Parshat Behar
Our last few times learning together, we saw chapters where AH has many more paragraphs than did SA (as we will again next time, on steroids!). Our siman has nine se’ifim, in both SA and AH. For whatever that’s worth...
Basics of the First Blessing of Shemoneh Esreh
Although the chapter will discuss where we bow in the Amidah (the standing prayer, often also called Shemoneh Esreh), the first se’if reviews the structure of the first blessings (where those bowings take place). Megillah 17b teaches us to start our prayers with reference to the Patriarchs because Tehillim 29 adjures the descendants of the mighty to give praise (or greatness) to God. So we speak of ourselves in that context first.
[The Gemara and AH do not explain why Chazal modeled our prayers on this chapter in Tehillim; I think it’s because it speaks of havu la-Shem, giving praise to God, laying out a model for us to follow.]
