Baruch HaShem Le'Olam (Hebrew: ברוך ה׳ לעולם, Blessed is HaShem Forever)[note 1][note 2] is a compilation of 18 verses from Tanach that is recited by some Jewish communities during weekday Maariv between Shema and Amidah.
The prayer was compiled during post-talmudic times when Jews faced various threats when saying Maariv in the evening.
Commentators describe these threats in overlapping ways: Whatever particular reasons applied, to avoid being harassed or potentially killed, Jews held services in the city's surrounding fields, where many of them worked.
However, in the evenings when Maariv is said, the darkness made the fields and walking home through the city particularly dangerous.
[6]: cxii Whether Baruch HaShem Le'Olam is recited during the weekday Maariv depends on the nusach (Jewish custom) followed by a minyan as expressed in the siddur used in their prayer services.
[12]: 313 However, there were communities in the Middle Ages which recited a shortened version of the blessing on the Sabbath, replacing the 18 verses with Ve-shamru (Exodus 31:16-17).
[12]: 313 [6]: cxiii Eitz Yosef notes that each of the first 4 verses begin with the word "Baruch" (בָּרוּךְ), Hebrew for "blessed".
[citation needed] Unusually, the word Amen is recited twice at the end of the first and third verses as an extra emphasis of the truth of the statements.