I started the Tefillah Meanings series with the Shemoneh Esrei because it is the central tefillah. And in particular, to fulfill the mitzvah of tefillah, you have to think about the meaning of the first berakhah, Birkhas Avos. But that means I skipped the opening pasuq, which is said before that barkhah.

אֲ֭-דֹנָי שְׂפָתַ֣י תִּפְתָּ֑ח

וּ֝פִ֗י יַגִּ֥יד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ׃

Hashem, open my lips

and my mouth will declare Your praises.

– Tehillim 51:17

I presume this line is part of Shemoneh Esrei even though it’s not part of the original 18 berakhos that gave the tefillah its name because (1) we say it Shacharis and Maariv, despite the gemara‘s directive that birkhas Ge’ulah. (Ga’al Yisrael in the morning, and the Ge’ulah – Hashkiveinu pair in Maariv; see Berakhos 4b).

David haMelekh calls G-d by the name Adnus, a conjugation of the word meaning “Lord”. (The qamatz yud suffice is unique to this name. “My lords” would be “אֲדֹנַי”, with a patach yud.) Radaq explains that we are referring to Hashem as the One Who bears all things.

This pasuq from Tehillim uses different verb conjugations in each clause. In the first: “tiftach – You will / shall open”. But the second clause has “yagid — it will declare”. The first half is about what we ask Hashem to do, the second, about we promise to do. But how is it appropriate to ask Hashem to do a mitzvah for us?

“Sefasai – my lips” is more external than “fi — my mouth”. The lips are the border between outside and inside. The edge of a sea is sefas hayam.

In contrast, all that differs between the word “fi” and “bi — within me”, pei vs beis, is that fei and pei do not require vibrating your vocal cords, whereas veis and beis are voiced. Fi implies something more internal. (And while I am only saying such an association is inevitable if your ear is attuned, according to Rav Hirsch’s approach to Hebrew these would be related roots.)

When I say these words (and when I am not distracted, of course), I read them this way:

The One Who puts up with my shortcomings (along with everything else in creation),
remove the distractions of the world around me that keep my lips from opening
so that I can honestly talking what is within me.

So, as I see it, in this opening we are asking Hashem for help by removing the distractions that could keep us from properly expressing ourselves. But the actual job and mitzvah of self-expression to Him is left to us.

Art by Sefira Lightstone