It is a widespread custom to recite a verse that corresponds to one’s name before saying yehiyu l’ratzon at the end of Shemoneh Esrei. As we will see, however, it is somewhat unclear where, when, or why this practice began.
Some sources say that the custom of reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name dates back to Rashi. Commenting on the verse, “The voice of the L-rd calls out to the city, it is wise to recognize Your name…,”1 Rashi writes, “From here we learn that whoever recites a verse each day that begins and ends with the same letters as one’s name begins and ends with2 will be saved from Gehinnom.”
From here we see that reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name will save one from punishment in the afterlife. There is no indication, however, that the verse should be recited specifically at the end of the Shemoneh Esrei. While this source would seem to make the practice exceptionally old, it has been suggested that this comment, ostensibly from Rashi, may actually be a forgery of a later editor or publisher, as this comment first appears in a Tanach published by Rav Shmuel Delugatch in 1699.3
Another, and probably more authoritative source for the practice, is the 16th-century Kabbalistic commentary on the siddur by Rabbi Naphtali Hertz Treves.4 Rabbi Treves was the chazan of Frankfurt am Main and a formidable scholar in his own right. In the introduction to his commentary, Rabbi Treves writes that there is an “ancient tradition” to regularly recite a verse that begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name.5 He cites the verse, “Please accept with favor the offerings of my mouth and teach me your laws,”6 as the verse that corresponds to his name and the one that he recites. (The verse begins with a nun and ends with a yud just like his name Naphtali.) He writes that one should recite such a verse “when traveling, when engaging with others, when learning, or whenever.” Here too, there is no specific mention of reciting it at the conclusion of the Shemoneh Esrei and no reason is given for the practice. Likely, Rav Delugatch (or anyone else responsible for the “Rashi” comment) got the idea from this source, which predates his work by several years.
We find an explanation for the custom in the 19th-century siddur of the Rashban:7
It says in the Yerushalmi and in Esther Rabbah that Mordechai asked three children who had just come from school to quote some of the verses that they had learned that day. The first child quoted the verse: al tira mipachad pitom umisho’at resha’im ki tavo (“Do not be afraid of sudden fear”)8; the second one quoted the verse: utzu eitza v’tufar, dabru davar v’lo yakum ki imanu el (“Make your plans but they will be voided, speak your words but it will not come to be, because G-d is with us”)9; and the third one quoted the verse: V’ad zikna ani hu, v’ad seiva ani esbol, ani asiti v’ani esa v’ani esbol va’amalet (“Even in your old age I am He and in your seniority I will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you and I will sustain you and I will rescue you”)10.
It is explained that each child was taught his specific verse because it began and ended with the first and last letters of his Hebrew name. The first child’s name was Avraham, the second child’s name was Immanuel, and the third child’s name was Elishafat. This was done because children were often kidnapped or sold into slavery and having children memorize a verse would help ensure that they would never forget that they’re Jewish. So too, knowing a verse by heart would help the children to be redeemed if the Jewish community was able to redeem them. The verse would be used as a sign among the captives as to who was Jewish.
A more popular and widespread explanation for reciting a verse that corresponds to one’s name is that doing so will save oneself from chibbut hakever. Chibbut hakever is essentially a very painful “cleansing process” that takes place after death (and some say immediately following interment.11,12 Some ancient siddurim included a harachaman insertion in the Birkat Hamazon asking G-d to save us from chibbut hakever.13
(To be continued)
____________________
- Micha 6:9.
- i.e. that begins with the first letter of one’s name and ends with the last letter of one’s name.
- See: http://www.chabadlibrary.org/books/admur/ig/2/404.
- Also sometimes written and pronounced Trivish, Tribish, Treves or Troyes.
- Siddur Rabbi Hertz, p. 78 in the 2016 edition.
- Tehillim 119:108.
- Siddur HaRashban p. 11a.
- Proverbs 3:25.
- Isaiah 8:10.
- Isaiah 46:4.
- See: The Obligations of Christians to Attempt the Conversion of the Jews, p. 33-34, cited at: http://onthemainline.blogspot.co.il/2012/01/on-source-of-merit-of-reciting-verses.html.
- We are told that the following people will be saved from chibbut hakever: one who loves acts of kindness, welcomes guests, prays with the proper intent (Sefer Chassidim 32), lives in Israel (Shaar Hagilgulim 23:4-5), dies on a Friday and is buried after the 5th hour (Shaar Hagilgulim 23:4-5), and one who spends at least four hours a day reciting words of Torah, Tehillim, etc. (Hayom Yom, Shevat 5).
- Seder Rav Amram Gaon, Hilchot Seuda.
