The Amidah

amidah

עמידה

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

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Hebrew

יִשְׂמְחוּ בְמַלְכוּתְךָ שׁוֹמְרֵי שַׁבָּת וְקוֹרְאֵי עֹנֶג,
עַם מְקַדְּשֵׁי שְׁבִיעִי, כֻּלָּם יִשְׂבְּעוּ וְיִתְעַנְּגוּ מִטּוּבֶךָ,
וּבַשְּׁבִיעִי רָצִיתָ בּוֹ וְקִדַּשְׁתּוֹ,
חֶמְדַּת יָמִים אוֹתוֹ קָרָאתָ, זֵכֶר לְמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית.

Israeli

yismechu v'malchutcha shomerei Shabat vekore-ei oneg,
am mekadshei sh'vi-i, kulam yisbeu veyitanegu mituvecha,
uvashvi-i ratzita bo vekidashto,
chemdat yamim oto karata, zecher lema-aseh v'reishit.

English

Those who observe Shabbat and call it a delight shall rejoice in Your sovereignty. The people who sanctify the seventh day shall all be fulfilled and shall delight in Your abundant goodness. You have loved the seventh day and sanctified it, calling it the most beloved of days, a symbol of the work of creation.

Hebrew

אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ [וְאִמּוֹתֵינוּ],
רְצֵה בִמְנוּחָתֵנוּ;
קַדְּשֵׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ וְתֵן חֶלְקֵנוּ בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ,
שַׂבְּעֵנוּ מִטּוּבֶךָ וְשַׂמְּחֵנוּ בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ,
וְטַהֵר לִבֵּנוּ לְעָבְדְּךָ בֶּאֱמֶת,
וְהַנְחִילֵנוּ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן שַׁבַּת קָדְשֶׁךָ,
וְיָנוּחוּ בָהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מְקַדְּשֵׁי שְׁמֶךָ.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה, מְקַדֵּשׁ הַשַּׁבָּת.

Israeli

Eloheinu veilohei avoteinu [ve-imoteinu],
retzeh vimnuchatenu;
kadshenu b'mitzvotecha veten chelkenu b'Toratecha,
sabe-enu mituvecha vesamechenu bishu-atecha,
vetaher libenu le-avdcha be-emet,
vehanchilenu Adonai Eloheinu be-ahavah uvratzon Shabat kodshecha,
veyanuchu vah Yisra-el mekadshei sh'mecha.
baruch atah Adonai, mekadesh hashabat.

English

Our God and God of our ancestors, embrace our rest. Make us holy through Your mitzvot and let the Torah be our portion. Fill our lives with Your goodness and gladden us with Your deliverance. Purify our hearts to serve You truly. Adonai our God, lovingly and willingly grant that we inherit Your holy Shabbat, that the people Israel, who make Your name holy, may find rest on this day. Barukh atah Adonai, who makes Shabbat holy.

Fifth B’rakhah: The Restoration of Zion

Hebrew

רְצֵה, יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, בְּעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבִתְפִלָּתָם,
וְהָשֵׁב אֶת־הָעֲבוֹדָה לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶךָ,
וּתְפִלָּתָם בְּאַהֲבָה תְקַבֵּל בְּרָצוֹן,
וּתְהִי לְרָצוֹן תָּמִיד עֲבוֹדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמֶּךָ.
וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּוֹן בְּרַחֲמִים.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה, הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתוֹ לְצִיּוֹן.

Israeli

retzeh, Adonai Eloheinu, be-amecha Yisra-el uvitfilatam,
vehashev et-ha-avodah lidvir beitecha,
utfilatam be-ahavah t'kabel b'ratzon,
utehi leratzon tamid avodat Yisra-el amecha.
vetechezenah eineinu b'shuvcha letziyon b'rachamim.
baruch atah Adonai, hamachazir sh'chinato letziyon.

English

Adonai our God, embrace Your people Israel and their prayer. Restore worship to Your sanctuary. May the prayers of the people Israel be lovingly accepted by You, and may our service always be pleasing. May our eyes behold Your compassionate return to Zion. Barukh atah Adonai, who restores Your Divine Presence to Zion.

Commentary

THOSE WHO OBSERVE SHABBAT SHALL REJOICE יִשְׂמְחוּ בְמַלְכוּתְךָ. The Musaf liturgy here conceives of Shabbat as a symbol of the world we hope to achieve: a world at peace, in which we feel fulfilled and satiated with goodness.

OUR GOD AND GOD OF OUR ANCESTORS אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ [וְאִמּוֹתֵינוּ]. The blessing culminates in a series of requests, all of a spiritual nature.

GLADDEN US WITH YOUR DELIVERANCE שַׂמְּחֵנוּ בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ. In the Sephardic version of this prayer, we ask that God “gladden our soul” (וְשַׂמְּחֵנוּ בְנַפְשֵׁנוּ). Similarly, Rav Amram’s siddur (9th century) has the word “heart.” God’s deliverance is seen as a spiritual victory.

GRANT THAT WE INHERIT וְהַנְחִילֵנוּ. Shabbat is seen as a gift.

EMBRACE רְצֵה. Intimacy with God, a sense of God’s closeness and embrace, an existential realization that we are not alone—these are the answers to our prayers, not the specific fulfillment of a verbal request. (Bradley Shavit Artson) …

RESTORE WORSHIP TO YOUR SANCTUARY וְהָשֵׁב אֶת־הָעֲבוֹדָה לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶךָ. In exile, our relationship with God cannot be fulfilled. Yearning for the restoration of the Temple expresses the wish for a more direct relationship with God.

What We Strive For The realm of mystery tells us, You live in a world full of light and life. Know the great reality, the richness of existence that you always encounter. Contemplate its grandeur, its beauty, its precision and its harmony . . . The perception that dawns on a person to see the world not as finished, but as in the process of continued becoming, ascending, developing—this changes him from being “under the sun” to being “above the sun,” from the place where there is nothing new to the place where there is nothing old, where everything takes on new form. The joy of heaven and earth abides in him as on the day they were created . . . In every corner where you turn, you are dealing with realities that have life; you always perform consequential acts, abounding with meaning and with the preciousness of vibrant life. In everything you do, you encounter sparks full of life and light, aspiring to rise toward the heights. You help them and they help you . . . The time that is an uninterrupted Sabbath on which eternal peace shines, is the day when, by the nature of its creation, there pulses a continued thrust for newness. It needs no end, no termination. It is the choicest of days, an ornament of beauty, the source of all blessings. —ABRAHAM ISAAC KOOK (translated by Ben Zion Bokser) …