RABBINIC POPULAR PRAYER * 64 the motivations and meanings of rabbinic prayer, in both the broad and narrow senses of the term . It is perhaps the rabbinic prayer par excellence — the shemoneh esreh , the eighteen / nineteen - blessing silent prayer ( henceforth : Amidah ) — that has most eluded consensus among interpreters with respect to its meaning . In the following pages, I will review and critique outstanding recent proposals, suggesting an interpretation that emerges from a consideration of the historical, social, and material realities in which the Amidah took shape . In 1993, Ezra Fleischer offered a clear and compelling characterization In Reuven Kimelman’s translation, Fleischer describedof the Amidah . 2 the prayer as “a chronologically organized plan, in logical sequence, for the rebuilding of the nation from its post - destruction historical reality In his own to its spiritual and political restoration in the ideal future . ” 3 important study, Kimelman accepts, in large p...
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