The “Amidah” Prayer

An excerpt from: The Lost sheep of the House of Israel: Part 1. Section: The Harvest.

According to Judaism, the world stands on three essential principles as pillars:

The world stands upon three things – upon Torah, upon Avodah, and upon acts of kindness. (Avot 1:2)

The term “Avodah” is a Hebrew designation for a religious act performed in the service of God. In scripture, Avodah is mostly associated with the Temple related priestly duties, and the offication of animal sacrifices. However, certain passages utilize the term in a more general sense:

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve [Avodah] the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul…”- Deuteronomy 10:12

How does one “serve” (Avodah) the Lord in this capacity? The Elders, scribes and sages made the same inquiry, and submitted the following answer:

“To love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 11:13). Which is the service of God that is performed in the heart? You must say that this is referring to prayer.” – Taanit 2a

This is but one of the many associations made in Jewish tradition that bind the purpose of prayer with Avodah, and by extension, the Temple sacrifices.

In Numbers 28, God outlines his specifications for the daily sacrifices. Rather than assigning this responsibility exclusively to the Levitical Priests, the entire assembly of Israel was addressed. This was a curious inclusion, since only the priests were permitted to perform sacrifice. In addition, how can sacrifices be brought by the entire assembly on a daily basis without the absurd demand of requiring the entire population of Israel to reside in Jerusalem? This presented a slight challenge to Israel as they sought to honor the command. A system involving the election of “Ma’amadot” was devised by the early prophets during the time of the first temple:

“Now how can a man’s offering be offered and he is not present? [Therefore] the former prophets instituted… ma’amadot in Jerusalem consisting of priests, Levites and Israelites. ” – Mishnah Taanit 4.

Israel was divided into twenty-four districts, and each district was responsible to appoint a pious and respected Israelite to represent the district by attending the daily offerings. This delegation of 24 (the Ma’amadot) were known as the “Anshei Ma’amad” translated as “The men of standing” because they were appointed to stand by and observe the daily sacrifices, and by doing so, represent the entire nation in the ritual. As the “Ma’amadot” gathered to watch the daily sacrifices, they would participate by offering prayers, worship, and a public reading of the scriptures.

Two lambs were presented as a “burnt offering” each weekday, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon (Numbers 28:2-4). These would constitute the first and last sacrifices, while all the other sacrifices would be performed during the time in between. After the last sacrifice, the altar would continue burning throughout the night until morning the following day (Leviticus 6:2,9).

The phrase “appointed time” is used in reference to these times of sacrifice. The Hebrew word is “mo’ed”, and it is the same word used for the Holy festivals of Leviticus 23. The intimation is that they represent Holy times during the day to commune with God. David makes subtle reference to these times in Psalm 55:17

“Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice”

Even after the destruction of the first Temple and the Jewish exile into Babylon, these three distinct “mo’edim” were still considered holy times to honor God with prayer. This is why Daniel the prophet prayed three times a day facing Jerusalem:

“Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” – Daniel 6:10

The prophet Hosea pleads with the Northern Kingdom to repent, implying that although they couldn’t offer sacrifices at that time, that God would accept their prayers as a substitute until they were reunited with Judah once again:

“Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: ‘Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may offer the sacrifices of our lips.’” – Hosea 14:2

When the Jewish people returned from exile to resettle the land, they had great difficulty joining together in community prayer. Many had lost the ability to speak Hebrew, and spoke with a mixture of elements coming from a variety of languages:

“When Israel was exiled in the time of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, they mixed with Persia, Greece and the other nations. They had children in those foreign lands. Those children spoke mixed languages and each person’s language was made up of many different languages. When a person would speak he would not be able to express himself properly because of the language confusion. This is the meaning of the verse “and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the language of Jews, but according to the language of each people” (Nechemiah 13:24). Because of this, when each person would pray, he would be unable to fully express all his needs or to say the full praise of God in Hebrew without using other languages as well.” – Rambam, Hilchot Tefillah 1:5

Ezra the high priest, and the “members of the great assembly” therefore established a formal prayer called the “Amidah”:

When Ezra and his court saw this they arose and established for them the Amidah blessings and their order… – Rambam, Hilchot 1:5.

“The Men of the Great Assembly instituted this prayer of the Amidah in order that it should be fluent in every mouth. Therefore they instituted it using simple language, in order not to confuse the ideas with their understanding of the language, and so that all of Israel would be equal in prayer, whether they were clever or foolish.” – Rabbeinu Bachya, Commentary to Parshat Eikev 11:13.

Since the time of Ezra, the “Amidah” has held such prominence that Jewish tradition assigns to it the term “Tefillah” – the general term for prayer. The Amidah is therefore “The prayer” the central edifice, to which the entire synagogue service and Jewish liturgy is built around. Although the exact words were not officially established until just after the destruction of the second Temple, tradition had always preserved the general formula as set by Ezra and his court. The formula consists of eighteen benedictions, each benediction representing a certain theme. The tenth benediction, titled: “Teka bashofar” translated as “Ingathering of the dispersed” would carry the following sentiments, although not verbatim in this manner until after 70 AD:

“Sound the great shofar (to proclaim) our freedom, lift up a banner for the ingathering of our exiles, and bring us together from the four corners of the earth. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who gathers together the dispersed of his people Israel.” – To Pray as a Jew, “The Shemoneh Esrei: The Amidah of “Eighteen” Blessings”, page 88.

In Acts 3, Peter and John are departing to enter into the temple. According to the passage, they did so at the “time of prayer” – three in the afternoon. After entering into the Temple, they would have joined a mass assembly of Jews in the local area gathering to pray the Amidah in conjunction with the last sacrifice of the day. In Acts 10:9, during the sixth hour of the day Peter rushes to the roof of his home to pray. He did so, because it corresponded to the first sacrifice of the day. He was praying the Amidah. Interestingly, in Acts 10:31 even Cornelius the Roman Centurion was praying during the third prayer hour (the ninth hour), presumably in solidarity with the Jewish people.