Bible Encyclopedias
Ahabah Rabbah

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

The initial words, and hence the names, of the two benedictions that precede the SHEMA''; the former used in the morning service of the German ritual, the latter in the evening service of both rituals and in the morning service of the Sephardic. The difference in the formulas goes back to the time when Rab and Samuel arranged (not composed, as is often erroneously stated) the prayers for the Babylonian schools; for we find Samuel insisting on that of Ahabah Rabbah, against the general tannaitic tradition, which favored the Ahabat 'Olam formula, claiming that the Ahabah Rabbah was the prayer recited by the priests in the Temple at the morning service after the leader's call, , and before the decalogue and the Shema' (Ber. 11b, Mid. 5:1). According to Tos. Ber. 11b, Ahabah Rabbah was the formula adopted for the morning service, Ahabat 'Olam for the evening. Thus it is also found in the Siddur of Amram Gaon; but the Maḥzor Vitry, following the Sephardic ritual and the Geonim, has Ahabat 'Olam also for the morning. The phraseology of the latter seemed preferable, it being more in accord with the Biblical verse (Jeremiah 31:3), as pointed out in Ber. 11b; still, to distinguish the evening from the morning prayer, the German ritual adhered to Ahabah Rabbah. The benediction itself, like Yoẓer Or, the one that precedes it, is very old and probably dates from the time of the institution of the Shema' by the founders of the Synagogue (the men of the Great Synagogue), Yoẓer Or being the thanksgiving for the light of the day, Ahabah Rabbah the thanksgiving for the special love of God for Israel, manifested in the light of Revelation (Torah). Asher of Lunel, quoted by "Kol Bo," , and by Abudraham, says: "The sun gives light only in the daytime, the Torah by day and by night; as Psalms 19 praises God first for the sun and then for the Torah which enlightens the mind, so should we also give praise in these two benedictions." Compare Philo, "De Vita Contemplativa" (On a Contemplative Life), ed. Mangey, 2:475:

There is a strain of profound love and zeal for God and the Law echoed in the benediction, which could only emanate from souls the very keynote of whose life is love and piety, such as was that of the ancient Ḥasidim, the Essenes (Rapoport, "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," , on Kalir, 119). But, as is the case with all the prayers, individuals and generations occasionally added a word or a sentence, and the sixty-two words which Zunz ("G. V." p. 369) claims for the original Ahabah Rabbah were increased to one hundred and two in the German, one hundred and forty-one in the Sephardic Siddur, and one hundred and forty-two in the Maḥzor Vitry. A Genizah fragment from Cairo (Egypt), reproduced here, contains the Ahabah Rabbah version, which has some German and some Sephardic features, and aggregates one hundred and seventeen words. The following is a translation of the main benediction, the later interpolations being omitted: