May his great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be he, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.
May the prayers and supplications of the whole house of Israel be accepted by their Father who is in heaven; and say, Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
He who creates peace in his celestial heights, may he create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
ALENU[1]
It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth; who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude. We bend the knee and bow and acknowledge before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be he, that it is he who stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth. His seat of glory is in the heavens above; his abode of majesty is in the lofty heights. He is our God, there is none else; truly, he is our King, there is none besides him, as it is written in his Torah: “You shall know this day, and reflect in your heart, that it is the Lord who is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, there is none else.”[2]
We hope therefore, Lord our God, soon to behold thy majestic glory, when the abominations shall be removed from the earth, and the false gods exterminated; when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty, and all mankind will call upon
- ↑ עלינו is the proclamation of God as King over a united humanity. An old tradition claims Joshua as its author. Taken from the Musaf Service of Rosh Hashanah, Alenu has been used as the closing prayer of the daily services since the thirteenth century. It is reported that it was the death-song of Jewish martyrs in the Middle Ages. Alenu has been the occasion of repeated attacks on account of the passage: “They bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god that cannot save” (שהם משתחוים להבל וריק ומתפללים אל אל לא יושיע). Through fear of the official censors, the passage in question has been excluded from the prayer.
- ↑ Deuteronomy 4:39.
