("He who blessed [our fathers]"). Opening words and popular title of various invocations for blessings recited in connection with the Reading of the Law. On Sabbaths and festivals, in most rites, a Mi she-Berakh prayer is offered by the reader on behalf of each individual called to the Reading of the Law; in Orthodox congregations this may be followed by another such prayer, blessing the individual's family and anyone else whom he wishes to honor, a donation to the synagogue or to charity also being mentioned. According to Western Sephardi (Spanish and Portuguese) custom, each honor allocated in connection with the Torah reading is preceded by a separate Mi she-Berakh. On a Monday or Thursday coinciding with or preceding a death anniversary (Yahrzeit), Ashkenazim may ask for a memorial prayer to be recited as well (in other rites this is not restricted to weekdays). After the usual Mi she-Berakh, additional prayers may be recited for a sick person, the mother of a newborn child (a daughter, but not a son, then being named in the synagogue), for a bar mitzvah boy, or for a bridegroom prior to his wedding. Conservative practice allows for such a Mi she-Berakh to be recited for a woman or bat mitzvah called to the Torah. Some traditional congregations substitute one general Mi she-Berakh after the Reading of the Law for the various individual prayers.
A separate and longer formula, dating from geonic times, is the Prayer for the Community recited on Sabbaths (and festivals coinciding with the Sabbath) after the Reading of the Law. In the Ashkenazi rite, this follows Yekum Purkan; it invokes God's blessing on the congregation, on all other synagogue worshipers in every land, and on all who perform communal tasks. The Italian rite preserves a similar wording, but a different text is used by Sephardi and Oriental congregations. In Israeli (and some Diaspora) synagogues, a third Mi she-Berakh is read calling for God's protection to be extended over all serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
