Page:Annotated Edition of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.djvu/43

 Thou wast the same ere the world was created (אַתָּה הוּא). Quoted in the Midrash Yalkuț, Numbers §836 (from Palestinian Talmud, Tractate Berachoth, ch. ix.), as a eulogy spoken by the heavenly hosts. This will explain, in the adaptation of this passage and the next to public worship, the repeated reference to the dominion of God in heaven as on earth.

Page 9. Our Father who art in heaven (אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם). This is not a common liturgical phrase when used vocatively. This is the only case in which it is found in the P.B., though in the Sephardic rite there is for the Penitential days a long litany, every line of which begins Our Father who art in heaven. But the idea is common. Cf. P.B. pages 69, 70 four times and page 76 (second line) May it be the will of our Father who is in heaven.... In the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah iii. 8) occurs "when Israel looked on high and submitted their heart to their Father who is in heaven they were healed" (with reference to Numbers xxi. 8). The phrase occurs frequently in the Talmud (e.g. Menaḥoth 110a). So, too, in the Ethics of the Fathers (Mishnah, Aboth, v. 23, P.B. page 203); "Be strong as a leopard, light as an eagle, fleet as a hart, and strong as a lion to do the will of thy Father who is in Heaven." The vocative use of "Our Father who art in heaven" becomes frequent in the poetical additions to the liturgy in the middle ages.

Thy great name by which we are called (שִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֺל שֶׁנִּקְרָה עָלֵינוּ). Literally (and more forcibly): "thy great name which is called over us." Compare Deut. xxviii. 10, "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Lord s name is called over thee" (כִּי שֵׁם יְיָ נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ). The phrase occurs in several other passages. The person whose name was called over anything was, in ancient Hebrew usage, thereby proclaimed the owner. The use of the phrase to express the relation between God and Israel implies the fact of ownership, coupled with the idea of protection (cf. Driver's Commentary on Deuteronomy, page 306). God's name is called over Israel: i.e. God owns