10th of Kislev, 5734
To the students:
Sholom uBrocho:
This is in reply to your question, why the Shemoneh Esreh is called “eighteen” when it has nineteen prayers.
The reason is that when it was originally arranged by the Anshei Knesses Hagdola, it contained eighteen prayers. However, there came a time when the Jewish people suffered great trouble from slanderers and wicked enemies, so that the Sages included into the She.E. the prayer V’lamalshinim, which brought the total up to nineteen. Nevertheless, since it was originally fixed by the Anshei Knesses Hagdola at 18 prayers, the name remained as before.
A further reason is that the number 18 is significant, and there were several reasons why the A.K.H. chose that number of prayers for the She.E., of which we will mention here only two: (1) It corresponds to the number of bones (vertebrae) in the spine. (Ber. 28b).
(Just as there are 248 Mitzvot-asseh in the Torah, which correspond to the 248 organs of the body, so the Sh.E. corresponds to the number of bones in the spine, which is the mainstay of the whole body. This emphasizes the importance of Sh.E., the main prayer of our three daily prayers. For this reason the Sh.E. is usually called in the Talmud just the Prayer, Tefilah.)
(2) It corresponds to the 18 times that our Fathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yakov are mentioned in the Torah (Midrash Ber R. 69:2). As you surely know, our Fathers originally introduced the three daily prayers, Shachris, Mincha, and Maariv, respectively.
By the way, do you and your friends subscribe to the TALKS AND TALES? You will find many interesting things there to enrich your Torah knowledge.
Wishing you a Happy Chanukah,
Nissan Mindel, Editor
Notes and sources
Published: The Letter and the Spirit, Vol 4 (Nissan Mindel Publications, 2017), 286.
Note: Letters printed in "The Letters and the Spirit" are from the Archives of Rabbi Nissan Mindel A"H, the Rebbe's personal secretary entrusted with writing up the Rebbe's orally dictated responses. The “Nissan Mindel Archives” are comprised of secretarial copies, including first drafts, and may have subsequently been published with editorial changes. Therefore the letters as they appear in the book may not be the final signed version.