Note 120 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 3)

The Mishnah speaks of the tefillah as a well-known existing institution; it seems that it was the regular prayer in the Synagogue Service, and the discussion whether the tefillah should be repeated every day in extenso or in an abbreviated form (Mishnah, Berachoth iv. 3) refers probably to the prayer recited privatim (‏תפלת יחיד‎), and not to the Service in the Synagogue. The prescribed “Eighteen Blessings” were the framework, into which each man was expected to fit in his peculiar, individual supplications; whilst in the public Service the tefillah remained uniform. In the days of Rabban Gamliel of Jamnia, and with his sanction, an important addition was made by Samuel: a prayer for the discomfiture of those who by slander, denunciation, or other wicked means attempt to undermine the existence of the Jewish religion and community (‏ברכת הצדוקים‎ or ‏ברכת המינים‎).120 In some congregations two other paragraphs (‏את צמח‎ and ‏ולירושלם‎) were at the same time combined into one, in order to keep to the traditional “Eighteen Blessings.”121