<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class="">The question was asked why <i class="">H' S'fatai Tiftach</i> immediately</span><div class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class="">precedes the Amidah.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class="">I gave the following response:</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class="">Soncino gives a very poignant explantion.<br class=""> <br class=""><i class="">“O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth<br class="">shall declare Thy praise.”<br class=""> </i><br class=""><b class="">David’s lips had been sealed by wrongdoing,<br class="">because praise of God would then have been<br class="">blasphemy. If, then, God opened his lips and he <br class="">was again enabled to offer Him praise, it was a<br class="">sign that he had been granted pardon.</b><br class=""> <br class="">What a profound thought before one of the most <br class="">prominent and central prayers of our entire liturgy.<br class="">We are all sinners and hope for the same pardon that<br class="">King David was granted.</span><br class=""> </div></body></html>