Siddur Hatefillah

Eliezer Schweid (1929-2022) was widely recognized as one of the foremost historians of Jewish thought of this era. He was Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University and an Israel Prize recipient. Gershon 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