Finding the Forefathers and Mothers in Prayer and Piyyut
Dr. Chanan Gafni
Chanan Gafni Studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, while earning his academic degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (MA) and Harvard University (PhD). He currently teaches at Hebrew University and Midreshet Lindenbaum. His publications include The Mishnah’s Plain Sense (2011), and most recently: Conceptions of the Oral Law in Modern Jewish Scholarship (2019).
The Midrash attributes the establishment of תפילת העמידה (Tefillat haAmidah, or The Standing Prayer) to the Forefathers. But are they actually mentioned in the prayers, themselves? And what about the Foremothers, were they represented too? We know that they do appear in Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah prayers, and even more so in later Piyutim. By making use of the studies of famous scholars of Piyyut, we will seek to find our forebears in our prayers.