Amidah, The

The centerpiece of the three daily weekday prayers, wherein we beseech G-d for all our personal and communal needs.

The sages established that the Amidah be said three times daily, and they composed words of praise and requests to be said at those times.

The lights go up, the cameras are off, you turn to the director's chair and say, "I don't like the way this scene is going. How about we try…" Sounds wild, right? Yet that's exactly what we do...

The very idea of prayer is absurd--a tiny creature speaking with its Creator, like a figment of your imagination talking back to you. Once you accept that absurdity, you are ready to stand in the awe of prayer.

Why do we all say the same thing, and why do we do it at those specific times? When did it all start?

The silent prayer called the Amidah, also known as the “Shemoneh Esrei” (eighteen blessings), is the climax and highest rung on the ladder of prayer. Discover the significance and broader context of the Amidah, and why it contains 18 blessings.

Having climbed the rungs of the prayer ladder, we have reached its peak with the Amidah prayer. We are now at a point of total humility in the presence of something far greater than ourselves.

When we get to the climax of the prayer service, the top rung of the ladder, the Amida, what do we hear? Nothing. Just lips moving. But why? Why, after all the hub-bub, when we get to the heart of our personal conversation with G-d, do we finally go silen...

The wording of the Amidah–the 19 blessings, praises, and requests at the heart of each prayer service–is precise, like a treasured family recipe that is not to be tampered with. Its text was written by our greatest sages who sensed the exact wording to be...