{"id":76691,"date":"2020-06-30T14:21:43","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T11:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=76691"},"modified":"2020-06-30T14:21:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T11:21:43","slug":"hosea-and-jewish-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hosea-and-jewish-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Hosea and Jewish Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"76691","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"514","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And the 19 blessings in the prayer of the 18\r\n\r\n","content":"

This chapter contains the opening verses of the haftarah that is recited on the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Hakippurim, which is called Shabbat Shuvah because of the first words of 14:2: \u201cReturn (<\/span>shuvah<\/span><\/i>) O Israel to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled on account of your sins.\u201d See also our comments to this haftarah in <\/span>our introduction to Trei Asar<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following verse reads: \u201cTake words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him: \u201cForgive all guilt and accept what is good (<\/span>tov<\/span><\/em>); instead of bulls we will pay [the offering of] our lips\u201d (14:3). This verse is cited in Talmudic discussions as evidence that Jewish prayer is, primarily, a substitute for sacrifice (<\/span>see our comments on Hosea Chapter 6<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One phrase in it, however, has wide ranging implications for the consideration of what is, arguably, the most central part of the daily liturgy, the Amidah (\u201cthe standing prayer\u201d), colloquially known as <\/span>Shemoneh Esrei<\/em> <\/span>(literally: \u201c18\u201d), on account of the 18 blessings it ostensibly contains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone conversant with this prayer knows that it really numbers 19 blessings; that there were originally 18, until a 19<\/span>th<\/span> blessing (against the heretics –\u00a0<\/span>minim<\/span><\/em>) was added later. There is, however, an alternate scenario, attested to by both a Midrashic passage and the evidence of the Cairo Genizah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Midrash Bemidbar Rabbah (Korach 18:21), states:<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel said: Master of the universe, when the Temple stood, we would bring sacrifices and receive atonement. Now, we are left with only prayer. <\/span>Tov<\/span><\/em> [the \u201cgood\u201d of 14:3] adds up alphanumerically to 17; [but] the [Amidah] prayer has 19 blessings? Subtract the blessing against the heretics, which was instituted at Yavneh, and \u201cthe flowering (<\/span>tzemach<\/span><\/em>) of David,\u201d which was instituted after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, the Amidah originally consisted of only 17 blessings (corresponding to the numerical value of <\/span>tov<\/span><\/em>) to which two blessings were added later, bringing the total first to 18\u2014hence the sobriquet Shemoneh Esrei\u2014and later yet to 19. Liturgical texts, such as <\/span>siddurim<\/span><\/em>, prayer books, retrieved from the Cairo Genizah provide evidence that as late as the High Middle Ages, Jews who followed the rites of Eretz Yisrael, even if they were living in Egypt, had only 18 blessings in their Amidah, combining the adjacent blessings of rebuilding Jerusalem and the flowering of David into one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Babylonian rite, on the other hand, split these in two\u2014probably in honor of the Babylonian Exilarch, who was a descendant of King David\u2014thereby yielding the 19 blessing format that is universal today.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":76695,"id":76695,"title":"hos14-tallit-synagogue","filename":"hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hosea-and-jewish-prayer\/hos14-tallit-synagogue\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hos14-tallit-synagogue","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":76691,"date":"2020-06-30 11:20:33","modified":"2020-11-10 15:09:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":880,"height":582,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-300x198.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","large-width":880,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","1536x1536-width":880,"1536x1536-height":582,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","2048x2048-width":880,"2048x2048-height":582,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","post_full_size-width":880,"post_full_size-height":582,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Hosea and Jewish Prayer","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And the 19 blessings in the prayer of the 18","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":76695,"id":76695,"title":"hos14-tallit-synagogue","filename":"hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hosea-and-jewish-prayer\/hos14-tallit-synagogue\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hos14-tallit-synagogue","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":76691,"date":"2020-06-30 11:20:33","modified":"2020-11-10 15:09:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":880,"height":582,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-300x198.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","large-width":880,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","1536x1536-width":880,"1536x1536-height":582,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","2048x2048-width":880,"2048x2048-height":582,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue.jpg","post_full_size-width":880,"post_full_size-height":582,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-tallit-synagogue-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76696,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76691\/revisions\/76696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}