדקה
"Keep this forever." Remember for us this donation as a great mitzvah and an act of giving.

Every prayer in the siddur