Ahava rabbah (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: אהבה רבה, ''

ith an The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

abundant love'', also Ahavah raba and other variant English spellings) is a prayer and blessing that is recited by followers of Ashkenazi Judaism during

Shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( he, שַחֲרִית ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning ''tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components o ...

(the morning religious services of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

) immediately prior to the

Shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...

, the "Hear O Israel..." prayer.

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

Jews, as well as many of those whose follow

Nusach Sefard Nusach Sefard, Nusach Sepharad, or Nusach Sfard is the name for various forms of the Jewish ''siddurim'', designed to reconcile Ashkenazi customs ( he, מנהג "Custom", pl. ''minhagim'') with the kabbalistic customs of Isaac Luria. To this end ...

, begin this blessing with the words "Ahavat Olam" instead of ''Ahava rabbah''; which is not to be confused with the shorter blessing of Ahavat Olam recited by both Sefardim and Ashkenazim during

Maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and '' Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms ...

(with slight differences in their form). The text of this prayer was fixed in the period of the

Geonim ''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of ...

.Higher and higher : making Jewish prayer part of us By Steven Brown

Content

This prayer is an expression of thanks for the love

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

has given the people. It thanks God for the gift of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, which provides life,From ideology to liturgy: Reconstructionist worship and American liberal Judaism By Eric Caplan and for making the Jewish people the chosen nation. The prayer contains multiple requests to God. One of them is to be enlightened with the Torah. Another is for God to protect us from

shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...

; it is stated that those who cleave to a life of mitzvot will not be shamed. Another is that the Jewish people be gathered from the four corners of the world and returned to Israel. Hebrew text: English translation:

Practices and laws

Ahava rabbah is recited during Shacharit, and Ahavat Olam during Maariv. The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

provides differing views on which one should be recited. As a

compromise To compromise is to make a deal between different parties where each party gives up part of their demand. In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving va ...

, Ahava Rabbah (being the longer of the two) is recited in the morning, and Ahavat Olam in the evening.The JPS guide to Jewish traditions By Ronald L. Eisenberg, Jewish Publication Society In many communities, during Ahava rabbah, at the words "Bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth o our land, the four corners of the

tzitzit ''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and today by observant Jews and Samaritans. are usuall ...

are gathered in one's hand. They are held throughout the

and kissed four times during the third paragraph of the Shema and once during Emet Veyatziv (the paragraph following the Shema) and then released. The gathering of the tzitzit on these words is symbolic of the gathering of the Jewish people to its land. Ahava rabbah is recited immediately before the Shema because its recital brings on the obligation to immediately learn, or at the very least, recite verses from the Torah. Since the Shema is composed of verses from the Torah, its recital fulfills that obligation. The recitation of Ahava Rabbah fulfills the mitzvah of saying a blessing before

study. Normally, verses from the Torah are recited during

Birkat HaShachar Birkot hashachar or Birkot haShachar ( he, ברכות השחר, , morning blessings' or 'blessings fthe dawn) are a series of blessings that are recited at the beginning of Jewish morning services. The blessings represent thanks to God for a r ...

. But if one forgets to recite these verses then, the obligation is met through the recitation of Ahava Rabbah. However, the recitation of the Shema does ''not'' meet the requirement for learning after reciting the blessing on Torah study, even though it is composed of verses from the Torah,Meoros hadaf hayomi, Volume 1 By Bet ha-midrash di-Ḥaside Sokhaṭshov (Bene Beraḳ, Israel), page 33-35 and one must learn something immediately following prayers in order for Ahava Rabbah to work in this capacity.

References

{{Jewish prayers Shacharit Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings Siddur of Orthodox Judaism