בפי ישרים תתרומם
ובשפתי צדיקים תתברך
ובלשון חסידים תתקדש
ובקרב קדושים תתהלל
“By the mouth of the upright shall You be exalted, and by the lips of the righteous shall You be blessed. By the tongue of the pious shall You be sanctified, and among the holy shall You be praised.”


QUESTION: In many machzorim this statement is written in four lines of three words each to show that the first letter of the second word of each line forms an acrostic of the name “Yitzchak.” Additionally, the third letter of the final word of each line forms an acrostic of the name “Rivkah.”

What is the significance of this?

ANSWER: The combined numerical value of Yitzchak and Rivkah (יצחק רבקה) is 515, which is also the numerical value of the word Tefillah — prayer (תפלה). They are the only couple that the Torah mentions prayed together (see Bereishit 24:2 Rashi).

* * *

Prayer is song and praise to Hashem, and it should be recited with joy and happiness. Our Sages (Taanit 2a) in explanation of the verse “to serve Him with all your heart” (Devarim 11:13) have defined prayer as the “service of Hashem performed in the heart.” It is elementary that mental and emotional concentration is an essential component of prayer (Rambam, Tefillah 4:15).

It is interesting to note that the word “shirah” (שירה) — “song” — and also the words “bekavanat haleiv” (בכונת הלב) — “concentration of the heart” — have the same numerical value as the word “tefillah” (515).