“A certain reader once prayed in the presence of Rabbi Hanina
and uttered, “ “O God, the great, mighty, revered, majestic, powerful, strong,
fearless, all-wise, certain, honorable…..”
Rabbi Hanina waited until he finished and then said to him,
“Have you exhausted the prayers of your master? Why do you say so much? Even the three attributes that we recite (in
the Amida – “great, mighty, revered”) we say only because the great Sanhedrin
fixed them into the liturgy. It is is an
earthly king had a million denarii of gold and we praised him for only
possessing silver. Is not such praise an
insult?” – Berachot 33b
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