Aleinu: what Wikipedia removed
Aleinu is a Jewish prayer recited at the end of daily services and found in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Through 2015 the opening said some have suggested that this act of martyrdom inspired the adoption of Aleinu into the daily liturgy. Today the opening carries none of this, though the word survives twice elsewhere in the article. A reader arriving now learns when and how often the prayer is recited, and not that its adoption has been linked to an act of Jewish martyrdom.
The word “martyr” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 2. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| martyr | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The sentence on when the prayer is recited was reworded with minor phrasing changes.
- The sentence on the prayer also being recited after the New Moon blessing is gone from the opening.
- The sentence linking the prayer’s adoption into daily liturgy to an act of Jewish martyrdom is gone from the opening, though the word martyr survives twice elsewhere in the article.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 16031964):
Aleinu is a Jewish prayer found in the siddur , the classical Jewish prayerbook. Traditional Jews recite it at the end of each of the three daily Jewish prayers sessions. According to tradition, this prayer was created and proclaimed by Joshua after leading the children of Israel into Israel, upon the death of Moses. The Aleinu praises God for allowing the Jewish people to serve him, and expresses their hope that the whole world will recognize God and abandon idolatry .
2025 (revision 1296262742):
Jewish prayer Aleinu ( Hebrew : עָלֵינוּ , lit. “upon us”, meaning “[it is] our duty”) or Aleinu leshabei’ach ( Hebrew : עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ “[it is] our duty to praise [ God ]”), meaning “it is upon us” or “it is our obligation or duty [to praise God]”, is a Jewish prayer found in the siddur , the classical Jewish prayerbook. It is recited in most communities at the end of each of the three daily Jewish services and in the middle of the Rosh Hashanah mussaf . It is also recited in many communities following Kiddush Levana and after a circumcision is performed. It is second only to the Kaddish (counting all its forms) as the most frequently recited prayer in the current synagogue liturgy. …
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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