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Hebrew University Professor Emeritus and Israel Prize recipient Eliezer Schweid (1929-2022) is widely regarded as one of the greatest historians of Jewish thought of our era. In Siddur Hatefillah, he probes the Jewish prayer book as a reflection of Judaism's unity and continuity as a unique spiritual entity; and as the most popular, most uttered, and internalized text of the Jewish people. Schweid explores texts which process religious philosophical teaching into the language of prayer, and/or express philosophical ideas in prayer’s special language – which the worshipper reflects upon in order to direct prayer, and through which flows hoped-for feedback. With the addition of historical, philological, and literary contexts, the study provides the reader with first-time access to the comprehensive meaning of Jewish prayer—filling a vacuum in both the experience and scholarship of Jewish worship.
“Schweid’s comprehensive work digs into the depths of Jewish prayer as hardly any other scholarly book does. The reader’s feeling is that the book emerges from the author’s deeper need to search the soul and the profound meaning of prayer in Judaism.”
– Alessandro Grazi, Journal of Modern Jewish StudiesGershon Greenberg is a visiting professor in the history of Jewish religious thought through the Holocaust at Hebrew and Bar Ilan universities in Israel. He is based at American University in Washington, D.C. where he created and directed the Jewish Studies Program and serves as Professor of Philosophy and Religion.
Translator’s Acknowledgements
Translator’s Introduction: Eliezer Schweid as Worshipper in the State of Israel
Author’s Preface: My Path to the Jewish Prayer Book (Siddur Hatefillah)
Introduction: The Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book): Its Sources, Goal, and Theological Basis
Worship of God and the Process of the Sacred Congregation’s Formation and Expression
Prayer as a Form of Primal Expression of the Human Soul
Torah and Prayer: The Problem of Love and Sin in the Relations between God and the Human Being
The “Name and Kingship” Blessing as the Fundamental Rubric of Standing before God in Prayer
Establishing the Covenant of Faith between the Individual Human Being and His God
Principles of Faith
Keriyat Shema—Covenant of Love between God and His People
The Poetics of the Shema and the Shemoneh Esrei
The Shemoneh Esrei Prayer: The Kedushah (Sanctification) and Ḥaninat Hada’at (God as Giver of Knowledge)
The Shemoneh Esrei Prayer—Requests by the Individual in the Assembly: Teshuvah (Repentance) and Forgiveness
The Shemoneh Esrei Prayer: Redemption, Healing, and Livelihood
The Shemoneh Esrei (Eighteen Benedictions) That Are Really Nineteen: Redemption from Deepening Exile
The Shemoneh Esrei—Responding in Anticipation of Complete Redemption
Types of Biblical Poetry as a Source of Prayer
Between the Poetry of Prophecy and Prayer
The Poetry of the Psalms: Personal-Soulful and Societal-Political Messages
Hymnal Song for the Sabbath Day. The “Sign” between God and His Treasured Nation and the Isolation from Christianity
Breaking the Boundary of Mystery between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Earth: Praying with Devekut (Adherence) and with Kavanah (Intention)
Epilogue: The Universality and Perpetuity of Moving from Slavery to Freedom and from Exile to Redemption
Glossary
Index