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by Ilene Winn-Lederer (Illustrator), Ilene Winn-Lederer (Author)
A Visual Amidah: An Essence Of Prayers & Blessings is an illuminated rendition of The Amidah, the set of nineteen prayers and blessings that form the core of the Jewish worship liturgy. Full-color illustrations and illuminations that appear in Hebrew and English respond to the essence of each. In Hebrew, the word Amidah translates to 'standing' because one must stand with feet together during recitation, signaling respect for G-d. This position is said to mirror the prophet Ezekiel's vision of angels (Ezekiel 1:7) in which their feet appeared as one unit. The Amidah is also known as the 'Shemoneh Esrei' or Eighteen Benedictions for it originally contained eighteen prayers and blessings when it was composed by the 120 men of the Great Assembly in 450 BCE. The Amidah was amended with a nineteenth prayer in the second century, CE. The book includes an artist's preface, a brief history of The Amidah and artist's notes on the intent of each prayer and blessing with explanations of the imagery chosen for each.
