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Kneeling (כריעה) Hebrew Kri`ah, Arabic Qu’ud sitting


Keriah – “which means going down on the knees.”, I Kings 8:54 (Tractate Berachot 34b). It can be either sitting on the knees or not.

Kneeling and sitting on feet
The act of kneeling is a token of submission (I Kings, viii. 54; Ezra, ix. 6, and other passages). The passage in I Kings. 19:18, referring to kneeling down, must be understood as applying to prostrate adoration, which was preceded, as already stated, by a bending of the knee. This means that Kri’ah was used generally for a variety of positions. This is the case of where in the Rambam Hilchos Tefilah, and elsewhere, the word Kr`iah is used as a general term for all prayer positions that involve bending in some form.

Kri`ah proper, probably refers to custom in Islamic tradition of sitting solemnly, during a portion of the prayer, in an attitude in which the head can easily touch the ground. Probably the passage, II Sam. vii. 18—where it is stated that King David went into the house of the Lord and sat there—is to be similarly explained as referring to a peculiar and solemn mode of sitting.

The prayer Aleinu specifically makes reference to kr`iah (kneel), hishtakhaweh (full prostration) and modim (testimony, shahada).

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