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I learned more history about the Amidah and I didnt know that before so Im glad that I could have more knowledge behind the amidah like why we do it and how it started

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This class has been amazing! Thank you Sheri! I learned to chant a lot of the amidah, learned about the meaning of the prayers, played Jeopardy, did exercises, learned the choreography, and more!

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The Amidah is fascinating. I enjoyed learning about its many facets, some of which were now to me. Thank you for teaching this, Sheri and EITAN!

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I learned about lot’s of the choreography and meaning behind it for the Amidah that I didn’t know coming into this class like taking three steps back and three steps forward at the beginning to re-enter the space with intention and in the Kedusha bowing left and right at ze el ze to stimulate angels greeting each other.

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I didn't know that I would learn so much in this class! I thought that after my Bat mitzvah I had learned most of what there was about this prayer. It turns out that I had only scraped the surface of the history of the prayer.. I found it very interesting, all of the little facts and stories that where/are tied in. The thing that I most interesting was that the last part of the prayer that we went over is a lot of angelic references.

Happy last Class!!

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Today is our last class of the term and also for the school year.  We’ve analyzed different parts of the Amidah prayer, we’ve done some creative writing, we’ve done some improvised interpretation of what the prayers mean, and you’ve had a chance to comment on or review the class and instruction.  Thank you for all of your hard work!  This very last Padlet exercise, I’d like you to tell me about anything significant, unique or new you learned about the Amidah that you did not know coming into this course.

Thank you for your incredible work this term.  You’ve all grown so much and I am proud of each and every one of you.  Uferatzta!

You have ten minutes.

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I really enjoyed this class even though I have already done the amida for over a year. I would rate a 8.5 out of 10.

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This class was great! Thank you Sheri for teaching! I think the most valuable thing learned was the learning to chant (and learning about) the amidah prayers. I wish we had more time to learn about them and learn about more things. I give Sheri’s teaching a (hmmmmmm) 9!!!!! The class was also an overall 9. (By the way I don’t usually give 10s because that would be completely perfect and that hardly ever happens.)

よくできました！oh wait wrong language/school

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I think the most valuable thing I learned in this class was the chanting and vocabulary/comprehension. I also really enjoy jeopardy.
One thing that I think would help me with the chanting would be if we had more time to work on chanting in breakout rooms where we'd be split up into groups based on our needs.
Thanks for teaching this class! :)

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I liked these classes ‘because they have served a a valuable introduction to various praises and prayers. I do not feel like I 1000% solidified anything, but I did gain valuable introductions  to the materiel.

I feel like I have sort of well learned the Avôt v’Imôt prayers, more than others..

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I feel that the most valuable tings in the class was the vocabulary and the tune of the prayers.
Vocabulary (7/10):
I with there was more bingo and maybe word referencing jeopardy.
Tune (9.99999999999999/10):
This was really good, I learned a lot, but I must leave a 0.00000000000001 for improvement (because nothing is perfect and you can always improve.)

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I think that you have done an amazing job teaching this year (term/all). for this particular class I already knew the chanting, but have realized, that there is more to these prayers than I first thought. Thank you so much for everything!!

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I had a pretty good time in this class and am happy with what we learned but I wish we had had time to cover the whole prayer. I am sad that this is one of my last classes but I am glad it was this one. (:

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We are down to two classes left!  It feels like there is so much to cover but so little time!   For today’s lesson, please give me some feedback about your experience in this class.  What do you feel was the most valuable things we covered, and what do you wish we covered (if anything) that we did not?  Please also feel free to review the class in general and me/my teaching as well!  I take your feedback quite seriously, and I always appreciate your heartfelt input as I am always trying to do a better job.  I have made changes and adjustments in my curriculum and teaching style as a direct result of your input.

You have until 4:20

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I will work on this

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We incorporate choreography to feel more connected to the prayer.
Sorry for shortness but not enough time. (lesson 15)

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I have not missed any padlets. I commented on peoples posts.

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Already doing this (lesson 15)

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No new lesson today. Please go and work on making up at least one lesson you have missed.  If you have no missing assignment, nice job!  Please spend the time reading through other classmates’ posts and comment on them.  This is a five-minute exercise.

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I feel like this class was a useful introduction to the Amidah for me. I think our last few classes should be dedicated to review and quizzes.

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I think that in the past the female ancestors were not included because there was not as much female inclusion and men were more in the spotlight in biblical times. I would not like that and I’m glad the female ancestors are included now.

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I would like to get better at chanting the amidah (all parts, including starting the other parts we haven’t done) and learning the meaning of them. I think this is most important to me and also will be the most helpful for my Bar Mitzvah and Jewish life. I would also like to do Jeopardy, Kahoot, and other games but those are less important even if  they are really fun.

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I think that for me the most important thing is whatever is most important to the people who have yet to have their b'nai mitzvah, and whatever they need to know.

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I would find learning the tune/rhythm to the prayers, and vocabulary the most important thing for me to learn during the last four classes this term. I have found the tune really helpful, because if you don't entirely remember the words, the tune can sort of jump start you, and vocabulary is good, because than you can learn the meanings of words.

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I think the most valuable lesson I've learned this term is the vocab. Even though I know what the prayer's meaning is I didn't know what each word meant.

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The most important material for us to cover is the chanting and vocabulary.
The most valuable material we’ve covered was the chanting, vocabulary, and some of the lessons we’ve done about the meaning of the prayers.

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Including today, there are four more classes this term.  Please tell me what will be the most important material for us to cover.  What has felt the most practical and valuable to you this term in class?

If you finish early, please check to see if you are missing any Padlet lessons and try to work on at least one of them.

This exercise is ten minutes.  See you at 11:55!

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Once upon a time, there was a farmer. Every morning, he would get up each morning, go outside, and salute the Holy Spirit. This practice brought him great joy. One day, when he was saluting the sun, an old woman walked up to the farmer and said, “Farmer, what are you doing?” The farmer replied, “I am saluting the Holy One, wherever God may dwell! Blessed is the world!” The woman smiled to herself.

The woman was, in fact, the mother of the king. That day, she went to her son and said, “The man who works one of your fields is devout and engages in heartfelt prayer each morning. Let us honor him for his piety.” The king agreed, and the next day, the woman visited the farmer again. "Hello, farmer,” she said, “I am glad that you are saluting the Blessed One. It brings me great joy to see such piety. I would like to do something for you, but I have nothing to offer. What may I give you?” The farmer said, “Oh, I am in need of nothing, for I am nurtured by the sweat of my brow. I live a happy life.” The woman sighed.

The woman returned to the palace. She said to her son, “This man is in need of nothing, or so he says. What may we do for him, for his love of life?” The king frowned. "I have an idea. Let us send our strongest soldier to harass the farmer’s wife and children.” The woman frowned. "I am unsure that this will be a suitable reward. Let us have the warrior bear a lame cow to the farmer’s stead, and see how he reacts.”

Early the next day, the warrior walked onto the farm and deposited the lame cow on the farmer’s doorstep. The farmer stumbled over it when he was going outside. "What a poor animal. I should take it inside and care for it.” The woman, still disguised as a peasant, walked up to him. "Thank you, sir! Thank you!" She exclaimed, “I must reward you!”

Then, the woman revealed herself as the kings mother, and the farmer received jewels,\. All was explained, and the farmer praised the Holy One forever after. The end.

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People call to the heavens about g-d, and how great it is. They sing super loud! The angles sing along as well.

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We say your name all the time, in a service and in everyday life. It’s important and holy to whatever or whoever is above us, or wherever we go after. They call to each other in the heavens above. They call to each other in loud and shaking voices full of power and respect for their god, our god saying “blessed is the glory of the holy one, wherever god my dwell.

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It is time, as it is always time, to say that YOU are holy. YOUR name we sanctify, we say that YOU, THE RULER of all of heaven and earth, are holy holy holy. That is all usual. But today, no. Usual is not a word that you can use to describe today. You see, what is unusual is that there is a huge quaking noise that is so powerful, and angles appear and face where the noise is coming from; east. And we all say what they are screaming with all they can: “Blessed is the glorious HOLY ONE, wherever G-D dwells.” And from that dwelling place, you appear in fire and cloud. We say “You reign here but when you will reign in Zion, in Israel. May you dwell and rule and us with you there forever. In Jerusalem, the city you own, in every generation, and your greatness and your holiness will be realized. Everyone in every realm forever will say at once in song ‘May THE ETERNAL reign forever, your G-D O Jacob will reign, in all generations. G-D IS GREAT HALLELUYAH!’. In all the generation, from one to the next, may we say that YOU are great and holy, and may your praise G-D never be gone from our lips now and always. For YOU are great and holy. Blessed be YOU AWESOME ONE, OH HOLY G-D”. And then, on that Saturday in services, it returned to normal, and that would be normal, forevermore.

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When all the planets and celestial beings come to a stop and the true magnificence of our universe is available to be seen we can see the heavens and earth and realize the divine glory in the world.

And where the dwelling place of the source of this glory is unknown but it will last for generations!

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For the prayer on page 22:
Everyone in the world respects your name. As beings such as planets or people communicate we feel that the world is terrific when uttering your name. Like an earthquake, booming around them, it is spoken that g-d is blessed by everyone everywhere
For the prayer on page 24:
Waiting from where you rest, for you to appear; will you tell us what to do and command us? In Jerusalem people shall always remember you. All generations will love and praise you greatly forever.

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As the people stand, and wait, they call to the heavens, telling the story of their beliefs, tradition, and the holiness of their one and only g-d. They exclaim, "Holy is our g-d, Holy is the one who rules our heavens, Holy is Adoni!"
Together the people raise their voices, again and again, until the Seraphim join along with them to praise g-d. They wish and pray for g-d to dwell and rule among them, to them the land may be holy as well. They pray for this in their lives, and for the rest of eternity.

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FAN FICTION!  Take this time to look at the English translation on pages 22 and 24 of the Student Liturgy Practice book.  I would like you to write a vignette / a small descriptive writing based on the translation of the Kedusha (both pages) in your own words using modern and relatable terminology.  This shouldn’t be a sentence by sentence or word by word translation.  This is a concept vignette… convey the meaning in terms people can relate to today.  Don’t overthink this. Just read both pages and imagine a story you’d like to tell.

You have until 4:25

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The basic and overall theme of the Kedusha is: God is holy, and may God reign. This is a very large, abstract, and overall usable concept.

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I think the theme is about where Hasem is and everything he can go and how G-D is everywhere at once because a lot of the time it says that and it means to me that even though we might not see G-D, G-D will always be there with us.

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I think the theme is about all the places where Hashem dwells, all throughout the universe because there are certain things in the English that make it sound like that.
I don’t really believe that personally but for me it could mean that we can fine special and holy things everywhere.

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The theme of the Kedusha is pretty easy: Holiness. It is the root of the word. The first part is literally called holy holy holy and it talks about G-D being holy and things like that. The second is from generation to generation. It talks about G-D reinging in all generations. I think this is a good theme because G-D is holy and we are G-Ds people so we are holy.

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What I believe the theme of the kedusha prayer's them is that g-d is above all else. I believe that this is the theme because

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I think that the theme of Kedusha is that g-d is holy and is declared that way by almost all beings in our world/knowledge of existence.
To me this means that g-d is very important and that we should all think that. (I don’t know if this is what I believe or if this is just how it comes across to me, I think that maybe this is just to a general ‘jewish understanding’ of the meaning of this prayer.

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Please write a bit about what you see the theme of the Kedusha

Prayer to be.  Why do you believe this to be the theme?  What does this theme  mean to you in your life or to the lives of the Jewish people in general?

This exercise is ten minutes.  See you at 11:55!

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I didn't really learn anything because I studied the Amidah a lot because of my bar mitzvah so I already knew a lot.

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I think that it is about respecting g-d.

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I learned that the congregation raises up on their toes at “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh” and at "Baruch k'vod Adonai mimekomo" I also notice that you bow left and right at "ze el ze" which stimulates angels greeting each other.

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Two things I noticed or learned about the Amidah: (3) Kedusha:
1. In the first part; holy holy holy, there are a lot of different choreography stuff written at the bottom that happens during the prayer. The second one also has a couple notes.
2. The first ones meaning is kind of dramatic, with screaming and stuff. The second one; L’dor V’dor, is about G-D coming to Zion and G-D ruling and is more like other prayers.

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I feel like this translation is about power and respecting power of god. It’s also about blessing god in general and thanking him for the power he’s given us.

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I noticed that there is lots of repetition about how praise is mentioned, and the praise is restated in many different ways before the final version is said. I also notice that g-d names are the only things that are ALL CAPS.

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I commented on a lot of post and I did the assignment. I just have this here to say I did it and as a placeholder for lesson 10.

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God is an entity which is holy. The entire prayer is basically about this. I find it hard to find more meaning the. The basic.

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A few things that I found out about the Kedusha by reading through the translation are that in it we declare over and over about how holy g-d is. Another thing is that we call out to say what happens when the seraphim (angles) parse g-d, as well.

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Introducing the Kedusha!

Please get out your Student Liturgy Practice Book pp 22-25.  Please read the English and glance at the Hebrew and any instructions indicated.    Please write about one or two things you noticed and learned by reading, and share your thoughts.  Everyone has something new to learn even if you already know the prayer.  This is a five minute Padlet today, so get started right away and dig in!  Creativity and images are encouraged!

You have until 4:20

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1. What does the word “Amidah” mean to you?
2. Do you find the Amidah an effective way to express requests to the God concept?
Please respond in the comments.

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Collaboration Day!  You’ve all made some wonderful and thoughtful posts on our class Padlet.  Today, I’d like you to read the posts of your classmates and post a thoughtful question or comment on three different posts.  I’d also like you to interact and respond to all the questions or comments made on your posts as well.  I’d like at least one of your posts to be a question that requires more than a one-word answer.  If you have any extra time, please check to see if you have any lessons to make up and work on those.

This exercise is ten minutes.  See you at 11:55!

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The more traditional ones talk more about death were as the one we do at TBI more inclusive.I think it does carry a theme you can see that the newer ones still want to keep true to the old ones but changing the more challenging phases.

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Somethings I noticed is that the tbi version is diffrent from the reformed and traditional version but they all have Life and death and who is alike or similar to G-D. I like the tbi version better because its what I was taught so I feel more comfortable with it. I think we use the version we use because it doesn't say death it doesn't say G-D kills it says G-D takes life and renews it a more gentle and loving saying

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Winter starts during Sukkot and Summer starts during Pesach its because they're praying for rain and water which are asked for in Gevurot

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They are different because the reform and traditional versions talk more about life and death and the traditional one talks about giving life to the dead but the TBI version just talks about giving life to every living thing and renewing life. They are alike because they all talk about Hashem giving life and death. I don't think I completely understand what is going on here, but I think we do TBI version at TBI because the ideas of life and death and giving life to the dead might be a tough and/or sad subject so it's more generalized. It could also be that we don't want to bring back life from the dead because once somethings dead, it's gone. I'm not exactly sure what all this means, so I don't really know which one I like best.

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I notice that the words are different and have different interpretations of the prayer. I think we do the tbi way because it goes along with the reconstructionist way of doing things.

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I notice that the reform and traditional versions are very similar, and they all kinda have the same theme sentence by sentence. I will put a photo of the prayers below, to help with viewing what I am talking about. The reform and traditional versions are the same except in the last two lines, where the traditional says dead, and reform says all. However, the TBI one is different from the other two, but has the same basic meaning. I don’t know which one I like best, they are all good, and all a little different. I think we use the one at TBI because 1 we are a reform temple and that version is probably what they use and 2 I think it more fully relates to us.

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I notice that B and C are very similar, and that A has nothing about strength. Also the fact that C is the least inclusive for who g-d is giving life to, but B is more inclusive, and finally, C being the most inclusive.
They are different in the fact that for B and C the difference is g-d gives life to the dead only vs giving life to all. And that A is quite different than B and C, such that it says nothing about strength.
I think we use our version because it is the most inclusive version of the three.

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I think that the TBI version is my preferred version  because it does not have much talk about resurrection. I greatly prefer reincarnation to resurrection. Reincarnation is the status of having past lives, and resurrection is the status of being RAISED FROM THE DEAD!!!!! Raising from the dead, in my opinion, is beyond the scope of natural divine power. However, reincarnation is not.

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On the screen, you will see a page showing three different variations of the Gevurot prayer.  Please read them all.  What do you notice?  How they are different and alike?  Which one do you like the best?  Why do you think we use the version we do at TBI?

You have until 4:25

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on the shown page with the different versions of Gevurot the differences are: how they say who is alike to/similar to g-d
and the similarities are: that they all mentions g-d as the master of Life and Death, one who makes salvation, and one who renews and gives life.
I personally prefer the TBI version because, it is what I am most familiar with, but they are all good and I like the message that they are trying to get across (g-d in the ruler of life and death and everything before, in between, and after)

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Gevurot means "Divine Power"
I think that the theme of this prayer is the greatness of g-d and the power of life and death that g-d holds.
I think if I had to rename Gevurot I would call it something like "the Power of the great One" of something along that line since that is most literally what the prayer is about.

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I think we incorporate the "choreography" into some prayers because in the first Amidah we use the "choreography" to step out of our "unholy" place and step into our new "holy place" to show that this is such a special prayer that we need to enter a new "holy space". For other prayers we have the "choreography" that's pretty simple but it shows that things like opening the Torah or rising for a prayer is important because it shows that whatever's happening is important enough or meaningful to add the "choreography"

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I think avot v'Imot is like talking about our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. and talking about how they are the sons and daughters of G-D and how everyone is a person of G-D

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Looking at the translation I see that it is praising Hashem about really everything we like. I can't find an exact translation for the word Gevurot so im just going to look over at ari. He says that "Gevurot means heroism, courage, valor." I'm wondering why we named the Gevurot prayer Gevurot? I think שֶׁבַח (shevach) (praise) would be better suited.

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As an interpretation of Gevurot, I have written a brief adaptation below,explaining what it means to me.

DIVINE POWER

You are forever powerful, Almighty One.

In loyalty you sustain the living, nurturing the life of every living thing, upholding those who fall, healing the sick, freeing the captive, and remaining faithful to all the life of the earth. You are the source of life and death, from which energy flows.

Blessed are you, The Fount of Life, who gives and renews life

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I think gevurot means sustaining, helping, and loyalness.
The theme of the prayer is that g-d is sustaining and helping those who can't entirely help themselves. And being loyal to those who have made mistakes.
I would name the prayer

תפילת הקיום.

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Gevurot means heroism, courage, valor. I think the prayer is called this because it is talking about G-D being like that. In the English side, the prayer is called divine power, and the prayer also talks about    G-Ds power. The theme of the prayer is about all the things G-D does and can do. I think the current name is good, but if I would be renaming it, I would call it something like “Praise of all YOU can do” because it talks about what G-D does and can do.

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Gevurot means heroism, courage, and valor. In the liturgy book it's translated as "Divine Power". I think it's called this because the theme is about all the different powerful things the divine or Hashem does for us. If I were to rename this prayer, I'd call it "Loyal help" because it's about all the help and loyalty we receive from Hashem. It could also be one of the other translations for Gevurot because it talks about Hashem's Heroism in the prayer.

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Look at the English translation on page 20.  What does “Gevurot” mean?  Looking at the translation, why do you think this prayer is called this?  What is the theme of the prayer?  If you were going to rename this prayer, what might you name it and why?  Back up your answer!  Please feel free to include a relevant image.

This exercise is ten minutes.  See you at 11:55!

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We ask god for rain/dew so that our crops can grow and so we don’t have a drought. We switch what we say on the first day of Passover.

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1) we ask for different things each season because we need different things every season.

2) i could not find when but if think it changes around Passover.

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Israel is very dry, so they are often praying for water and rain. Both of the requests in Gevurot are about water, so this makes sense. Summer starts at Pesach, and winter starts at Sukkoth.

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Winter starts at the end of Sukkot and summer starts at the beginning of Passover.
I think we change what we say because there are things we get from Hashem that are seasonal so we want to make sure we acknowledge these seasonal things.

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1. Why do we ask for the things we ask for in each season?
I don’t know if there is an actual correct answer to this question so I will just say what I think. For summer, I think it is “you send down the dew” because that is a thing that happens in summer. In winter, wind blows and rain falls, so we ask for that. I think we ask for things that happen during those times, that maybe sometimes we take for granted.
2. When specifically does it change from one season to another on the calendar?
We switch from the summer version to the winter version at the end of Sukkot and back again at the beginning of Passover.

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Answer for #1:
We ask for different things in each season because we have different things to be thankful for/ask for at different parts of the year.
Answer for #2:
I can't find exact information on the changing of the seasons when it is being read. But I would assume that when the seasons change on the regular calendar changes.

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I can't remember when the change from the summer line to the winter line happens.
1. we ask for the things that we do depending on the season because they are the things that we need to have for the season, for the summer we ask for dew, as it if usually very warm, and in winter it is supposed to be windy and raining, so we ask for that.
2. we change to saying the line "you send down the dew" on the first day of Pesach and the line "you cause the wind to blow and rain to fall"  on the last day of Sukkot.

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Today we will begin looking at the second prayer we study from the Amidah:  The Gevurot.  One of the first things you might notice is the 2nd and 3rd lines beginning (In summer) and (In winter.)  Do you know when we change from one season to another and change which line we recite?  Please go online and try to find this information.  1.  WHY we ask for the things we ask in each season and 2.  WHEN SPECIFICALLY it changes from one season to another on the calendar.

You have ten minutes!

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We incorporate choreography to make people me more connected to prayers/make the prayers more deep. It is pretty cool though to have prayers that aren't just talking/chanting/singing, but there is some actual physical movement with it.

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I think we incorporate choreography to show intention and to show that we are truly there and thinking about the words we are saying. It also shows the community as a whole. It could also be a form of physical praise to Hashem. I think that the choreography that is specific to the Amidah is done for intention and a form of praise.
I remember that in Mi-chamocha you stand at צור ישראל because you’re asking Hashem to rise there so you have to rise first.

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Choreography is important to add to the well-roundedness of the prayers. They add a physical element which is otherwise largely missing. "Opening and closing the Circle” is also important in the Pagan tradition. This is what happens at the start of the Amidah, and it is interesting to speculate on.

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Why I think we incorporate choreography into the amida is because of what we're saying in the prayer. In the prayer we are saying that we are symbolically standing in a throne room and Hashem is on the throne. The choreography is relating to that image. For example we bow to Hashem when we enter the room, them in awe of Hashem we take three steps back. Now when I say Hashem is on a throne I'm not saying that Hashem is a human thing up in the sky looking over all of us. I don't believe that, I'm not going to go into what I believe because we would be here for quite a long time. The metaphor of a throne room comes from what we are saying in the prayor. In the amidah we are praying/talking (or something) to Hashem or proposing an idea to Hashem. We bow and then we introduce ourselves by saying: "You know me, I am the child of Avraham, Izchac, Ya'acov, Sara, Rivka, Rahel, Leah, Bilcha and Zilpa. Them in awe of Hashem we take three steps back. I could write more but I'm running out of time, people are now staring at me. Oh no, Ari is being creepy. Ahhh Jessica has turned into a lion. Well see you later or n-

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I think we incorporate choreography into our prayers to give them more meaning. In the Amidah, specifically the start, we take three steps back to prepare for the Amidah, or to exit what we are doing right now. Then, we take three steps forward to enter the Amidah, and do something new. We also bow and bend our knees in the prayer.

In other prayers, we also have choreography. The most common choreography includes standing up and sitting down, facing a certain direction, bowing, bending knees, and rising. In barechu, we stand and bow and bend knees. That is a good example. We also face east. There are other times we do it too. I think that we do all of this to make it more meaningful.

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I think that it is important that we have choreography in some of the prayers because it helps us emphasize and be dramatic to the point that we are trying to get across about the meaning of the prayer(s). I can't remember all of the prayers that have it, but I know that Avot Va'Imot dose have it.

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Today, we are going to be reading about the “choreography" of the Amidah.
We touched on this a bit when we talked about the concept of “making an entrance.”
You can also read about the choreography of the Amidah on page 18 of your Student
Liturgy Practice Book.

Why do you think we incorporate “choreography” into some of
our prayers?  Talk a little about the paragraph at the top of page 18 and why you believe
we practice those specific moves and why we have choreography in prayers at all.  Can you remember any other prayers that also incorporate choreography?

This exercise is ten minutes.  See you at 11:55!

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Oh amazing and holy god protect us and give us strength. Devine, grand and powerful you are. You are our savior and the one that blessed us with life and joy, thank you for all you have done.

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O Spirit, O Spirit, I bequeath your name
To speak and see what I became
An endless darkness Spirit falls
With action and deed in the celestial halls
The seekers and angels bind their trust
Of all the work and prayer in us
That life and liberty truly are thine
May Spirit joy, and God combine
O Lord, my eyes have come to me
That you have taught me how to be
Open my lips, Beloved One,
And let my prayer and thought be one.

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Open up my lips OH G-D!, so I may give your praise!

You shall be and are blessed, G-D of our ancestors, THE ANCIENT ONE.
G-D of the First Jew and his wife, Sarah, who bore
Isaac whom you are also the G-D of, and you are the G-D of Rebecca, his wife and they together bore Esea and,
Jacob. YOU are the G-D of him as well and you are the G-D of his wives Rachel and Leah,
And YOU are the G-D of all of them and also their descendants, and all Jews, and all people.

YOU, G-D of our ancestors, and G-D of us, are awesome and great and heroic and supreme divinity. YOU are part of all deeds of kindness and you are loyal of Israel’s ancestors, as you are loyal to us. You bring love and redemption to their children’s children, for the sake of the DEVINE NAME.

Regal One, you help us and are our protector and salvation: BLESSED ARE YOU, LOVING AND KIND ONE, THE ONE WHO HELPED SARAH AND WHO WAS THE SHIELD OF ABRAHAM!

Ari’s version of Amidah, Avot Ve’Imot

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I think the main idea of Avot V’imot is reminding Hashem of our ancestors who Hashem is the God of. It is also blessing Hashem. Here is my translation in my own words:
Help me get into the right mindset to declare these special and important words.
Thank you universe of our righteous ancestors. Of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah.
Thank you special and kind universe for being there for our ancestors. Let us remember our ancestor’s loyalty when we chose to forgive each other. Let us see the light in all of us passed down from our ancestors.

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To my understanding of the Avot Ve'Imot prayer, my own understanding to the translation.

"open my mouth and let me pry to you, beloved one.
let me to bless you, my god, my peoples god for generations past and present. God of my fathers and mothers.
great and amazing god, kind and willing god, loving and heroic god.
bring your love to our children and our children's children as you have us and our parents and their parents before them.
One who helps us, our salvation, our protector, let us bless you Kind god, shield of our fathers' and help of our mothers'."

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Look over the English translation of Avot V’Imot in your Student Liturgy Practice Book.  In your own words, in contemporary language according to your own understanding, please write out your own translation of this prayer.   It doesn’t have to be a word for word translation… it can be concept by concept.  As always, be creative and innovative and feel free to add an image, a sound file, or anything else that might make this pop!

You have until 4:30.

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I think congregations only used Avot was because back in the day mostly everything revolved around men and mothers were left out of everything because people thought they weren't important and sadly this was also the case for Judaism so when they updated the prayers to include everyone and just men it made me happy to see the inclusion.

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Avot V'Imot literally translates to Fathers and Mothers. I assume that some congregations only chanted "Avot" because they believed that Men were superior to Woman. We're now in modern times and have put Imot in after Avot. This is appreciating both the men and the Woman. What about the people who dont identify as in one of the two boxes? We need a word for them as well in the prayer. What if instead of saying Avot V'Imot we say אֲנָשִׁים (Anashim) which means people. I feel if we replace Avot V'Imot with אֲנָשִׁים it will include everyone.

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So the first thing I would like to say is that Judaism can be sexist. And that is the case here. This prayer is old, like most Jewish prayers, and a lot of the old prayers and texts are sexist. The Torah is, and so is this. I assume it is like this because it was written in the olden days when that’s how life was. But that is not the case now. The reconstructionist movement along with other movements has changed this, but the orthodox movement and others don’t change the text, even if it should be different. Avot means fathers, and in that version of ancestors, we only say the forefathers. Avot v’Imot is fathers and mothers and we say the matriarchs as well. I think this version is better.

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I think that, for balance, it is important to reference both the patriarchs and the matriarchs. Without this, we would be denying, in a respect, the existence of female ancestors. This is important.