לְעוֹלָם A person should always: This whole section until “Who sanctifies His name among the multitudes” appears in the tenth-century Midrash, Tanna DeVei Eliyahu (chapter 21). Some believe that it dates from a period of persecution under the Persian ruler Yazdegerd II who, in 456 CE, forbade the observance of Shabbat and the reading of the Torah. Jews continued to practice their faith in secret, saying prayers at times and in ways that would not be detected by their persecutors. This explains the reference to fearing God “privately” and “speaking it [truth] in his heart” (that is, the secret practice of Judaism) and the recitation here of the first lines of the Shema, which could not be said at the normal time. The final blessing, “Who sanctifies His name among the multitudes,” refers to the martyrdom of those who went to their deaths rather than renounce their faith. Martyrdom is called Kiddush HaShem, “sanctifying [God’s] name.”

רִבּוֹן Master of all worlds: This passage also appears in the Ne’ila prayer on Yom Kippur. It expresses the paradox of the human condition in the presence of God. We know how small we are and how brief our lives. Fleeting breath: the Hebrew word hevel – the key word of the opening chapters of Ecclesiastes, from which this line is taken – has been translated as “vain, meaningless, empty, futile.” However, it literally means “a short breath.” It conveys a sense of the brevity and insubstantiality of life as a physical phenomenon. All that lives soon dies, and is as if it had never been. Yet: You created us, made us, chose us. We are infinitesimally small, yet brushed by the wings of Infinity. We are dust; yet we are Your people, children of Your covenant, descendants of those You singled out to be witnesses to the world of Your existence and majesty.

אַתָּה הוּא It was You who existed: This prayer, with its emphasis on the changelessness of God, may have been incorporated at a time of persecution, expressing the refusal of Jews to abandon their faith. God does not alter or revoke His covenant; therefore, we may not renounce our religion or identity: “I, God, do not change; so you, children of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Mal. 3:6).

אַתָּה הוּא You are the Lord our God: This second prayer, for the end of exile, culminates with the verse from Zephania (3:20) which speaks of the ingathering of Jews and of a time when “I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” This entire sequence of prayers is eloquent testimony to how Jews sustained faith and hope, dignity and pride, during some of the most prolonged periods of persecution in history.