Kedushah - Holiness or Sacred
An ancient Jewish prayer
Sung by Rachel Hyman
The Kedushah (Hebrew: קדושה) is traditionally the third section of all Amidah recitations. In the silent Amidah it is a short prayer, but in the repetition, which requires a minyan, it is considerably lengthier. The liturgy varies among different communities and during different services, but they all hold in common three lines from the Bible (though translations vary): Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Adonai Tz'vaot M'lo Khol Ha'aretz K'vodo ("Holy, Holy, Holy, The Lord of Hosts, The entire world is filled with His Glory"), Baruch K'vod Adonai Mim'komo ("Blessed is the Glory of the Lord in Its Place"), and Yimloch Adonai L'Olam, Elohayich Tziyon L'dor Vador Hall'luyah ("The Lord shall reign forever, Your G-d, O Zion, from generation to generation, Hallelujah")
The Kedushah is enhanced during the morning and Musaf services of Shabbat and Festivals and between the biblical verses there are more praises. The Musaf service of Shabbat and Festivals as well as all of the Kedushahs of Yom Kippur additionally contain the opening line of the Shema.
There is also something called the Kedushah D'Sidrah which is recited at the conclusion of weekday morning services, at the beginning of the afternoon services of Shabbat and Festivals, the conclusion of the evening service of Saturday night, and the beginning of the Neilah service at the end of Yom Kippur. This is different than the Kedushah of the Amidah as it does not require a minyan and it includes an Aramaic recapitulation (Targum) of the three aforementioned biblical verses of the Kedushah.
