Posuk for name at end of Shemona Esrei

Question

Many people say a Posuk at the end of Shemona Esrei that begins and ends with the same letters as their name. What does someone do if he can not find a Posuk that begins and ends with his name?

Answer 1

In Kovetz Ohr Yisroel (Adar II 5763), pp. 239ff, several people suggested alternatives for names, such as Zelig, that don't appear in Tanach. These include:

• Use a verse that has the letters of the name as the initial or final letters of successive words, whether in order or not. Thus, for example, the spelling זליג appears as successive ends of words in Iyov 22:26 (אז על ש-די תתענג), and the spelling זעליג appears as successive beginnings of words (out of order) in Shmuel II 3:17 (עם זקני ישראל לאמר גם).

• Use a verse that begins with the first letter of the name, and has all of the rest of its letters scattered (in order) throughout the verse. For Zelig, examples include Ex. 30:13 and Deut. 32:7.

• R' Zelig Reuven Bengis of Jerusalem recommended using Ps. 112:4 (זרח בחשך אור לישרים חנון ורחום וצדיק), on the grounds that: (a) ג and ק sound similar and are interchangeable, (b) זעליק is in fact a recognized variant spelling of the name (as in lists of names for gittin), and (c) the Hebrew word חנון has the same meaning as the Yiddish זעליג. Presumably, then, a similar idea could be used for other "difficult" names.

Answer 2

I think there's a pasuk that begins and ends with almost every letter combination, even though some aren't in the siddur.

I found a few options online for helping with pesukim for names that aren't in the siddur:

1. This website has a list of pesukim by first and last letter, including ones that aren't in the siddur: https://web.archive.org/web/20140803215133/http://www.nifla-ot.co.il/articles/138.htm

2. This website allows you to search for every pasuk in Tanach that begins and ends with the letters you select! It's really an excellent tool. In order to use it replace the א in the search bar with the first letter in the name, and replace the ת with the last letter, and then click on the חפש (search) button. If you need any more help with it, let me know. http://162.243.116.217/tnk/find.php?q=%5E%D7%90.*%D7%AA%24

3. If neither of those has any pesukim for your name, another option is to use this website that a friend of mine (AvnerMil) wrote, which allows you to search for ראשי תיבות or סופי תיבות for your name and should find you an alternative option. Instead of starting and ending with the first and last letter of your name, the pasuk will contain the letters of your name as the first letters of consecutive words, or the last letters of consecutive words within the line, which is also acceptable as far as I know. http://secretorah.com/

Answer 3

One can use a Posuk that contains his or her name. Hope this is helpful.