In our Siddur there is a wonderful prayer during the Maariv service named: הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ (Hashkiveinu).  It is the second of the בְּרַכֹת (B’rachot) after the ֹשְמַע (Sh’ma). This prayer is a petition to be able to go to sleep in the evening and to return to life the next day.  During the age of the Talmud in Babylonia, people were frightened of the night.  Most lived in the countryside and it was very dark.  The הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ was added to the Maariv service to ask G-d for protection.

The הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ is only recited in the evening and is found after the מִי-כָמֹֽכָה (Mi-Chamochah) which is a prayer for redemption.  The הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ is also a prayer for redemption where we ask to be freed from danger.  “Guard our coming and our going; grant us life and peace, now and always.” (Siddur Sim Shalom pg 33).

Traditionally the הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ is first recited in the Synagogue during the Maariv service, then at home as a bedtime prayer.  As an extension to the מִי-כָמֹכָה, the הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ asks G-d for protection from the terror of the night.  During the time in Babylonia, when the הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ was initially composed, there was no electricity.  It might be hard for us in today’s modern world to understand the fear people felt living in the country where night was at time pitch dark.  During that time period there were many dangers present to people, not only real dangers like wild animals, wild storms, plague, and even other people, but also imagined dangers.

In this beautiful prayer we ask וּפְרוֹשֹ עָלֵינוּ סֻכַּת ֹשְלוֹמֶךָ (ufros aleinu sukat sh’lomecha) “Spread over us Your shelter of peace…” (Siddur Sim Shalom pg 285).  To be protected as we were protected in the 40 year sojourn of the desert.

Ismar Elbogen, the authoritative source on the subject of the history and origin of our liturgy, traces the source of Hashkiveinu to the Talmudic tractate of Brachot (4b) which outlines the cycle of daily and holiday prayer. Rav Amram, the 9th century sage who produced the first known Siddur has a text of הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ that is similar in structure to the one found in our prayer book today. Interestingly two possible endings can be found for this prayer; one closer to the Babylonian rite and the second closer to the ancient Palestinian. The framers of our liturgy solved this issu by utilizing the conclusion: ֹשוֹמֵר עַמּוּ יִשְֹרָאֵל לָעַד (shomeir amo Yisraeil la-ad) “Guardian of Your people Israel” (Siddur Sim Shalom pg 284) for weekday version of Hashkiveinu. On Shabbat and festivals the conclusion הַפּוֹרֵשֹ סֻכַּת ֹשָלוֹם עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל כָּל-עַמּוֹ יִשְֹרָעֵל וְעַל יְרוֹּשָלָֽיִם (haporeis sukat shalom aleinu v’al kol amo Yisraeil v’al Y’rushalayim) “who spreads the shelter of peace over us, over all His people Israel, and over Jerusalem” (Siddur Sim Shalom pg 33).

The Talmud, as noted above, refers to the הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ as the Long Redemption. This connection to the prayer for redemption: גָּאַל יִשְֹרָאֵל (Ga-al Yisrael); “Redeemer of the people Israel” (Siddur Sim Shalom pg 32) is underscored by B.S. Jacobson in his definitive work on the daily prayer book. Jacobson cites a Midrash  (Rabbinic Parable) which relates that when the Children of Israel were instructed to remain indoors as the Angel of Death slew the first born of Egypt, they recited a prayer asking for a peaceful sleep, for protection from adversaries and for guidance in their comings and goings this became the precursor of our  הַֹשְכִּיבֵֽנוּ prayer.