Question When the cantor repeats the amidah prayer and reaches the passage of modim ("we thank You..."), the congregation recites a parallel passage beginning with the same words but with a different content. What is the origin of the two different passages?

Answer In a number of instances, there are disputes in the Talmud regarding the content of a certain prayer passage. Often, the problem is resolved by assigning the different versions to different times or occasions. Modim is such an example, where the one version was incorporated into the amidah prayer and the other was left as a reading by the congregation. A similar instance is the wording of the last blessing of the amidah, where the resolution of the two versions saw one version, " Sim shalom," incorporated into the morning prayer service, and the other version, " Shalom rav," incorporated into the afternoon and evening services (according to many rituals). Again, there is a dispute as to the formulation of the beginning of the blessing which precedes the Shema, which was resolved by using " Ahavah rabbah" in the morning and " Ahavat olam" in the evening (again according to a number of rituals, but not all).  

Question What are the three parts into which the Jewish people are divided?

Answer The three consist of the kohanim - the priests, the levi'im - the Levites, and the yisraelim, or "Israelites." At the time of the formation of the Jewish people in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, there were thirteen tribes, in that Joseph's children were divided into two tribes, Menasseh and Ephraim. After the sin of the Golden Calf, in which the levi'im - the Levites - were the only ones who did not participate, the Levites were assigned to work in the Sanctuary and, later, in the Temple in Jerusalem. Moses and his brother, Aaron, were of the tribe of Levi, and Aaron was appointed the High Priest, and all his male descendants are kohanim, or priests. For hundreds of years Jews were identified by their tribe, the identity being based on one's father rather than one's mother. In 722 B.C.E. the Kingdom of Israel fell, and with its fall the ten tribes living in it disappeared off the map, assimilated into the surrounding nations. The Kingdom of Judea, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, retained its Jewish identity, even after its fall in 586 B.C.E. In the turmoil following the destruction and exile, the lines between the two tribes were lost. Today, then, the kohanim are male descendants of Aaron, the levi'im are members of the Levite tribe, and the yisraelim are descendants of the tribes of Judah or Benjamin. Converts to Judaism are also considered to be yisraelim.

Question Why and when do the kohanim - the priests - bless the people?

Answer The Torah specifies (Num. 6:27), "They (the kohanim) shall place My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them." The exact text of this blessing is recorded in the Torah (Num. 6:24-26). Outside Israel, this blessing is given only at the additional - musaf - service of the three pilgrimage festivals and the High Holidays. In Israel, the kohanim bless the people at each morning service. In theory, the kohanim should bless the people daily, as they would do in the Temple in Jerusalem. For the kohanim to do so, there are a number of requirements, one of these being that the kohanim be joyful and not depressed. The rabbis reasoned that only when in living in the Land of Israel is a Jew truly happy. Outside the Land of Israel, the only true happiness a Jew has is on the festivals. Thus, outside Israel the kohanim only bless the people on the festivals. This, as countless other laws and customs, points to the centrality of the Land of Israel and its idealization in Jewish thought and belief.  

Question When the kohanim - the priests - bless the people, they customarily cover their heads and hands with a tallit. Why?

Answer By Jewish tradition, when the kohanim bless the people, God's Divine Presence, the Shehinah, rests on their hands. In order to "shield" the congregation from this splendor, the kohanim cover their hands with a tallit. Incidentally, by Jewish law the kohanim are required to keep their eyes closed throughout the priestly blessing, for the same reason.