Ashray

Jewish tradition considers psalm 144 to be one of the main ones in the entire book of psalms , since it is the only one with the title “tegil” ( Hebrew תהלה ), but according to it the whole book is called “tegilim” in Hebrew - praise. In the prayer "ashray" to the text of Ps. 144 verses ps. 83: 5 , Ps. 143: 15 at the beginning and Ps. 113: 26 at the end. Psalm 144 consists of 21 verses, each of which begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet (the letter נ - nun is missing), so the prayer is easy to remember. In one of the first Ashkenazi prayer books - makhzor vitri (XII century) - verses Ps. 118: 1-2 , Ps. 83: 6 , Ps. 111: 1 and Ps. 88:16 ; all these verses also begin with the word "ashray"; subsequently, the number of added verses was reduced to three.

The main part of the prayer, expressing its main idea, is considered the verse Ps. 144: 16 , which expresses gratitude for the fact that God supports by His mercy all living beings, regardless of whether they deserve it or not (cf. Matt. 5:45 ); thereby expressing hope for the mercy of God and for the prayer himself. When reading this phrase, Ashkenazi touch the tefillin , and the Jews of the eastern communities raise their hands to the sky with their palms up, as if accepting the outgoing grace.

In the Talmud ( Brahot 4b), it is said that one who reads the Ashray prayer three times a day is guaranteed a place in the future world (olam hub). In accordance with this "ashray" read:

• as part of verses of “praise” before the main part of the morning worship ( shaharit );
• in the final part of the morning worship, after reading the Torah ;
• before the amide of afternoon worship ( minkhi ); in Yom Kippur, reading is carried over to the Nile .

• Galel