Ein Keloheinu

Ein Keloheinu (in Hebrew: אֱין כֱּאלֹהֱינוּ, "there is none like our God") is a well known Jewish hymn. Orthodox Jews pronounce it as Ein Kelokeinu when referring to it outside of prayer, in order to avoid taking the name of God in vain or otherwise violating the sanctity of reverence to the Almighty.

Ein Keloheinu is sometimes chanted at the end of the morning service (shacharit). In the Ashkenazi tradition outside of Israel, it is only said at the end of Shabbat and festival services, towards the end of the Mussaf service, immediately before a Talmudic lesson on the making of the Temple incense. However, in the Land of Israel, as well as in all Sephardi weekday morning prayer services it is said daily. In some other regional traditions it is used elsewhere in the liturgy, but it seems to be known worldwide. In many synagogues it is sung; in some Orthodox synagogues it is only said quietly by every person for themselves and is not regarded as a critical part of the prayer service.

The background for the prayer is that its 20 sentences each count as a blessing. Jews are exhorted to make at least 100 blessings daily . On weekdays, the Shemoneh Esrei (or "Amidah") prayer contains 19 blessings and is said three times, totaling 57 blessings, and the remaining 43 are said during other parts of daily services as well as during other events throughout the day. On Shabbat and festivals, however, the Amidah consists of only seven blessings. Ein Keloheinu was designed to ensure that everybody would say at least 100 blessings a day, even on those days when the Amidah is shorter.

Four different names are used to refer to God in this prayer:

1. Elohim (אלהים) - God
2. Adon (אדון) - Lord or Master
3. Melekh (מלך) - King
4. Moshia` (מושיע) - Savior or Messiah.

These names of God are in the same sequence in which they appear in the Torah. The kabbalists saw, in the use of four names for God, references to four different Divine qualities.