El Melekh Ne'Eman

("God is a faithful King"). Brief formula mainly recited by Ashkenazi (including Ḥasidic) Jews immediately before the Shema, when Morning or Evening Prayers are not said with a congregational quorum (I>>minyan). A homiletic reason adduced for the addition of this phrase is that the number of words in the Shema must correspond to the 248 "limbs" which (according to the rabbis) make up the human body, and to the same number of positive commandments in the Torah. Since the Shema comprises 245 words only, three extra words need to be added. When public worship takes place these are supplied by the reader who recites aloud the last two words of the Shema with the initial word of the following paragraph---Adonai Elohékhem emet, "The Lord your God is true" (cf. Jer. 10:10). Those worshiping in private, however, recite El Melekh Ne'eman as a prefix to the opening verse of the Shema. From statements in the Talmud (Shab. 119b; San. 111a), it appears that this Hebrew phrase was not chosen at random. El Melekh Ne'eman was regarded both as a declaration of faith and (acrostically) as equivalent to Amen.

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