Rav Yehuda said: A person should never request their own needs in the first three or in the last three blessings; rather, in the middle. As Rabbi Chanina said: During the first three blessings, be like a servant who arranges praise before the master; during the middle, like a servant who requests a reward from the master; during the final three blessings, be like a servant who already received a reward from the master and is taking leave and departing.
Praise - Request - Thanks
It is taught: Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen blessings of the Amida prayer before Rabban Gamliel in their fixed order in Yavneh. Rabbi Yochanan said, and some say that it was taught in earlier: A hundred and twenty Elders, among them several prophets, established the eighteen blessings of the Amida in their fixed order.
Introductory meditation
1] Avot - Ancestors
2] Gevurot - God’s strength
3] Kedushah - Holiness of God
4] Kedushat HaYom - Holiness of Shabbat
5] Retzeh - Accept our prayer
6] Modim - Thanksgiving
7] Sim Shalom - Peace
Closing meditation
(17) O God, open my lips, and let my mouth declare Your praise.
You do not desire burnt offerings;
(א) אֲדנָי שפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּיד תְּהִלָּתֶךָ:
(ב) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ וֵאלהֵי אֲבותֵינוּ. אֱלהֵי אַבְרָהָם. אֱלהֵי יִצְחָק. וֵאלהֵי יַעֲקב. הָאֵל הַגָּדול הַגִּבּור וְהַנּורָא אֵל עֶלְיון. גּומֵל חֲסָדִים טובִים. וְקונֵה הַכּל. וְזוכֵר חַסְדֵּי אָבות. וּמֵבִיא גואֵל לִבְנֵי בְנֵיהֶם לְמַעַן שְׁמו בְּאַהֲבָה:
(ד) מֶלֶךְ עוזֵר וּמושִׁיעַ וּמָגֵן: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם:
O God, open my lips, and let my mouth declare Your praise.
Praised are You, God, our God and God of our ancestors, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, God of Sarah, God of Rebecca, God of Rachel, and God of Leah, great, mighty, awe-inspiring, transcendent God, who acts with kindness and love, and creates all, who remembers the loving deeds of our ancestors, and who will lovingly bring a redeemer to their children’s children for the sake of Divine honour.
You are the sovereign who helps and saves and shields. Praised are You, God, Guardian of Sarah and Shield of Abraham.
Rabbi Elliott Dorff in My People's Prayerbook vol 2 - The Amidah
Ramban explains that the reason the Torah says “G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac, and G-d of Jacob” instead of “G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” is because each of them had their own relationship with G-d, just like siblings have their own relationship with the same parent. How is your relationship with G-d, or your way of doing Judaism, different from the generations before you?
Rabbi Dr. Judith Hauptman in My People's Prayerbook vol 2 - The Amidah
The Opening Blessings of the Amidah by Andrew Levy 11th Oct 2018
We need to move from mantra to Moses. The opening words of the Amida mention Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but the Jewish figure whom we actually imitate when saying these words is Moses. This is the Moses who grew up as a prince in Egypt, discovered his Jewish identity, killed an Egyptian and then fled to Midian. Within that context, God appears to Moses in that well-known unconsumed burning bush. We can imagine that Moses is frightened and scared; he is in an alien place and is a wanted man on the run.
God then says the words which we know so well from the beginning of the Amidah: ‘[I am] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’ (Exodus 3:6). This soon becomes a command to go to Pharaoh to free the children of Israel from bondage. Moses’ response to God’s command would surely have been ours if saddled with such immense responsibility: ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring out the children of Israel from Egypt?’ (Exodus 3:11). Indeed Moses describes himself later as ‘of uncircumcised lips’ (Exodus 6:12) – in other words, he lacks the gift of the gab.
When confronted with the command to pray to an unknowable God, should not our response like Moses’ be one of inadequacy? With Moses in mind, the opening (silent) line of the Amidah takes on added poignancy. If one examines those words in their original context (Psalm 51:17), they speak of a person, like Moses, with a broken spirit and downtrodden heart.
By the end of the Amidah though, we have uttered a prayer showing our ability to overcome such failings. In this regard again, we have imitated Moses. A man who described himself as unable to speak utters the longest speech in the Bible – the whole book of Deuteronomy is that speech. The fascinating comparison is invited by the words themselves and the way the liturgists decided to order them. Whilst we could just stay in our mantra, surely moving from mantra to Moses is much more rewarding.
(17) For your God יהוה is God supreme and supreme master, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, (18) but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.—
(32) “And now, our God, great, mighty, and awesome God, who stays faithful to the covenant, do not treat lightly all the suffering that has overtaken us—our kings, our officers, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all Your people—from the time of the Assyrian kings to this day.
(22) But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I swear to יהוה, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth:
(1) Some time later, the word of יהוה came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
(1) יהוה took note of Sarah as promised, and יהוה did for Sarah what had been announced.
