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The Amida prayer is also called Shemoneh Esrei (literally “eighteen”) on account of the number of blessings it contains. There were originally eighteen, but a nineteenth was added requesting the destruction of wicked people who persecuted the Jews. The Amida’s first three blessings are praise; the thirteen middle ones are requests; the last three are thanks, which conclude with a blessing about peace. Each blessing is a paragraph whose concluding sentence begins with “Blessed are You.”
The middle section’s requests express all the Jewish people's aspirations , including personal requests for health and livelihood. The thirteen requests on the national level are for wisdom, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, health, livelihood, the ingathering of the exiles, the restoration of justice, the destruction of the wicked, the blessing of the righteous, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the revival of the Davidic dynasty, and the answering of our prayers. In the blessing dedicated to livelihood, we ask for rain during the winter and for dew during the summer. One should make efforts not to confuse the two.
Adding personal requests in the middle section is encouraged. For example, one can pray for the recovery of someone specific (in the blessing for health), for one’s livelihood (in the blessing for national sustenance), and for a relative to move to Israel (in the blessing for the ingathering of the exiles). The last of the middle blessings, which ends “Shome’a Tefilla” (“Who hears prayers”), is formulated very broadly, so one may add there any request at all. Requests may also be added at the end of the Amida, before taking the traditional three steps back. (See section 15 below.)
It is preferable to maintain kavana for the entire Amida. Someone who has trouble staying focused should try to concentrate during the final sentence of each blessing, and at the very minimum during Avot, the first blessing of the Amida. Multiple strategies are available to improve focus. For example, some make a point of reading the Amida from the prayerbook, while others pray with their eyes closed. Some like to sway during the Amida both to give expression to the strong emotions, awe and trembling a person in prayer should experience, and to involve the whole body in the prayer experience. Others prefer to remain still, as a sign of respect. It is preferable to pray in Hebrew; nevertheless, those who do not understand Hebrew may recite the prayers in the language they understand.
One may not interrupt the Amida by walking or gesturing, and certainly not by speaking. If something greatly disturbs a person praying, one may either move away or gesture to the person causing the disturbance to stop, but one may not talk.
The Amida expresses the soul's most profound aspirations. Therefore, it should be recited in a whisper, so that the person praying is the only one who can hear it.
