Editing Aleinu (section)

==Censored passage==
Referring the lines above numbered 7 & 8:

The earlier form of this prayer contains an additional sentence:
{{blockquote|For they worship vanity and emptiness, and pray to a god who cannot save.}}

This sentence is built from two quotations from the Bible, specifically from the Book of Isaiah, [[Isaiah]] 30:7, "For the help of Egypt shall be (הבל&nbsp;וריק) ''vain and empty'' ..."; and [[Isaiah]] 45:20. "... No foreknowledge had they who carry their wooden images (וּמתפּללים&nbsp;אל־אל&nbsp;לא&nbsp;יוֹשׁיע) ''and pray to a God who cannot give success''." (New JPS) The line is still set out in full in [[Sephardi]] and [[Italian Jews#Italian rite Jews|Italian]] prayer books, but was omitted in most of the older printed [[Ashkenazi]] prayer books. In some older editions of other rites (e.g., the ''[[Musta'arabi Jews#Old Aleppo rite|Maḥzor Aram Soba]]'', 1560, as well as some editions of the Ashkenazic prayer book) a blank line was left in the printing, leaving it free for the missing line to be filled in handwriting. In many current Orthodox Jewish [[siddurim]] (prayer books) this line has been restored, and the practice of reciting it has increased.

Although the above text, which includes the censored verse, is taken from the 2009 [[Koren Sacks Siddur]], edited by Rabbi [[Jonathan Sacks]] (in that edition the censored verse is printed without any distinguishing marks), the 2007 4th edition of ''The [[Authorised Daily Prayer Book]] of the [[United Synagogue|United Hebrew Congregations]] of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]'', edited by the same Rabbi Sacks, omits the censored verse completely and without any indication that such a verse ever existed.

===History of the censorship===
Approximately a century after this prayer was incorporated into the daily liturgy, circa 1300, an apostate Jew, known as Pesach Peter, denounced it as a secret anti-Christian slur on the grounds that the word וריק—''varik'', "and emptiness"—had, in [[gematria]] (Hebrew numerology) the value of 316, the same as ישׁו—Jesus. In vain did the rabbis defend the sentence on the grounds that the expression came from the Book of Isaiah, or that the whole prayer came from Joshua, and therefore must predate Christianity, or, if the prayer was attributed to [[Abba Arika|Rav]], living in 3rd-century Babylonia (Persia), that he never encountered a Christian.<ref>Elbogen Ismar, ''Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History'' (orig. 1913, Engl. transl. 1993, Philadelphia, Jewish Publ'n Soc.) p. 72; Freundel, Barry, ''Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer'' (2010, NY, Urim Publ'ns) p. 232; Hertz, Joseph H., ''The Authorized Daily Prayer Book with commentary, introductions and notes'' (rev. American ed. 1948, NY, Bloch Publ'g) p. 209; Jacobson, B.S., ''The Weekday Siddur: An Exposition and Analysis of its Structure, Contents, Language and Ideas'' (2nd ed, Tel-Aviv, Sinai Publ'g) p. 307; Nulman, Macy, ''Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer'' (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) p. 24.</ref>—It probably did not help that at roughly the same time a rabbinic commentary on the prayers, ''Arugat haBosem'' by Abraham ben Azriel, made the point that, in [[gematria]], "vanity and emptiness" had the same value as ישׁו&nbsp;ומחמט—"Jesus and Mohammed".<ref>Freundel, Barry, ''Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer'' (2010, NY, Urim Publ'ns) p. 233.</ref> As a result of this, in various places the Christian authorities censored the sentence, usually omitting it.

Circa 1938, Herbert Lowe, the Reader in Rabbinics at Cambridge University, wrote: "No Jew who recites it ever thinks of it in relation to Christians: the chief thought in his mind is the noble conclusion. It is, in fact, a universalist pronouncement of the Messianic hope, and with this idea every service concludes."<ref>Montefiore, C.G., & Lowe, H., ''The Rabbinic Anthology'' (orig. 1938, reprinted 1960, Philadelphia, Jewish Publ'n Soc. of America) sec. 976, p. 367.</ref>

As a result of this censorship, a curious practice arose - it may have predated the censorship, but thereafter acquired encouragement as a form of resistance - that where the word "emptiness" occurred - or should have occurred - the individual was supposed to spit (on the floor), on the pretext that "emptiness" is very similar to the Hebrew word for "spittle". This practice was mentioned by the early 15th century.<ref>Freundel, Barry, ''Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer'' (2010, NY, Urim Publ'ns) p. 234.</ref> When, for example, the accusations about this verse were revived in Prussia in 1703, the government (in Berlin) enacted that the controversial verse should be omitted altogether ''and'' that spitting or recoiling was forbidden ''and'' that the prayer would be recited aloud "in unison" by the whole congregation (to make sure nobody was surreptitiously reciting the verse) ''and'' that government inspectors would be posted in synagogues to ensure compliance.<ref>Freundel, Barry, ''Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer'' (2010, NY, Urim Publ'ns) p. 234 and the first and last pp. of the decree appear on pp. 237–238; Jacobson, B.S., ''The Weekday Siddur: An Exposition and Analysis of its Structure, Contents, Language and Ideas'' (2nd ed, Tel-Aviv, Sinai Publ'g) p. 308.</ref> Apparently no one was ever prosecuted for violating this edict.<ref>Elbogen Ismar, ''Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History'' (orig. 1913, Engl. transl. 1993, Philadelphia, Jewish Publ'n Soc.) p. 72.</ref> In some other places, the practice of spitting persisted (or at least was remembered), and there arose a [[Yiddish]] expression for someone arriving very late for services (perhaps just to recite the [[Mourners' Kaddish]], which follows ''Aleinu''), "He arrives at the spitting" ({{lang|yi|קומען צום אױסשפּײַען}} {{Transliteration|yi|kumen tsum oysshpayen}}).<ref>Freundel, Barry, ''Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer'' (2010, NY, Urim Publ'ns) pp. 234–235; Nulman, Macy, ''Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer'' (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) p. 25; Schach, Stephen R., ''The Structure of the Siddur'' (1996, NJ, Jason Aronson) p. 134; Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary online www.verterbukh.org.</ref>

In the daily synagogue services, the [[Torah Ark]] is closed while ''Aleinu'' is recited, but on Rosh Hashana, when ''Aleinu'' is recited during the Mussaf Amidah, the Ark is opened when ''Aleinu'' is begun, closed momentarily when the controversial verse was recited (presumably to shield the Torah scrolls from hearing a description of heathen practices) and then opened again as soon as that verse was finished, and then closed again when ''Aleinu'' is finished. Even after the controversial verse was deleted from the liturgy, owing to [[Christian censorship]], the Ark was momentarily closed although nothing was recited at that moment, as a relic and reminder of the censored verse.<ref>Nulman, Macy, ''Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer'' (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) pp. 25–26; Schach, Stephen R., ''The Structure of the Siddur'' (1996, NJ, Jason Aronson) p. 134; Silverman, Morris, "Comments on the Text of the Siddur", ''Journal of Jewish Music & Liturgy'' (publ. Cantorial Council of Am.) vol.2, nr. 1, 1977, p. 24.</ref>

[[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] Rabbi [[Reuven Hammer]] comments on the excised sentence:

<blockquote>Originally the text read that God has not made us like the nations who "bow down to nothingness and vanity, and pray to an impotent god." ... In the Middle Ages these words were censored, since the church believed they were an insult to Christianity. Omitting them tends to give the impression that the ''Aleinu'' teaches that we are both different and better than others. The actual intent is to say that we are thankful that God has enlightened us so that, unlike the pagans, we worship the true God and not idols. There is no inherent superiority in being Jewish, but we do assert the superiority of monotheistic belief over paganism. Although paganism still exists today, we are no longer the only ones to have a belief in one God.<ref>Hammer, Reuven, ''Or Hadash'', (the annotated edition of [[Siddur Sim Shalom]]) (2003, NY, The [[Rabbinical Assembly]]) p. 51.</ref></blockquote>

In 1656, [[Manasseh ben Israel]] reported that the Sultan Selim (presumably Selim II, 1524–74), having read the uncensored text of ''Aleinu'' in Turkish translation, declared: "Truly this prayer is sufficient for all purposes. There is no need of any other."<ref>Hertz, Joseph H., ''The Authorized Daily Prayer Book with commentary, introductions and notes'' (rev. American ed. 1948, NY, Bloch Publ'g) p. 209.</ref>

===Restoration===
Some Orthodox [[Posek|rabbinical authorities]], prominently the 19th-century Rabbi Moshe [[Yehoshua Leib Diskin]] (''Maharil Diskin'', died 1898), have argued that the disputed phrase should be recited in communities that previously omitted it.<ref>Nulman, Macy, ''Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer'' (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) pp. 24–25; Reif, Stefan C., ''Judaism and Hebrew Prayer'' (1993, Cambridge University Press) p. 312.</ref>