The 10th blessing of the weekday Amidah

Normally my comments on our prayers are focused on the eternal, not the ephemeral. We have been saying them for thousands of years, and will be saying them for countless thousands more, so they obviously mean more to us than a segue to current events. In this commentary, though, I’ll make an exception.

Today’s anti-Semitic media works overtime to deny that there is a link between us and our ancestors from the Land of Israel. Tucker Carlson, may Hashem enlighten him (no ne else could), has recently demanded that Benjamin Netanyahu take a DNA test to prove his ancestral roots in “Palestine.” Others, whose names mercifully escape me, have suggested that Jews in 19th century Europe capriciously decided to focus on “Palestine” and for colonial purposes make up a fictitious claim of ancient indigeneity.

Quite obviously, these “anti-Zionists” are not familiar with Jewish liturgy. If they were, they would know about the 10th blessing the weekday Amidah, which reads as follows: “Sound the great shofar to herald our freedom, raise high the banner to gather our exiles. Gather us together from the four corners of the earth. Praised are You, Lord, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel.”

Let’s do a thought experiment, a rough back of the envelope calculation. Let’s assume that every day, 3 times a day, 300 weekdays a year, for the past 1900 years, a million Jews recited this prayer. That’s a cool 1.7 trillion prayers.

Trillion with a T.

Which teaches us two things. First, that contrary to the Candace Owens’ of the world, there is indeed an absolutely unbroken chain that unites us Jews and our Judean ancestors. And second, that there is absolutely no point in arguing with an anti-Semite. We have confirmed our identity 1.7 trillion times—facing Jerusalem when we did it, by the way, from each of the four corners of the earth. Only a fool would think that confirming it 1.7 trillion plus 1 times would suddenly be enlightening to someone of whom the Psalmist says, “they have ears, but hear not.”