EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS (Heb. Šēmōneh 'Ešrēh, understood as Bērākōth "Blessings"). - The principal official prayer of Judaism, called tēphilāh ("prayer") par excellence, or (especially among the Sephardim) āmīdhāh (the "standing") because it must be recited standing upright, with feet together and face turned to the east; together with the šēma' (v.), it is the oldest profession of faith in the liturgy of Israel. Rabbān Gamaliel II (end of the 1st century) had its definitive form given to it by Simeon the Cotton-Dealer and had the "blessing" against the mīnīm formulated by Samuel the Small (Bērākhōth, 28b) on the occasion of the Synod of Jabneh, ca. 90 A.D. (Ier. Bērākhōth, 5a and 5a).

A public and private prayer, it is found in all liturgical and devotional books. The cantor (bāzān), or one invited to do so, having gone before the open ark of the Tōrāh, recites the prayer aloud, and the community responds "Amen" (Bērākhōth, V, 4; Ta'onith, II, 5). In private, every Israelite must say it 3 times a day (Bērākhōth, III, 3; IV, 1), morning, afternoon, evening; the custom of praying three times a day was ancient (Dan. 6, 11, 14; 9, 21; Esd. 9, 5; Indt. 9, 1), but in the Miṣnāh the obligation is still limited to the twice-daily šēma' (Bērākhōth, II-III).

The oldest text is that of the Palestinian recension, discovered in the gēntzāh of Cairo (1896) and published by S. Schechter (1898) and G. Dalman (1898). The 18 strophes glorify (1-3), implore (4-16 and 18), thank (17) God; each closes with the "blessing" (bērākhāh) enunciating a divine attribute that sums up the theme of the preceding phrase: a varied refrain called ḥathīmāh ("seal" or "conclusion"). Notable is its rhythm, reinforced by rhyme, which according to K. G. Kuhn would later be imitated in the Pater. The form now in use (Babylonian recension) comprises 19 blessings, because the 14th (messianic) was later divided into two, separating Zion and David. In the sidār ("order," private prayer book) it is customary today to give the 19 "blessings" or strophes a name that expresses their subject: 1st ābhōth "fathers" (conclusion: "Shield of Abraham"); 2nd gēbhūrōth "power" (concl.: "Reviver of the dead"); 3rd gēbhūtōth "sanctification" (concl.: "Holy God"); 4th bīnāh "knowledge" of the Law (concl.: "Who grantest the grace of knowledge"); 5th tēlūbhāh "conversion"; 6th tēlūbhāh "forgiveness"; 7th gēlūbhāh "redemption"; 8th tēphūāh "healing"; 9th bīrkath haš-lānīm "prayer for the (good) years"; 10th gēbūy gēlūyōth "gathering of the dispersed" at the sound of the "great trumpet" around the "banner"; 11th bīrkath mīšpāy "blessing, prayer for judgment (right government)"; 12th b. ḥammīnīm "pr. against heretics" or apostates; 13th b. sadāqīm "pr. for the righteous" (proselytes); 14th b. Jērūsāqīm "pr. for Jerusalem"; 15th b. Dāwīdh "pr. for (the kingdom of the house of) David"; 16th tēphilāh "prayer" (of petition); 17th ābhōdhāh "service" (of God); 18th hōdhāh "thanksgiving"; 19th b. hōhānīm "pr. of the priests" (and lacking the end of the priestly blessing [Num. 6, 26 ff.]). The first 3 and the last 3 form, with the addition of the gēdhūtāth haj-jōm ("sanctification of the day"), the tēphilāth tēbha' ("seven prayers") of the Sabbath and festivals, in which the 13 middle strophes, which are petitions "for the needs of man," are omitted. The first 3 and the last 3, which constitute the permanent framework of the tēphilāh, are the oldest and must already have been in use before the Christian era (but the Talmudists wrongly attribute the Š. 'e. to the "Great Synagogue" of Ezra); the 6th and 7th (initially reserved for fast days) and the 11th also appear to be earlier than 70; the 17th seems to presuppose that worship is interrupted, after the Temple was destroyed in 70. The tone is collective, national, unlike the Pater (often compared with the Š. 'e.), which is at once universal and personal.

In the Palestinian recension the 12th "blessing" curses ("uproot... may they perish") the mīnīm ("apostates"; from the 2nd half of the 1st century the Jewish-Christians) and the nōšērīm (Christians), as St. Justin (C. Tryph., 16, 47, 93, 96, 108, 133), St. Epiphanius (Haer. 29, 9) and St. Jerome (In It., 52, 5 [PL. 24, 498]: "ter in die in Christianos congerunt maledicta") well knew; this hatred confirms the Pharisaic origin of the prayer. From the present text the mention of the "Nazarenes" and "apostates" has disappeared, in whose place "the slanderers" and the "enemies" are named.

Bibliography15 works

BIBL.: I. Elbogen, Gesch. des Achtzehnergebetes, Breslau 1903; id., Der jüd. Gottesdienst, Frankfurt a. M. 1924, pp. 27-60; id., S. e., in Jüd. Lex., V (1930), coll. 182-89; L. Finkelstein, The development of the Amidah, in The Jewish quart. review, 16 (1925-26), pp. 1-43, 126-70, and 18 (1927-28), pp. 466-70; H. L. Strack-P. Billerbeck, Komm. zum N. Test. aus Talmud und Midrasch, IV, Munich 1928, pp. 208-49; L. G. da Fonseca, De S.'s seu "Octodecim" Benedictionibus, in Verbum Domini, 9 (1929), pp. 248-55; G. Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1930, pp. 286-95; V. Aptovitzer, Birhath ham-mālim, in Monatsschr. f. Gesch. u. Wiss. d. Judentums, 74 (1930), pp. 108-115; M.-J. Lagrange, Le Judaïsme avant J.-C., Paris 1931, pp. 466-70; A. Schechter, Lectures on Jewish liturgy, I, Philadelphia 1933, pp. 9-22; A. Marmorstein, L'âge de la Kedoucha et de l'Amida, in Rev. des étud. juives, 97 (1934, 1), pp. 35-49; id., The oldest form of the Eighteen Benedictions, in Jesu. q. rev., 34 (1943-44), pp. 137-59; M. Zuhay, The Eighteen Benedictions according to R. Soudya Gaon, in Tarbiz, 16 (1944-45), pp. 57-70; K. G. Kuhn, Achtzehngebet und Vaterunser und der Reim, Tübingen 1930. - Text with Italian translation: D. Panzieri, Preghiera serale del Capo d'anno e dell'Espiazione, Rome 1937, pp. 40-61, 118-36, 142-45; D. Prato, Tèphilità lè-Dàwidh, Florence 1949, pp. 160-75, 208-21, 248-31, 302-305, 380-83.

Antonino Romeo

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