WHY EIGHTEEN BLESSINGS?

Rabban Gamliel says:

Each and every day a person recites the eighteen blessings.

(Gen. 18:1:) THEN THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM…. Let our master instruct us: How many blessings does one pray every day?

Thus have our masters taught (in Ber. 4:3): ONE MUST PRAY THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS.

And why eighteen?

(R. Levi said: ) They > correspond to the eighteen references to the Divine Name which are written in (Ps. 29) ASCRIBE TO THE LORD, O HEAVENLY BEINGS.

They reply to R. Levi: But does not one say nineteen in Babylon?

He said to them: That also is from references to the Divine Name, as stated (in Ps. 29:3): THE GOD (El) OF GLORY THUNDERS.

R. Simon said: < The Eighteen > correspond to the eighteen vertebrae which are in the spine, since when one stands to pray, it is necessary to bend over with all of them. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 35:10): ALL MY BONES SHALL SAY: LORD, WHO IS LIKE YOU?

The Holy One said: Be strictly observant in prayer, for you have no finer way than that. And even though a person is not worth answering, I shall show him loving-kindness, since all my ways are loving-kindness.

R. Simlay said: Do you want to know that all the Holy One's ways are loving-kindness?

At the beginning of Torah he has adorned the bride, as stated (in Gen. 2:22): THEN THE LORD GOD BUILT THE RIB < WHICH HE HAD TAKEN FROM THE HUMAN INTO A WOMAN >.

Also at the end of < the Torah > there is loving-kindness in that he buried the dead, as stated (in Deut. 34:6): THEN HE (THE HOLY ONE) BURIED HIM (MOSES) IN THE VALLEY.

Moreover, in the middle < of the Torah > he visited the sick, as stated (in Gen. 18:1): THEN THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM. As soon as Abraham had circumcised < himself > (in Gen. 17:24), the Holy One and his entourage came to visit him. {It is so stated} [Where is it shown? Where they read on the matter] (in Gen. 18:1): THEN THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM.