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On Rosh Chodesh, after Hallel, there is the following:

:זְבַדְיָה יִשְׁמְרֵנִי וִיחַיֵּנִי, כֵּן רָצוֹן מִלְּֿפָנֶיךָ, אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים וּמֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדוֹ נֶפֶשׁ כָּל חָי, אָמֵן

May Zevadyah protect me and grant me life. So may it be Your will, living God and eternal King, in whose hand is the soul of every living being, Amen.1

Who is Zevadyah? Why are we asking him to protect us and grant us life? What is the source for this passage?

Interestingly enough it is not Chabad custom to recite this verse, despite its inclusion in the siddur.

1 Siddur Tehillat Hashem, Annotated English Edition, p. 312

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    Zevadyah is an angel. It seems many people have a problem saying this verse because it prays to an angel. Also some have the custom not to recite the names of angels except Gabriel and Michael.
    – ezra
    Sep 30, 2018 at 6:36
  • 1
    Very relevent: bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=906752&forum_id=1364
    – ezra
    Sep 30, 2018 at 6:43
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    Not sure whether this helps answer the question, but many prayer books have the first word, "זבדיה", unvowelized, which I guess is to signify that one should have that word in mind but not pronounce it.
    – msh210 ♦
    Sep 30, 2018 at 10:00
  • Since the question is about its common inclusion in siddurim and its origin, I’d suggest deleting ‘Chabad’ from the title.
    – Oliver
    Nov 11, 2018 at 23:40
  • As per chabad minhag it's only said after hallel on Rosh chodesh and said individually before kaddish which is perhaps why you might have thought it otherwise to not be said
    – Dude
    Dec 12, 2018 at 20:13

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  • Zevadyah is an angel. It seems many people have a problem saying this verse because it prays to an angel. Also some have the custom not to recite the names of angels except Gabriel and Michael.

  • Very relevent: bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=906752&forum_id=1364

  • Many prayer books have the first word, "זבדיה", unvowelized, which I guess is to signify that one should have that word in mind but not pronounce it.

(Answers by Ezra and msh210.)

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  • Sources? The things I said in the comments were not provided as an answer because I didn't have a valid source for my claims. I don't think you should've just copied and pasted our comments, and accepted it.
    – ezra
    Nov 12, 2018 at 1:39
  • @ezra This link has the sources: bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=906752&forum_id=1364
    – larry909
    Nov 12, 2018 at 19:48
  • @ezra would you rather i remove your name from the answer?
    – larry909
    Nov 23, 2018 at 17:34
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    Do those people who have a problem with this also not say shalom aleichem on shabbos which is about malachim?
    – Dude
    Dec 12, 2018 at 20:11

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