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Blessed are You, LORD our GOD, King of the Universe, who forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates all.

In compassion He gives light to the earth and its inhabitants, and in His goodness continually renews the work of creation, day after day. How many are Your works, O LORD. You made them all in wisdom. The earth is full of Your creations. He is the King exalted alone since the beginning of time – praised, glorified and elevated since the world began. Eternal GOD, in Your great compassion, have compassion on us, LORD of our strength, Rock of our refuge, Shield of our salvation, You are our stronghold.

The blessed GOD, great in knowledge, prepared and made the rays of the sun. He who is good formed glory for His name, surrounding His power with radiant stars. The leaders of His hosts, the holy ones, exalt the Almighty, constantly proclaiming GOD’S glory and holiness. Be blessed, LORD our GOD, for the magnificence of Your handiwork and for the radiant lights You have made. May they glorify You, Selah!

May You be blessed, our Rock, King and Redeemer, Creator of holy beings. May Your name be praised for ever, our King, Creator of the ministering angels, all of whom stand in the universe’s heights, proclaiming together, in awe, aloud, the words of the living GOD, the eternal King. They are all beloved, all pure, all mighty, and all perform in awe and reverence the will of their Maker. All open their mouths in holiness and purity, with song and psalm, and bless, praise, glorify, revere, sanctify and declare the sovereignty of –

The name of the great, mighty and awesome GOD and King, holy is He. All accept on themselves, one from another, the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, granting permission to one another to sanctify the One who formed them, in serene spirit, pure speech and sacred melody, and all, as one, respond, saying in awe:

All, aloud:

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole world is filled with His glory.

Then the Ophanim and the Holy Chayot, with a roar of noise, raise themselves toward the Seraphim and, facing them, give praise, saying:

All, aloud:

Blessed be the Lord’s glory from His place.

To the blessed GOD they offer melodies. To the King, living and eternal GOD, they say psalms and proclaim praises. For it is He alone who does mighty deeds and creates new things. He is Master of battles. He sows righteousness and makes salvation grow. He creates cures. He is revered in praises, the LORD of wonders who, in His goodness, continually renews the work of creation, day after day, as it is said, “[Praise] Him who made the great lights, for His love endures for ever”. May You make a new light shine over Zion, and may we all soon be worthy of its light. Blessed are You, LORD, who forms the radiant lights.

You have loved us with great love, LORD our GOD, and with surpassing compassion have You had compassion on us. Our Father, our King, for the sake of our ancestors who trusted in You, and to whom You taught the laws of life, be gracious also to us and teach us. Our Father, compassionate Father, ever compassionate, have compassion on us. Instil in our hearts the desire to understand and discern, to listen, learn and teach, to observe, perform and fulfil all the teachings of Your Torah in love. Enlighten our eyes in Your Torah and let our hearts cling to Your commandments. Unite our hearts to love and revere Your name, so that we may never be ashamed. And because we have trusted in Your holy, great and revered name, may we be glad and rejoice in Your salvation.

At this point, gather the four tzitziot of the tallit, holding them in the left hand.

Bring us back in peace from the four quarters of the earth and lead us upright to our land, for You are a GOD who performs acts of salvation. You chose us from all peoples and tongues, bringing us close to Your great name for ever in truth, that we may thank You and proclaim Your Oneness in love. Blessed are You, LORD, who chooses His people Israel in love.

Thank the LORD: A psalm of thanksgiving composed by King David to celebrate the moment when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem.

Exalt: This paragraph is a selection of verses from the Book of Psalms on the theme of hope and trust in GOD. A psalm of thanksgiving: This psalm accompanied the korban to-dah, a thanksgiving offering (Leviticus 7:11), brought to express gratitude for coming safely through a hazardous situation (recovering from illness, completing a potentially dangerous journey or being released from captivity). Nowadays, we make the HaGomel blessing (which is said after surviving illness, childbirth or danger) in place of the sacrifice. The psalm first appeared as part of the daily service in Yemenite and French prayer books of the Middle Ages. Its presence here is to emphasise the mood of thankfulness that dominates this section of the prayers.

THE SHEMA AND ITs BLESSINGS

The Verses of Praise are a prelude to prayer. We now move to congregational prayer, at whose heart are the Shema and the Amidah (the “standing” prayer). Saying the Shema twice daily (morning and evening, “when you lie down and when you rise up”) is a biblical institution, and was part of the order of service in Temple times. The transition to congregational prayer is marked by a call – “Bless GOD” – to those present to join together in prayer as a community.

The blessed GOD: An alphabetical acrostic of 22 words. Although the first blessing is about creation as a whole, the morning prayer emphasises the element of which we are most conscious at the start of the day: the creation of light. Of this, there are two forms: the physical light of the sun, moon and stars, made on the fourth day of creation, and the spiritual light created on the first day (“Let there be light”). The prayer modulates from the first to the second: from the universe as we see it to the mystical vision of GoD enthroned in glory surrounded by angels.

The three blessings and the three paragraphs of the Shema form six passages, leading up to the seventh, the Amidah. In Judaism, seven is the number of the holy. For the main commentary on this section of the prayers, see page 370.

The theme of this section of the service is revelation: GOD as He has disclosed Himself in the words of the Torah. So at its heart are three passages from the Torah, known collectively by their first word, Shema. Around it are three blessings, two before and one after the Shema. Like the morning service as a whole, their themes are creation, revelation and redemption. The first (continuing the theme of the Verses of Praise) is about creation, renewed daily. The second (“You have loved us”) is about revelation: the Torah, given in love. The third (“True and firm”) is about redemption.

The Shema. The Shema is the oldest and greatest of our prayers, part of the liturgy since Temple times, recited evening and morning, “when you lie down and when you rise”. Its opening line is among the first words taught to a Jewish child, and among the last words spoken by those who went to their deaths because they were Jews. It is the supreme declaration of faith.

The Shema contains no human requests, no praise, no plea. It is a set of biblical readings. It is less a prayer than a prelude to prayer. In prayer, we speak to GOD. In the Shema, GOD, through the Torah, speaks to us. The word Shema itself means “listen", and the recital of the Shema is a supreme act of faith-as-listening: to the voice that brought the universe into being, created us in love and guides us through our lives.

The first paragraph represents kabba-lat ol malchut shamayim, “acceptance of the yoke of the kingship of heaven”. We pledge allegiance to the One GOD, sovereign of the universe, to whose authority all earthly powers are answerable. We do so not in fear but in love and with the totality of our being: all our heart, our soul, our might. That love suffuses all we do, from our relationship with our children to the homes we make.

The second paragraph represents kab-balat ol mitzvot, “acceptance of the commandments”. Whereas the first paragraph speaks to us as individuals, the second speaks to us as a people, defined by our covenant with GOD and its 613 commandments. “Our nation is only a nation in virtue of its Torah”, said Rabbi Saadia Gaon, and our collective fate depends on our collective faith. The third paragraph speaks of tzitzit, a perennial reminder of GOD’S commandments. It then leads into the theme of the exodus from Egypt, which we are commanded to remember “all the days of our lives”.