The Amidah (Hebrew: תפילת העמידה, Tefilat HaAmidah "The Standing Prayer"), also called the Shmoneh Esreh (שמנה עשרה, Shmoneh Esreh "The Eighteen," in reference to the original number of constituent blessings; there are now nineteen), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. As Judaism's central prayer, the Amidah is often designated simply astefila (תפילה, "prayer") in Rabbinic literature.
Observant Jews recite the Amidah at each of three ...