(ה) וַיִּפְתַּ֨ח עֶזְרָ֤א הַסֵּ֙פֶר֙ לְעֵינֵ֣י כׇל־הָעָ֔ם כִּֽי־מֵעַ֥ל כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם הָיָ֑ה וּכְפִתְח֖וֹ עָֽמְד֥וּ כׇל־הָעָֽם׃ (ו) וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ עֶזְרָ֔א אֶת־יְהֹוָ֥ה הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים הַגָּד֑וֹל וַיַּֽעֲנ֨וּ כׇל־הָעָ֜ם אָמֵ֤ן ׀ אָמֵן֙ בְּמֹ֣עַל יְדֵיהֶ֔ם וַיִּקְּד֧וּ וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֛וּ לַיהֹוָ֖ה אַפַּ֥יִם אָֽרְצָה׃ (ז) וְיֵשׁ֡וּעַ וּבָנִ֡י וְשֵׁרֵ֥בְיָ֣ה ׀ יָמִ֡ין עַקּ֡וּב שַׁבְּתַ֣י ׀ הֽוֹדִיָּ֡ה מַעֲשֵׂיָ֡ה קְלִיטָ֣א עֲזַרְיָה֩ יוֹזָבָ֨ד חָנָ֤ן פְּלָאיָה֙ וְהַלְוִיִּ֔ם מְבִינִ֥ים אֶת־הָעָ֖ם לַתּוֹרָ֑ה וְהָעָ֖ם עַל־עׇמְדָֽם׃ (ח) וַֽיִּקְרְא֥וּ בַסֵּ֛פֶר בְּתוֹרַ֥ת הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים מְפֹרָ֑שׁ וְשׂ֣וֹם שֶׂ֔כֶל וַיָּבִ֖ינוּ בַּמִּקְרָֽא׃ {פ}
אֵין כָּמוךָ בָאֱלהִים אֲדנָי. וְאֵין כְּמַעֲשיךָ:
מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל עולָמִים. וּמֶמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל דּור וָדור:
ה' מֶלֶךְ. ה' מָלָךְ. ה' יִמְלךְ לְעולָם וָעֶד:
ה' עז לְעַמּו יִתֵּן. ה' יְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּו בַשָּׁלום:
Father of Compassion––
let goodness in Zion be Your will, the building of Jerusalem Your wish. We place our faith in You alone,
in God, our Strength Eternal, existing beyond time and space.
וַיְהִי בִּנְסעַ הָאָרן וַיּאמֶר משֶׁה. קוּמָה ה' וְיָפֻצוּ איְבֶיךָ. וְיָנֻסוּ מְשנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ:
כִּי מִצִּיּון תֵּצֵא תורָה. וּדְבַר ה' מִירוּשָׁלָיִם:
בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּורָה לְעַמּו יִשרָאֵל בִּקְדֻשָּׁתו:
Advance, O יהוה !
May Your enemies be scattered,
And may Your foes flee before You! (36) And when it halted, he would say:
Return, O יהוה,
You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands!
כִּ֤י מִצִּיּוֹן֙ תֵּצֵ֣א תוֹרָ֔ה וּדְבַר־יְהֹוָ֖ה מִירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ (ד) וְשָׁפַט֙ בֵּ֣ין הַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְהוֹכִ֖יחַ לְעַמִּ֣ים רַבִּ֑ים וְכִתְּת֨וּ חַרְבוֹתָ֜ם לְאִתִּ֗ים וַחֲנִיתֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙ לְמַזְמֵר֔וֹת לֹא־יִשָּׂ֨א ג֤וֹי אֶל־גּוֹי֙ חֶ֔רֶב וְלֹֽא־יִלְמְד֥וּ ע֖וֹד מִלְחָמָֽה׃ {פ}
For instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (4) Thus He will judge among the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples, And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up Sword against nation; They shall never again know war.
חו”ק שְׁמַע יִשרָאֵל ה' אֱלהֵינוּ ה' אֶחָד:
חו”ק אֶחָד אֱלהֵינוּ. גָּדול אֲדונֵינוּ. קָדושׁ בראש השנה ויו"כ ובהו”ר: וְנורָא שְׁמו:
Listen, Israel: Adonai is our God, Adonai is One!
One and magnificent is our God;
God’s name is holy, inspiring awe.
Exalt the Eternal with me;
let us extol God’s name together.
After reciting the Shma and "Our God is one" (echad eloheinu), a line that yet again describes God's oneness, the prayer leader recites a verse from Psalms 34:4, inviting the congregation to "proclaim God's greatness" and "exalt his name." The verse is perfectly chosen, because at this moment the Torah is about to be circulated among the congregants. The verse appears in the Talmud in a different but related context. It is from this verse that the Talmud (Ber. 45a) derives the lesson that when three or more people dine together, they are obligated to recite the Birkat hamazon (Grace after Meals) together, beginning with a zimmun, an invitation to join in the prayer. Since gadlu ("proclaim") is in the plural but itti ("with me") is in the singular, this verse describes, at the very least, one person turning to two others and asking them to join in praise of God. And that is exactly what both the Birkat hamazon and the Torah reading are all about. ––Judth Hauptman (My People's Prayerbook)
Though the leader faced the community in declaiming the first two sentences, he or she now turns to the ark, bows (as do we all) for the first part of this sentence, "Proclaim Adonai's greatness with me, " and then resumes an upright posture (as we do too) upon reaching the middle words, "and let us exalt his name together." Our body language thus communicates both our subservience to God's greatness and our role as partners with God in exalting God's name through our words and actions
––Elliot Dorf (My People's Prayerbook)
קהל: לְךָ ה' הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַגְּבוּרָה וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת וְהַנֵּצַח וְהַהוד כִּי כל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ:
לְךָ ה' הַמַּמְלָכָה וְהַמִּתְנַשּא לְכל לְראשׁ:
רומְמוּ ה' אֱלהֵינוּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַהֲדם רַגְלָיו קָדושׁ הוּא:
רומְמוּ ה' אֱלהֵינוּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְהַר קָדְשׁו כִּי קָדושׁ ה' אֱלהֵינוּ:
Yours, Adonai, are greatness, might, splendor, triumph, and majesty — yes, all that is in heaven and earth; to You, God, belong majesty and preeminence above all.
Exalt Adonai our God — bow to God’s sovereignty;
bow toward God’s holy mountain,
for Adonai our God is holy.
Upon three things the world stands:
study of Torah,
worship of God,
and acts of human kindness.
העולה מברך:
בָּרְכוּ אֶת ה' הַמְברָךְ:
והקהל עונין:
בָּרוּךְ ה' הַמְברָךְ לְעולָם וָעֶד:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים וְנָתַן לָנוּ אֶת תּורָתו. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' נותֵן הַתּורָה:
Bless the Eternal, the Blessed One.
Blessed is the Eternal, the Blessed One,
now and forever.
Blessed is the Eternal, the Blessed One,
now and forever.
Blessed are You, Eternal, our God, supreme Power of the universe, who embraced us and gave us this Teaching, having chosen us to embody Torah among the peoples of the earth.
Blessed are You, God of eternity, whose gift is Torah.
The tense of the verb נתן, meaning to give, changes in the prayer. It starts out as God "gave" us Torah, and then concludes in the present tense with God "gives" us the Torah. The Torah was given at Mount Sinai. But in each generation, God also is giving it anew through the new interpretations of its teachers. The sages of each era thus draw, from the sacred texts, newly approprate readings for the needs of every age. ––Harold Kushner (My People's Prayerbook)
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לָנוּ תּורַת אֱמֶת וְחַיֵּי עולָם נָטַע בְּתוכֵנוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' נותֵן הַתּורָה:
Blessed are You, Eternal, our God, supreme Power of the universe, who gave us a Teaching of truth and planted within us eternal life.
Blessed are You, God of eternity, whose gift is Torah.
וְזאת הַתּורָה אֲשֶׁר שם משֶׁה לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשרָאֵל: עַל פִּי ה' בְּיַד משֶׁה:
This is the Teaching that Moses set before the people of Israel — at the command of God, by the hand of Moses.
"This is the Torah" It is a common practice to point to and identify the physical body of the Torah as we end the Torah service. But why? Surely, everyone present recognizes the unrolled scroll now held aloft for what it is: zot hatorah: "This is the Torah!" Why do we need to proclaim this undeniable fact? Just as we welcome the Torah into our midst by pledging our allegiance through the Sh'ma so we now bring its visit to a formal close by pledging our fidleity one last time. As a community, we stand together as witnesses and affirm: This is the very Torah that Moses brought down to us from Sinai at God's command. In so declaring, we magically transform symbol into reality, and then we hastily cloak the Torah in its garments before we awaken from the spell. ––Ellen Frankel (My People's Prayerbook)
Whereas Orthodox Jews recite this line with a literalist view of revelation in mind, Conservative, Reconstructionsit, and Reform Jews recite it with a very different understanding of both the process of revelation and the authority of the text of the Torah. For some, this sentence in the liturgy is simply an expression of what most Jews believed in the past; for others, it is a metaphor for the continuity and divine authority of the text; and for others, it is still true, even though God's revelation given to Moses was in a nonverbal form and even though the text we have in hand bears the imprint of its human authors. ––Elliot Dorff (my People's Prayerbook)
And all her paths, peaceful. (18) She is a tree of life to those who grasp her,
And whoever holds on to her is happy.
All praise God’s name, for God’s name alone is truly sublime:
Your brightness lights the earth and sky raises us up, blares out the note from Your people’s trumpet an exultant blast for all who struggle with You and are close at hand — Halleluyah!
כשמכניסים ס"ת להיכל אומרים:
כִּי לֶקַח טוב נָתַתִּי לָכֶם. תּורָתִי אַל תַּעֲזבוּ:
עֵץ חַיִּים הִיא לַמַּחֲזִיקִים בָּהּ. וְתמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר:
דְּרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי נעַם וְכָל נְתִיבתֶיהָ שָׁלום:
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ ה' אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה. חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם:
A precious teaching I have given you:
My Torah. Do not forsake it.
A Tree of Life to those who hold it fast: all who embrace it know happiness. Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace. Take us back, Adonai — let us come back to You. Renew in our time the days of old.
What does it mean to us as a community to receive the Torah in our midst? And how does it feel to have it withdraw back into the ark? In a very real sense, the Torah is as close as Jews come to representing God physically; we honor its body and garments with more reverence than we do accord any human dignitary. So, when we prepare to return the Torah to the ark, we experience both sadness and fear. Our protector is departing. ––Ellen Frankel (My People's Prayerbook)
Do not forsake my teaching.
(3) Once I was a son to my father,
The tender darling of my mother. (4) He instructed me and said to me,
“Let your mind hold on to my words;
Keep my commandments and you will live. (5) Acquire wisdom, acquire discernment;
Do not forget and do not swerve from my words. (6) Do not forsake her and she will guard you;
Love her and she will protect you.
and he studies that teaching day and night. (3) He is like a tree planted beside streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season,
whose foliage never fades,
and whatever it produces thrives.-b
השיבנו יהוה אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כקדם
Forsaken us for all time? (21) Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old! (22) For truly, You have rejected us,
Bitterly raged against us.
Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old!