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The Amidah (Hebrew: תפילת העמידה, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', "The Standing Prayer"), also called the ''Shmoneh Esreh'' (''שמנה עשרה'', "The Eighteen," in reference to the original number of constituent blessings; there are now nineteen), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. As Judaism's central prayer, the Amidah is often designated simply as tefila (תפילה, "prayer") in Rabbinic literature. Observant Jews recite the Amidah at each of three prayer services in a typical weekday: morning, afternoon, and evening. A special abbreviated Amidah is also the core of the ''Mussaf'' ("Additional") service that is recited on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), Rosh Chodesh (the day of the New Moon), and Jewish festivals, after the morning Torah reading, with various forms of the Amidah that depend on the occasion. The typical weekday Amidah actually consists of nineteen blessings, though it originally had eighteen; when the Amidah is modified for specific prayers or occasions, the first three blessings and the last three remain constant, framing the Amidah used in each service, while the middle thirteen blessings are replaced by blessings specific to the occasion. The language of the Amidah most likely dates from the mishnaic period, both before and after the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) at which time it was considered unnecessary to prescribe its text and content.〔Maimonides on Men. iv. 1b, quoted by Elbogen, "Gesch. des Achtzehngebetes."〕 The Talmud indicates that when Rabbi Gamaliel II undertook to fix definitely the public service and to regulate private devotion, he directed Samuel ha-Katan to write another paragraph inveighing against informers and heretics, which was inserted as the twelfth prayer in modern sequence, making the number of blessings nineteen.〔Ber. iv. 3; see Grätz, "Gesch." 3d ed., iv. 30 ''et seq.''.〕 Other sources, also in the Talmud, indicate, however, that this prayer was part of the original 18;〔Donin, Rabbi Hayim Halevy, ''To Pray as a Jew'', p. 92, citing Yer. Berakhot 2:4 and Eliezer Levy, ''Yesodot Hatefilah''〕 and that 19 prayers came about when the 15th prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem and of the throne of David (coming of the Messiah) was split into two.〔Donin, pp. 95–96〕 The prayer is recited standing with feet firmly together, and preferably while facing Jerusalem. In Orthodox public worship, the Shemoneh Esrei is usually first prayed silently by the congregation and is then repeated aloud by the ''chazzan'' (reader); the repetition's original purpose was to give illiterate members of the congregation a chance to participate in the collective prayer by answering "Amen." Conservative and Reform congregations sometimes abbreviate the public recitation of the Amidah according to their customs. The rules governing the composition and recital of the Amidah are discussed primarily in the Talmud, in Chapters 4–5 of Berakhot; in the Mishneh Torah, in chapters 4–5 of ''Hilkhot Tefilah''; and in the Shulchan Aruch, Laws 89–127. ==Origin== The language of the Amidah most likely comes from the mishnaic period,〔1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.〕 both before and after the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) as the probable time of its composition and compilation. In the time of the Mishnah, it was considered unnecessary to prescribe its text and content. This may have been simply because the language was well known to the Mishnah's authors.〔Maimonides on Men. iv. 1b, quoted by Elbogen, "Gesch. des Achtzehngebetes".〕 The Mishnah may also not have recorded a specific text because of an aversion to making prayer a matter of rigor and fixed formula, an aversion that continued at least to some extent throughout the Talmudic period, as evidenced by the opinions of R. Eliezer (Talmud Ber. 29b) and R. Simeon ben Yohai (Ab. ii. 13). R. Jose held that one should include something new in one's prayer every day (Talmud Yerushalmi Ber. 8b), a principle said to have been carried into practice by R. Eleazar and R. Abbahu (ib.). Prayer was not to be read as one would read a letter (ib.). However, even the talmudic sources reflect such diverse opinions including the one attributing the formulation of the Amidah to the "men of the Great Synagogue" (Ber.33a, Meg. 17b), namely to the early Second Temple period, as opposed to one that explicitly ascribes the arrangement of the prayer to the activity of Rabban Gamliel in the post-destruction era at Yavneh (Ber. 28b).〔Ehrlich, Uri and Hanoch Avenary. "Amidah." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 72–76. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. 17 November 2009, p. 73〕 The Talmud names Simeon ha-Paoli as the editor of the collection in the academy of R. Gamaliel II. at Yavneh. (Ber. 28b). But this can not mean that the benedictions were unknown before that date; for in other passages the "Shemoneh 'Esreh" is traced to the "first wise men" (Sifre, Deut. 343), and again to "120 elders and among these a number of prophets" (Meg. 17b). In order to remove the discrepancies between the latter and the former assignment of editorship, the Talmud takes refuge in the explanation that the prayers had fallen into disuse, and that Gamaliel reinstituted them (Meg. 18a). The historical kernel in these conflicting reports seems to be the indubitable fact that the benedictions date from the earliest days of the Pharisaic Synagogue. They were at first spontaneous outgrowths of the efforts to establish the Pharisaic Synagogue in opposition to, or at least in correspondence with, the Sadducean Temple service. This is apparent from the haggadic endeavor to connect the stated times of prayer with the sacrificial routine of the Temple, the morning and the afternoon "Tefillah" recalling the constant offerings (Ber. 26b; Gen. R. lxviii.), while for the evening "Tefillah" recourse was had to artificial comparison with the sacrificial portions consumed on the altar during the night. R. Gamaliel II. undertook finally both to fix definitely the public service and to regulate private devotion. He directed Simeon ha-Pakoli to edit the benedictions-probably in the order they had already acquired-and made it a duty, incumbent on every one, to recite the prayer three times daily. According to the Talmud Gamaliel directed Samuel ha-Katan to write another paragraph against informers and heretics making the number nineteen (Ber. iv. 3; see Grätz, "Gesch." 3d ed., iv. 30 et seq.). This addition is the 12th prayer in the modern sequence. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Amidah」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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