God of our fathers, to remember in our favor the covenant of our fathers. Even as Abraham our father held back his compassion from his only son and desired to slay him in order to do thy will, so may thy mercy hold back thy anger from us; let thy compassion prevail over thy acts of retaliation. Be lenient with us, Lord our God, and deal with us kindly and mercifully. In thy great goodness, may thy fierce wrath turn away from thy people, thy city, thy land, and thy heritage. Fulfill, Lord our God, what thou hast, promised us through Moses thy servant, as it is said: “I will remember my covenant with Jacob; also my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”[1]
Man should ever be[2] God-fearing in private as well as in public. He should acknowledge the truth, and speak the truth in his heart. Let him rise early and say:
Master of all worlds![3] It is not on account of our own righteousness that we offer our supplications before thee, but on account of thy great compassion. What are we? What is our life? What is our goodness? What our righteousness? What our helpfulness? What our strength? What our might? What can we say in thy presence, Lord our God and God of our fathers? Indeed, all the heroes are as nothing before thee, the men of renown as though they never existed, the wise as if they were without knowledge, the intelligent as though they lacked understanding; for most of their doings are worthless, and the days of their life are vain in thy sight; man is not far above beast, for all is vanity.
However, we are thy people, thy people of the covenant, the children of Abraham thy friend, to whom thou didst make a promise on Mount Moriah; we are the descendants of his only son Isaac, who was bound on the altar; we are the community of Jacob thy first-born, whom thou didst name Israel and Jeshurun because of thy love for him and thy delight in him.
- ↑ Leviticus 26:42.
- ↑ לעולם יהא אדם and onwards forms an impressive setting for the Shema, the acknowledgement of the unity of God. During the reign of Yezdejerd II (fifth century) it was made unlawful for the Babylonian Jews to recite the Shema as being a challenge to the Zoroastrian religion. Special government officials were posted in the synagogues to watch the services. The rabbis of the time impressed upon the people the duty of reciting at least the first verse of Shema privately, in their homes, before proceeding to the synagogue for the morning service. לעולם יהא is an exhortation to the effect that Judaism must be practised in secrecy (בסתר) during religious persecution. The additional word ובגלוי is not found in early texts.
- ↑ רבון כל העולמים is mentioned in Yoma 87b as a Yom Kippur prayer.
