Page:Philip Birnbaum - ha-Siddur ha-Shalem (The Daily Prayer Book,1949).pdf/21

XIX it is wrong to translate here: “To every creature he teacheth his greatness and his sovereignty.” Through the change of a single character ( in place of ), the fifth verse of Yigdal corresponds exactly to the fifth principle of faith formulated by Maimonides: Every creature must declare his greatness and his kingship; that is, everyone must pray to God.

In the Baraitha of Rabbi Ishmael, enumerating the thirteen principles upon which the talmudic exposition of the Bible is based, the ninth principle as well as the tenth contains the word and not. The correct reading is found on the first page of Sifra and in some rare Siddurim, thus:.

, the phrase used in the Kaddish during the High Holyday period, is a reproduction of the Targum on (Deuteronomy 28:43). Though it means higher and higher, it is analogous to all adverbs which are repeated without the use of a conjunction for the purpose of intensification and emphasis; examples:. In none of these instances does the Targum add the letter ו as a conjunction.

The phrasing in the Shemoneh Esreh corresponds to  in Psalm 71:1. It means may we never come to shame, for in thee we trust. This reading has been adopted here on the basis of Maḥzor Vitry (page 67) and the Sephardic editions. Additional support for this reading is offered by the expression in the grace recited after meals.

In the prayer, the correct reading (“may he open our heart... to do his will”) is found in the Spanish Siddur. The reading (“and to do”) is the result of a dittography; that is, the last letter of the preceding word has been erroneously repeated.