Ein Kelohenu

by Sarah Rodenstein  1998

Ein Kelohenu is the first prayer of the concluding part of our Shabbat and festival morning services. You may not know this, but Ein Kelohenu is also said at the weekday morning service in all Sephardic and Chassidic congregations. In Eretz Yisrael, it is said as part of the weekday morning service even in Ashkenazic congregations.

The main idea of Ein Kelohenu is that God is unique. Ein Kelohenu is a very old prayer. The version we have in our siddurim today is probably not the original version. In a siddur put together by Rav Amram in the 9 th century CE, he put in the poem, but in a different order. Then it read "Mi Kelohenu - Who is like our God?" and then said "Ein Kelohenu - There is no one like our God." It asked the question and then answered it. It continued, like the version we use today, with "Nodeh l'Elohenu - We will thank our God", by saying "Baruch Elohenu - Blessed is our God." And then, for emphasis, it ends "Atah Elohenu - You are our God".

The order in which we have the verses today seems not to make as much sense. It seems to give an answer - "No one is like our God", and then the question, "Who is like our God", like Jeopardy. It could be that we are not really asking a question at all, but saying "Who is like our God", to emphasize that no one is. But probably the verses were rearranged to make an acrostic. In their current order, the first letters of the first three verses spell out aleph, mem, nun - amen. Then the first words of each of the next two verses say "Baruch Atah - Blessed are you." This teaches us that even if we don't say a blessing, if we say "Amen" it is as if we had said the blessing.

Young children often learn Ein Kelohenu as one of their first prayers. It is easy for them to learn because it is repetitive and because it has very few words. The tunes most synagogues use are catchy and easy to memorize. Most people know Ein Kelohenu way before they realize what it means and what an important idea it teaches.

Sarah Nechama Rodenstein is in the fourth grade at the Jewish Primary Day School. Her parents and brother are very proud of her for being the first child to volunteer to research and present a D'var Tefilah.