action
bowing
At a glance
In short
The Gemara (Megillah 22b, Berachos 34b) teaches that the three are not synonyms but three kinds of bowing: kidah is bowing the face, kriah is kneeling, and hishtachavaah is full prostration with hands and feet stretched out. Maharsha explains that each bows the head and some add more: kidah with the body otherwise erect, kriah on the knees, hishtachavaah stretched out on the floor. Segidah is Aramaic for hishtachavaah according to Radak; Malbim holds that the act may be the same but the purpose differs.
Distinctions
The Gemara (Megillah 22b, Berachos 34b) says the three words denote three different kinds of bowing. Maharsha (Rabbi Shmuel Eidels, 1555 to 1631) explains that all three involve bowing the head, and some involve more than that.
Kidah (קידה)
The Gemara learns that kidah is bowing the face from "and Bas Sheva bowed (vatikod) her face to the ground" (Melachim I 1:31). Tosafos point out that "face" appears with hishtachavaah as well (Yeshayahu 49:23), and conclude that the Gemara's definition of kidah as bowing the face rests on a tradition, not on derivation from the verse.
Maharsha: in kidah only the head bows, to the ground, while one otherwise stands erect, without bending the knees. The Gemara (Sukkah 53a) relates that few could do this, but Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel would perform kidah in the Beis HaMikdash courtyard, supporting himself on his two thumbs, his face to the ground, kissing the floor, and standing straight again; and that Levi once demonstrated kidah before Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and was left paralyzed.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740 to 1814) and Malbim (1809 to 1879) derive kidah from kadkod, the skull, since one tilts the top of the head downward.
- Linguists relate kidah to the Akkadian qadadu, to incline.
Kriah (כריעה)
Kneeling, as Shlomo HaMelech is described "kneeling (kore'a) on his knees" (Melachim I 8:54). The word kera refers to the leg or knee of living creatures and of objects such as tables and chairs. Maharsha: kriah is a bit easier than kidah: one bends the knees to the floor and then bows the face to the ground.
Hishtachavaah (השתחוויה)
Prostrating oneself on the floor with hands and feet stretched out. Maharsha: one goes down on the knees, bows the head to the ground, and then stretches out hands and feet on the floor. It is the word for Avraham's bowing before the children of Ches (Bereishis 23:7, 23:12) and for his servant's bowing in thanks to Hashem (Bereishis 24:26, 24:48, 24:52); at 24:26 the Torah adds kidah to it.
Rav Hirsch (1808 to 1888) explains the symbolism of kidah against hishtachavaah; he does not discuss kriah. Both are signs of submission, but they express it differently. Kidah moves the head, the seat of the intellect, and so denotes submitting one's intellect or will to the inclinations of another. Hishtachavaah prostrates the whole body, and so symbolizes dedicating every faculty of one's physical existence to a cause. As one is willing to bend his posture for another, so is he willing to break his will and submit to another's wishes.
Segidah (סגידה)
Sagad or segidah appears only four times in Tanach, all in Yeshayahu 44 to
- On whether it differs from hishtachavaah, see above. The Modern Hebrew
misgad, a mosque, is related to it; its more direct ancestor is the Arabic masjid, of which English "mosque" is a corruption.
Where the authorities disagree
Is segidah just the Aramaic for hishtachavaah?
- Radak (Sefer HaShorashim): segidah is Aramaic for hishtachavaah. The Targum generally renders hishtachavaah as sagid (Bereishis 18:2, 23:7, 23:12, 24:26 and more).
- Against that, Yeshayahu 44:17 uses hishtachavaah and segidah side by side, which suggests, in Rabbi Klein's view, that they are not synonyms from two languages.
- Malbim: the physical act of the two may be the same, and the difference lies in the motive. Hishtachavaah is bowing as a means of giving honor to that toward which one bows. Segidah is bowing whose purpose is not to give honor as such, but to perform a religious rite that is said to bring special benefits from Above.
Rendering guidance
For translators
- Trap: English "bow" absorbs all four. Where kidah and hishtachavaah stand together, as in vayikod ha'ish vayishtachu (Bereishis 24:26), "bowed and prostrated himself" keeps the Gemara's two distinct acts; "bowed and bowed down" loses them.
- "Worship" for hishtachavaah hides the physical act the Gemara defines and Malbim's point that it gives honor. In Yeshayahu 44:17, where segidah and hishtachavaah appear together, Malbim's reading needs two different words.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Take a Bow," What's in a Word?, 1 November 2018.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 18:2, 23:7, 23:12, 24:26, 24:48, 24:52 (and Targum); Melachim I 1:31, 8:54; Yeshayahu 44 to 46, 44:17, 49:23; Megillah 22b; Berachos 34b; Sukkah 53a; Tosafos; Maharsha; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim; Malbim; Rav Hirsch; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim.