Page:Annotated Edition of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.djvu/29

Rh faith, upborne by the sure hope that the awakening will be in presence of the Father.

The metre of Adon Olam is shown in the following scheme. (The word ădōn is a yathed, while each syllable of the next word ō-lām is a tenuah.)

Page 4, etc. The Benedictions. Prayers in the form of benedictions were prescribed on the occasion of performing various religious duties or even secular actions. Several of those which immediately follow belong to the second category. They were not originally part of the Morning Service, but were said before the formal prayers. The benedictions or prayers with the formula (Ber. 40 b): Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe,

are, in Berachoth 33 a, traced back to the Men of the Great Synagogue, the Religious Council which owed its origin to Ezra and Nehemiah and lasted from the 5th to the 3rd cent. B.C.E. To the same authority are also attributed the Tephillah or Amidah (P.B. pages 44, 136, etc.), the Kiddush or Sanctification Prayer for Sabbaths and Festivals (P.B. pages 124, 174, 230, 243) and the Habdalah or Terminating (lit. &quot;separating &quot;) Prayer at the conclusion of Sabbaths and Festivals (P.B. pages 216, 231).

It may be mentioned that many prefer to render the opening words of each benediction (בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה) not &quot;Blessed art thou&quot; but &quot;Blessed be thou.&quot; The usual German rendering (as in Sachs) is &quot;Gelobt seist du&quot; (&quot;Praised be thou&quot;). The words &quot;blessed&quot; and &quot;praised&quot; as applied to God are almost identical in meaning. Then,