Ashrei
Encyclopedia
The Ashrei is a prayer that is recited at least three times daily in Jewish prayers, twice during Shacharit
and once during Mincha
. The prayer is composed primarily of Psalm 145
in its entirety, with a verse each from Psalms 84
and 144
added to the beginning, and a verse from Psalm 115
added to the end. The first two verses that are added both start with the Hebrew word "ashrei" (translating to "happy" or "praiseworthy" or "fortunate"), hence the prayer's name.
, citing Rabbi Eleazar ben Abina of the 4th century, which says that one who thoughtfully recites Ashrei three times daily, particularly the verse פותח, is guaranteed a place in Olam Haba (the World to Come). It is for this reason that not only is Ashrei recited these three times, but many of its verses occur throughout liturgy.
Ashrei is recited twice during Shacharit
(once during Pesukei D'Zimrah
and once between Tachanun
/Torah reading
and Psalm 20
/Uva Letzion
or in this place when any of these are omitted), and once as the introduction to Mincha
; it is also recited at the commencement of Selichot
services, on Yom Kippur
, Ashkenazim recite it during Ne'ila
instead of during Mincha, Sefardim recite it during both Mincha and Ne'ila. Such is the practice of the Ashkenaz, Sefardic, and Mizrahi; but the Romaniot and Rome traditions have it only on Mondays and Thursdays, and on holy days on which Supplications are not recited.
in full. Psalm 145 is composed of 21 verses, each starting with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet
arranged alphabetically. This makes Ashrei easy to memorize. The only Hebrew letter that does not begin a verse of Psalm 145 is nun
(נ).
The first two verses are from Psalms
84:5 and Psalms 144:15 respectively. The final verse is Psalm 115:18. The Rome liturgy adds to this Psalm 119:1 and the Mahzor Vitry (12th century) adds four (possibly five) other verses beginning with the same word ("Ashrei")(namely Psalms 119:1-2, 84:6, 112:1, and 89:16), and it appears that originally the general practice was to have more introductory verses than the two now used by Ashkenazic and Sefardic Jews.
Introductory verse: Psalm 84:5: It is customary for the congregants to be seated while reciting Ashrei, as the introductory verse, "Happy are the people who dwell in Your house", describes the congregants as part of the household, not strangers or mere visitors, so they sit to demonstrate that connection. The word ישב (yashav), here translated as "dwell" -- also means "sit down" (as in Exodus 17:12, First Kings 2:12, and Psalm 122:5), so the Talmud also suggests that this verse describes people sitting (b. Beracoth 32b).
Verse 7 (ז): It has been noticed that, while the majority of Hebrew Bibles spell the first word of this verse with a long vowel - זֵכֶר (zaykher), many prayerbooks print this word with a short vowel - זֶכֶר (zekher) -- the two variants being described as "five dots" and "six dots" respectively. There is no difference in meaning, both variants mean the same thing, a "remembrance" or a "reminder", and both occur elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, although the long vowel form occurs more often. The short vowel (six dots) reading does appear in this verse in several important early editions of the Hebrew Bible, such as the first four editions of the complete Hebrew Bible, and the Complutensian Polyglot and the First Rabbinic Bible (by Pratensis). But the long vowel (five dots) reading is found in virtually all the more recent and more authoritative editions, including the Aleppo Codex, the Leningrad Codex, the Second Rabbinic Bible (by Ben-Hayyim), the Letteris edition, the Ginsburg editions, the Koren edition, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, etc. Siddurim that carry the short vowel reading include, among others, the widely used ArtScroll Siddur (although the ArtScroll editions of the Bible and of the Psalms have here the long vowel reading). It would appear that prayerbook quotations of the Bible are sometimes copied as they appeared in earlier prayerbooks, without doublechecking the Bible itself (a similar effect has been noticed in the 19th and 20th century editions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which perpetuated quotations from the Bishops' Bible instead of using the wording of the King James Version).
Verse 13 (מ ... and נ). Psalm 145 is an alphabetic acrostic, each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet -- except that there is no line beginning with the letter nun (נ). This is discussed at greater length in the Wikipedia article on Psalm 145
. Although the Septuagint and some other non-Massoretic versions of the Bible have such a line, no Jewish prayerbook inserts a line beginning with nun.
Verse 16 (פ). "You open Your hand ..." This is a most important verse and the universal practice is that it must be said with much concentration on its meaning and with sincerity. In the weekday morning services, especially among Ashkenazim, when the worshippers are wearing their tefillin
, it is common reverently to touch the arm tefillin during the first half of the verse ("Your hand") and then the head tefillin during the second half ("its desire"). At other times, when tefillin are not worn, in addition to the concentration on the meaning of the verse, it is a custom (primarily Mizrahi but also practiced by others) to lift up one's upturned hands as if to receive God's gifts.
Significantly, there is no invidious comparison here between Israel and the other nations, nor any mention of the hostility of, or toward, other nations. The Psalm praises God whose justice and mercy applies to all peoples. In verse 9 (ט) we are told "The LORD is good to all and His mercy extends to all He has created." By verse 21 (ת) - "All flesh shall praise Your name ...." - all mankind expresses its gratitude.
Also significantly, this prayer is entirely praise of God, without asking for anything.
Also emphasized in Ashrei is God's kingship over all the universe; in particular, Psalm 145:1 is the Bible's only use of the phrase "God the King" (as distinguished from many occurrences of "my king" or "our king").
Shacharit
Shacharit is the the daily morning Tefillah of the Jewish people, one of the three times there is prayer each day.Shacharit is said to have been established by the patriarch Abraham when he prayed in the morning...
and once during Mincha
Mincha
Mincha, מנחה is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism.-Etymology:The name "Mincha" is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacrifice.-Origin:...
. The prayer is composed primarily of Psalm 145
Psalm 145
-Judaism:*The majority of the prayer Ashrei that is recited thrice daily is Psalm 145 .*Verse 13 is found in the repetition to the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah....
in its entirety, with a verse each from Psalms 84
Psalm 84
Psalm 84 is the 84th psalm of the Book of Psalms, composed by sons of Korah.-Judaism:*Verse 5 is the first verse of Ashrei.*Verse 13 is the tenth verse of V'hu Rachum in Pesukei Dezimra is found in Uva Letzion, and is part of Havdalah.-Songs:...
and 144
Psalm 144
-Judaism:*Is recited in some congregation before Maariv on Motzei Shabbat.*Verse 15 is the second verse of Ashrei. It is also the eighth verse of Hoshia Et Amecha in Pesukei Dezimra....
added to the beginning, and a verse from Psalm 115
Psalm 115
-Judaism:*Is one of six psalms of which Hallel is composed. On all days when Hallel is recited, this psalm is recited in its entirety, except on Rosh Chodesh and the last six days of Passover, when only verses 1-11 are recited....
added to the end. The first two verses that are added both start with the Hebrew word "ashrei" (translating to "happy" or "praiseworthy" or "fortunate"), hence the prayer's name.
Times of recitation
Ashrei is recited three times daily during the full course of Jewish prayers, in accordance with the TalmudTalmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, citing Rabbi Eleazar ben Abina of the 4th century, which says that one who thoughtfully recites Ashrei three times daily, particularly the verse פותח, is guaranteed a place in Olam Haba (the World to Come). It is for this reason that not only is Ashrei recited these three times, but many of its verses occur throughout liturgy.
Ashrei is recited twice during Shacharit
Shacharit
Shacharit is the the daily morning Tefillah of the Jewish people, one of the three times there is prayer each day.Shacharit is said to have been established by the patriarch Abraham when he prayed in the morning...
(once during Pesukei D'Zimrah
Pesukei D'Zimrah
Pesukei dezimra or zemirot, as they are called in the Spanish and Portuguese tradition, are a group of prayers that are recited daily during Jewish morning services...
and once between Tachanun
Tachanun
Tachanun or , also called nefillat apayim is part of Judaism's morning and afternoon services, after the recitation of the Amidah, the central part of the daily Jewish prayer services...
/Torah reading
Torah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...
and Psalm 20
Psalm 20
Psalm 20 is the 20th psalm of the Book of Psalms.The 70 words in this psalm are a reference to the 70 years of exile between the first and second temples...
/Uva Letzion
Uva Letzion
Uva letzion are the Hebrew opening words, and colloquially the name, of the closing prayer of the weekday morning service, before which one should not leave the synagogue...
or in this place when any of these are omitted), and once as the introduction to Mincha
Mincha
Mincha, מנחה is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism.-Etymology:The name "Mincha" is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacrifice.-Origin:...
; it is also recited at the commencement of Selichot
Selichot
Selichot or slichot are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days...
services, on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, Ashkenazim recite it during Ne'ila
Ne'ila
Ne'ila, the concluding service, is a special Jewish prayer service that is held only on Yom Kippur. It is the time when final prayers of repentance are recited at the closing of Yom Kippur....
instead of during Mincha, Sefardim recite it during both Mincha and Ne'ila. Such is the practice of the Ashkenaz, Sefardic, and Mizrahi; but the Romaniot and Rome traditions have it only on Mondays and Thursdays, and on holy days on which Supplications are not recited.
Text
The majority of Ashrei is Psalm 145Psalm 145
-Judaism:*The majority of the prayer Ashrei that is recited thrice daily is Psalm 145 .*Verse 13 is found in the repetition to the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah....
in full. Psalm 145 is composed of 21 verses, each starting with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
arranged alphabetically. This makes Ashrei easy to memorize. The only Hebrew letter that does not begin a verse of Psalm 145 is nun
Nun (letter)
Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . It is the third letter in Thaana , pronounced as "noonu"...
(נ).
The first two verses are from Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
84:5 and Psalms 144:15 respectively. The final verse is Psalm 115:18. The Rome liturgy adds to this Psalm 119:1 and the Mahzor Vitry (12th century) adds four (possibly five) other verses beginning with the same word ("Ashrei")(namely Psalms 119:1-2, 84:6, 112:1, and 89:16), and it appears that originally the general practice was to have more introductory verses than the two now used by Ashkenazic and Sefardic Jews.
Introductory verse: Psalm 84:5: It is customary for the congregants to be seated while reciting Ashrei, as the introductory verse, "Happy are the people who dwell in Your house", describes the congregants as part of the household, not strangers or mere visitors, so they sit to demonstrate that connection. The word ישב (yashav), here translated as "dwell" -- also means "sit down" (as in Exodus 17:12, First Kings 2:12, and Psalm 122:5), so the Talmud also suggests that this verse describes people sitting (b. Beracoth 32b).
Verse 7 (ז): It has been noticed that, while the majority of Hebrew Bibles spell the first word of this verse with a long vowel - זֵכֶר (zaykher), many prayerbooks print this word with a short vowel - זֶכֶר (zekher) -- the two variants being described as "five dots" and "six dots" respectively. There is no difference in meaning, both variants mean the same thing, a "remembrance" or a "reminder", and both occur elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, although the long vowel form occurs more often. The short vowel (six dots) reading does appear in this verse in several important early editions of the Hebrew Bible, such as the first four editions of the complete Hebrew Bible, and the Complutensian Polyglot and the First Rabbinic Bible (by Pratensis). But the long vowel (five dots) reading is found in virtually all the more recent and more authoritative editions, including the Aleppo Codex, the Leningrad Codex, the Second Rabbinic Bible (by Ben-Hayyim), the Letteris edition, the Ginsburg editions, the Koren edition, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, etc. Siddurim that carry the short vowel reading include, among others, the widely used ArtScroll Siddur (although the ArtScroll editions of the Bible and of the Psalms have here the long vowel reading). It would appear that prayerbook quotations of the Bible are sometimes copied as they appeared in earlier prayerbooks, without doublechecking the Bible itself (a similar effect has been noticed in the 19th and 20th century editions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which perpetuated quotations from the Bishops' Bible instead of using the wording of the King James Version).
Verse 13 (מ ... and נ). Psalm 145 is an alphabetic acrostic, each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet -- except that there is no line beginning with the letter nun (נ). This is discussed at greater length in the Wikipedia article on Psalm 145
Psalm 145
-Judaism:*The majority of the prayer Ashrei that is recited thrice daily is Psalm 145 .*Verse 13 is found in the repetition to the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah....
. Although the Septuagint and some other non-Massoretic versions of the Bible have such a line, no Jewish prayerbook inserts a line beginning with nun.
Verse 16 (פ). "You open Your hand ..." This is a most important verse and the universal practice is that it must be said with much concentration on its meaning and with sincerity. In the weekday morning services, especially among Ashkenazim, when the worshippers are wearing their tefillin
Tefillin
Tefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...
, it is common reverently to touch the arm tefillin during the first half of the verse ("Your hand") and then the head tefillin during the second half ("its desire"). At other times, when tefillin are not worn, in addition to the concentration on the meaning of the verse, it is a custom (primarily Mizrahi but also practiced by others) to lift up one's upturned hands as if to receive God's gifts.
Concepts
Ashrei is about three concepts. These are:- People are happy when they are close to GodNames of God in JudaismIn Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
. - God cares about the poor and oppressed.
- God rewards good behavior and punishes evil.
Significantly, there is no invidious comparison here between Israel and the other nations, nor any mention of the hostility of, or toward, other nations. The Psalm praises God whose justice and mercy applies to all peoples. In verse 9 (ט) we are told "The LORD is good to all and His mercy extends to all He has created." By verse 21 (ת) - "All flesh shall praise Your name ...." - all mankind expresses its gratitude.
Also significantly, this prayer is entirely praise of God, without asking for anything.
Also emphasized in Ashrei is God's kingship over all the universe; in particular, Psalm 145:1 is the Bible's only use of the phrase "God the King" (as distinguished from many occurrences of "my king" or "our king").