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How Much Praise is Due?

In the days of Rabbi Haninah, when the words of all our prayers were not yet fixed, a hazzan was expected to compose prayers according to the themes of the Amidah.   One hazzan got carried away when Rabbi Haninah was present and sang out the introduction to the first passage of the Amidah, referring to God as the great, mighty, awe-inspiring, majestic, powerful, terrifying, strong, fearless, sure and honored….”    After the service Rabbi Haninah asked the hazzan, “Do you think that you have exhausted God’s praises with your many descriptions?   It is as if a king owned a million gold coins and you praised him for owning one hundred!   Your very praise in an insult!   The only reason we call God even ‘great, mighty and awe-inspiring’ is because Moses used those adjectives in the Torah.   Without this precedent, we would have nothing to say at all.”   - cf Berakhot 33b