From Torah to Tefillah

By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.

While several of our prayers quote biblical texts, this week’s parasha, Shemot, is where we get a very famous passage from the beginning of each Amida that we say three times a day every day. In Exodus 3:6, we read about God’s revelation at the burning bush. God said: “I am the God of your father, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.” You are likely to recognize the Hebrew of the latter part of this verse as well: Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak, v’Elohei Ya’akov.

When we speak to God in the Amida, we use these words, God’s own words from when God spoke to Moshe for the very first time. But why was God so repetitive? Why not simply say “God of” once and then list our ancestors’ names? 

One reason may be to remind ourselves of this incredible and holy encounter at the burning bush, the first time this phrase is ever used in the Torah. It is subsequently repeated two more times in this Torah portion: again in 3:15 after revealing God’s unique name to Moshe; and once more in 4:5 when, with God’s assistance, Moshe produces the first sign to Pharaoh, the rod becoming a snake, in his first attempt to have Pharaoh let B’nai Israel go free.

I would like to think of this phrasing including “God of” / “Elohei” three times in each of the three moments in two ways. One, God is eternal throughout time, throughout every generation, both for those ancestors that came before us (Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov), and those descendents that will follow us in the future. And two, each of our ancestors had unique experiences with God. While God is One, each of our experiences with the Divine is unique and individualized. Just as God is unique, so is each of our relationships with God.

Repetition in the Torah is always there for a reason, to inspire us to ask these kinds of questions. As we begin the new secular year with a new book of the Torah, this is our opportunity to ask ourselves: what will my relationship with God look like moving forward? Perhaps just as Moshe grows as a leader throughout this parasha and the rest of the Torah, maybe we too can be strengthened by our relationship to the divine in this next chapter of the Torah and of our lives.

Shabbat Shalom.