Hannah’s Prayer and the Amidah
Rabbi Moshe Alshich (a student of Maran Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch) of Safed revealed the connection between Hannah’s prayer and the Amidah (Shemoneh Esrei).
Rabbi Moshe Alshich explains that the first three blessings of the Shemoneh Esrei—“Avot,” “Gevurot,” and “Kedushat Hashem”—correspond to the structure of Hannah’s prayer.
The first blessing, which corresponds to “Avot,” speaks of the attribute of “chesed” and concludes with the words, “Magen Avraham.” In other words, in the first blessing we mention the three forefathers of the Jewish people—Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov—but conclude by mentioning Avraham alone.
There is a Midrash on the Book of Bereishit which says that Avraham was told that he would be a source of blessing. The Midrash asks: Perhaps the blessing should be concluded by mentioning all three forefathers? But no—the blessing is concluded with Avraham alone, because the contributions of Yitzchak and Yaakov are vitally necessary, yet the essence of everything is Avraham’s kindness. “Chesed”—kindness—is the central theme of the first blessing.
Thus, when Hannah’s son was born, she received two gifts of Divine kindness at once: first, that a son had been born to her, and second, that she would bring him to the House of the L-rd, where he would remain with the High Priest. That is why she says two things.
The first prayer: “My heart rejoices,” referring to the gift she received. But she also makes clear that her joy is solely because she received this gift, not because something bad would happen to others. (She prophetically foresaw that Peninnah’s children would die, but this in no way added to her joy.) Her entire joy was due only to the Divine kindness shown to her. She did not ask that her son become great in this world or hold a position of authority; she asked only that he serve the L-rd. All this expresses the first blessing, which is directed toward “chesed.”
The second blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei speaks of justice and strict judgment—“Gevurot”—and concludes with the revival of the dead. It contains the phrase “rav lehoshia”—“abundant in salvation.” We can say that Hannah says something corresponding to this blessing as well. She says that the L-rd had just now saved her son from death, when she brought him and he was studying in the presence of the High Priest. Two-year-old Shmuel said that a sacrifice did not necessarily have to be slaughtered only by a Kohen; an ordinary person could do it as well. At that moment, he was placed in danger. But the L-rd rescued him. This was precisely the right time for her to offer this prayer. It was more appropriate now than two years earlier, when he was born, because now there were grounds for it. First, Hannah had nursed him and brought him there, which gave her reason to begin her prayer. Second, the immediate impetus was that he had just been saved. It was for this reason that she expressed her gratitude.
The third blessing corresponds to “Holiness”—“Atah Kadosh.” Alshich says that this corresponds to Hannah’s words: “There is none holy like the L-rd.”
In what sense? As is known, angels also possess holiness, but their holiness cannot compare in any way with the holiness of the L-rd, because they are entirely different: while angels remain in their spiritual realm, they are separate, but whenever they are sent on a mission into the physical world, they must assume some kind of physical form. This never happens with the L-rd. When interacting with any world, the L-rd remains completely separate from it and does not assume its form. He is therefore absolutely transcendent. No matter to whom or in what form the L-rd reveals Himself, He never changes His essence in the slightest, because He has no connection to this world in any way. He may “appear” by creating auditory, visual, or other effects, but He Himself does not change.
Rabbi Moshe Alshich explains Hannah’s words:
— “Ki ein biltecha” (there is none holy like the L-rd)—
“You are utterly separate, taking no form and entering into no connection with anything, yet nothing in the world, throughout all the worlds, can exist without You.” In other words, everything exists, but everything proceeds from You.
Hannah continues: “ve-ein tzur kEloheinu”—“there is no rock like our G-d.”
The Sages of the Talmud say: “For their rock is not like our Rock, and their fortress is not like our Fortress.” Our G-d is compared with the angels—the heavenly “ministers”—who govern the other nations. Why is He “not like our Rock”? Because all those heavenly rulers of the other nations are subject to change. When the fortune of a nation declines, its angel also declines. This is not so with the L-rd: even when His people are in exile and in a difficult situation, His power suffers no harm whatsoever. Therefore, the Jewish people are not subject to cycles of rise and decline, because the Heavenly Ruler of the Jewish people is the L-rd Himself, whose power can never be diminished in any way.
Hannah’s next words, “ki El de’ot Hashem”—“the L-rd is a G-d of knowledge”—are connected with the fourth blessing, “Da’at.” It might seem that since He knows everything, there is no point in deceiving ourselves by imagining that we truly make choices, since everything is predetermined and decided. And since G-d is so separate from everything, perhaps He does not intervene in the affairs of this lower world, having entrusted its governance to the heavenly luminaries and so forth. Yet the remarkable nature of His transcendence is precisely that He simultaneously governs the smallest and lowest details of existence in this lower world.
In Hannah’s phrase, “The bows of the mighty are broken,” the word “bow” appears in the singular, while “are broken” is in the plural. Alshich explains that “bow” can be used as a collective noun, and that “are broken” refers not to the bow but to the mighty. The mighty need a bow because they are weaklings; they break on their own, and therefore seize a bow in order to bolster their strength. As for those who have stumbled, when a person recognizes his weakness and relies on the L-rd, he “girds himself with strength.”
(Based on material from Sila Tehilim on Odnoklassniki)
Hannah’s Prayer (transliteration)
Prayer of Hannah (Transliterated)
Hannah’s Prayer—How to Reach the Heavens
Hannah’s Prayer – How to Reach the Heavens
Hannah’s Prayer—A Special Segula in the Month of Kislev
Hannah's Prayer – A Special Segula in the Month of Kislev
Hannah and Peninnah—Reward for Tzarot
Hannah and Peninnah — a Reward for Tzarot, or: Do Not Oppress
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Tags: Prayer, Amidah, Hannah's Prayer, Hannah's Prayer, Rabbi Moshe Alshich
