Talk:Aleinu

Hebrew

In the Hebrew, it only says va'anachnu korim, but not umishtachhavim umodim. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.229.214.147 (talk) 03:38, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Ours?

The start of the article says, Aleinu (Hebrew: עָלֵינוּ, "ours" here to be understood as: "it is upon us" ...).

עלינו (aleinu) does not translate to "ours" at all, in modern Hebrew, liturgical nor biblical Hebrew. "Ours" in liturgical and modern Hebrew would normally be שלינו (sheleinu). על (al) means on/upon. So that, "ali" = upon me, "alik" = upon you man, "alayik" = upon you woman, "aleinu" = upon us, "alav" = upon him, "aleikem" = upon y'all men. Al also has declension as above, as in the last passage בשמים ממעל, ba-shamayim mi-ma-al. Incidentally, the Israeli airline El-Al connotes forward-upward ==> forward to the firmament above.

Hence Jewish Anderstein (talk) 18:00, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

A few more questions

The prayer was originally the introduction to the "kingships" section of the Rosh Hashana Musaf prayer. Therefore, I'm pretty sure the second paragraph was part of that.--Anon.

Yes, Rosh Hashana Musaf includes both paragraphs. Yom Kippur Musaf includes only the first paragraph. At a later date, the first paragraph was added to the end of each service (in some traditions, shaharit only). Luria/Vital held that one should use both paragraphs at the end of all services, and add the verse about "on that day the Lord shall be one and His Name one"; and this has been accepted by Ashkenazim and Oriental Sephardim, while the Spanish and Portuguese still use only the first paragraph. If there are no objections, I shall edit the article to reflect this.

Incidentally, I have frequently attended both Sp.&Port. and Oriental services, and the wording of the "controversial passage" is invariably "shehem mishtahhavim le-hevel va-riq u-mitpallelim el ēl lo yoshia", in other words the same as the article gives for the original Ashkenazi version. I have never come across the bit about "carrying wooden idols": can you give me any authority for that? One website (http://www.morasha.it/sbr/sbr_somekh.html) claims that Italian Sephardim (but not the Italian rite proper) have changed it to "she-HAYU mishtahhavim", they USED to worship.--Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) 12:00, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Agree with Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) on all points here. -- Olve 22:45, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

¶ After seeing that considerable time has passed since most of these comments, I have undertaken to amplify this article. Sussmanbern (talk) 15:09, 14 September 2011 (UTC). Would very much appreciate feedback. Sussmanbern (talk) 18:01, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

a few questions/recommendations for this article

1. Identifying the cantorial tradition used in the sound files, would be helpful
2. Shouldn't the whole text be included?
3. Can someone with access to R' Reuven Hammer's statement from Or Hadash, i.e., the one quoted in the article, please verify that he actually wrote "Aleini" and not "Aleinu"? I realize some Ashkenazim actually say "Aleini", but I've never seen anyone actually write it that way.

Tomer^talk 05:53, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
¶ The "whole text" presumably would include Al-Kayn and maybe Al-tiro, which are lengthy and without much historical commentary. (Al-tiro is included in the ArtScroll siddur, but not in the Hertz or many other siddurim). I have checked Hammer's words in Or Hadash (and added the page number to the footnote), he wrote Aleinu (not Aleini). Sussmanbern (talk) 18:16, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Removing a sentence

The earlier form of this prayer contains an additional sentence:

It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth; who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude, For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a god which helps not.

(Some Sephardi and Italki communities have a slightly different form of this sentence: who carry their wooden images and pray to a God who cannot give success. )

I have removed the above sentence; it isn't a different form of the prayer. It is exactly the same sentence, obviously with a slightly different English translation. The Hebrew is the same; the translation varies a bit in every siddur. RK 01:17, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

That's rather what I thought. The "wooden idols" is a reference to the verse in Isaiah which forms the basis for the passage, rather than to the passage itself. --Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) 09:54, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Bowing?

I'm not sure how common it is, but I know that my congregation bows during the line "Va'anachnu qor`im, umishtachavim umodim" and then stands up at "lif'nei". Should this be mentioned? soldierx40k 16:49, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia policies do not allow/encourage us to write original knowledge, research or opinions. We all know that some traditions bend knees and then bow and then rise up at a certain point, some even prostrate and many even float by the passage like nothing happens oblivious to the passage. However, we cannot write this down in Wikipedia even though it is common knowledge to us.

If inductive education on the communal behaviour and etiquette of Wikipedia has progressed properly in me, then I think one or more of us would have to proceed with creating a web page describing this custom. Then hopefully someone else reads your web page and then quote your web page to include such facts into Wikipedia. No matter how authoritative you are in a field, you are not to write your original knowledge or quote your own web site. But, I think it is alright if you are an authority and has given a lecture or sermon on a topic and the lecture is published in a well-accepted peer-reviewed publication or academic society like the IEEE, AMA or some Harvard medical review and then quote yourself. The question then rolls on towards - can someone create a web site and claim it to be a reasonably acceptable peer-reviewed academic society to quote oneself? Does Wikipedia have a committee determining what an acceptable academic society is to be sufficient for one to quote one's own publication? It is a shuddering thought that Wikipedia community might want to take on an a'la reality/talent show vote-them-out role.

This scenario keeps me occupied in traffic jams - meditating about this scenario in the face of anti-originality policy of Wikipedia. Sometimes I wonder, are there people who collaborate to create web sites and then a friend is called upon to read the web sites to insert the "facts" into Wikipedia to circumvent Wikipedia's non-originality policy. I guess this is a valid practice because it is an encouragement of the peer-review practice.

Hence Jewish Anderstein (talk) 05:50, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
What about http://www.jewfaq.org/liturgy.htm? That site has a clear reference to bowing in Aleinu.Pedantrician (talk) 06:14, 31 January 2010 (UTC)Pedantrician

Aleinu and “destruction of false idols”

Does any one know about this - is it - as often - an error? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/27/christians-under-pressure-bigotry-school-imprisonment-murder "the attackers painted graffiti on the wall calling for the “destruction of false idols” – part of a Jewish prayer known as the Aleinu." Best wishes (Msrasnw (talk) 09:23, 28 July 2015 (UTC))

It's in the second paragraph, which is not reproduced in the article: it hopes for the day when the world will be put right under the rule of God and all idols will be destroyed (Reform translations say "prejudice and superstition shall be cut off"). It's an aspiration for the ultimate future, not an imperative for the here and now! --Sir Myles na Gopaleen (the da) (talk) 10:17, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Many thanks - perhaps it could be usefully added - but perhaps it would not be so useful or might be problematic. Any best wishes, (Msrasnw (talk) 11:11, 28 July 2015 (UTC))

External links modified

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Copyrighted translation?

Is there a reason why it's OK to put copyrighted text on this page? Seems like a clear-cut issue to me but it's been there a while so maybe I'm missing something. GordonGlottal (talk) 14:35, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Some congregations add

“Have no fear of sudden terror…” in Jonathan Sacks authorised daily prayer book… where does that come from? 148.252.129.218 (talk) 09:33, 20 August 2023 (UTC)