Yom Kippur is more than a Day of Atonement on which individuals purge their sins by the threefold process of introspection, confession, and regeneration. It is also a day on which the collective House of Israel annually bleaches out “the world’s slow stain,” restoring itself once more to that state of holiness and dedication necessary for the fulfillment of its mission as the witness of God among men.
In the traditional idiom of Jewish thought, this process of purgation is expressed primarily in terms of human supplication on the one side and divine forgiveness on the other. At the same time, however, a deeper note is also sounded. Israel and God are bound to each other by an everlasting covenant and, under that covenant, if Israel has the obligation of holiness, God has reciprocally that of mercy. The Blessing of God can therefore be compelled by righteousness as well as entreated by prayer; and one purpose of Yom Kippur is so to compel it.
Nor is it only the righteousness of the living generation that may be enlisted to this end; the merit of Israel’s ancestors—from the Biblical patriarchs downward—have, so to speak, accumulated a substantial credit with God upon
which it is possible and permissible for their descendants to draw. Even so, however, says an insight born of experience, a true balance is never struck, and in actual fact the clemency of God always exceeds the virtue of men.
It is this sense of urgent entreaty blended, even at the risk of paradox, with a calmer foregone assurance, that informs the piyyutim, or liturgical poems, that are interspersed in the traditional Yom Kippur services.
The following specimens are selected from both the Ashkenazic (German-Polish) and the Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) rituals. Moreover, for good measure, the selection is concluded with a poem for the Rejoicing in the Law (Simhath Torah), the celebration with which the autumnal cycle of festivals comes to an end.
The translations are taken—like those presented last month—from the writer’s work, Festivals of the Jewish Year, which will be published by William Sloane Associates in November, and which includes many further renderings of piyyutim covering the entire range of the liturgy.—Theodor H. Gaster.
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And All Avow
(Ha-ohez be-yad middath mishpat)
From the Additional Service (Musaph),
Ashkenazic rite.
All justice holds He in His open hands,
And all avow that constant He remains.
Beyond all veils He sees, and understands;
And all avow: He probes the heart and
reins.
Clamorous Death through Him gives up its
prize;
And all avow: no savior is as He.
Dwellers on earth are judg’d before His eyes;
And all avow: His word is equity.
Erstwhile “I am that which I am,” He said;
And all avow: He was, is, and will be;
For in that Name His glory shines out-
spread;
And all avow that nonpareil is He.
God thinks on them who think on Him
alway;
And all avow: He keeps His promise
true.
He portions life unto the living; they
Avow that He doth live the ages
through.
In His wide covert good and bad find room;
And all avow: His good on all is thrust.
Knitting our substance in the very womb,
He knows—as all avow—we are but dust.
Long is His arm and doth all things embrace;
And all avow: by Him all deeds are
done.
‘Mid darkness dwells He, in His secret place;
And all avow: He one is and alone.
No king there is but He doth him install;
And all avow: He is the world’s great
King;
Omnipotent, His rule is over all;
Yet all avow: from Him doth mercy
spring.
Patient, He from the froward turns His gaze;
And all avow: He pardons and He
spares.
Remote on high, He guards His servants’
ways;
And all avow: He answers whisper’d
prayers.
Sinners ne’er beat upon a closèd door;
And all avow: nor is His hand clos’d
tight.
The wicked seeks He out, says: Sin no more;
And all avow: in justice is His might.
Umbrage with Him comes slow, compassion
fast;
And all avow: He is not soon enrag’d;
Vengeance and Wrath by Mercy are out-
pass’d;
And all avow: He swiftly is assuag’d.
Young and old by Him are levelèd,
And great and small are equal in His
sight;
One net of judgment over all is spread;
And all avow that He doth judge aright.
Zealous is He for blamelessness, and they
That blameless are do reap His rich
reward;
And all with one consent avow and say:
Blameless in all He doeth is the Lord.
—attributed to Johanan Ha-Kohen,
(9Th Cent.)
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The High Priest
(Mar’eh kohen)
Chanted, in the Ashkenazic rite, after the
description of the Temple service (‘ Abodah).
Based on Ecclesiasticus, chapter 50.
There shone a splendor on the high
priest’s face,
When safe he came forth from the holy
place,
Like as the spangled curtain of the sky;
Like as the sparks that from the angels fly;
Like as the azure skeins we wear so proud;1
Like as the rainbow poised within the cloud;
Like as the sheen which our first parents
wore
In Eden’s garden in the days of yore;
Like as a rose within a garden bed;
Like as a crown upon a kingly head;
Like as the radiance in a bridegroom’s eye;
Like snow-white robes in all their purity;
Like courtiers stol’d for audience with their
kings;
Like as the daystar when the morning
springs.
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The Closing of the Gate
(El nora ‘alilah)
Chanted, in the Sephardic rite, as a prelude
to the Concluding Service (Netlah).
God of all that wondrous is,
God of deeds tremendous,
Now, when heaven’s gates are closing,
Thy forgiveness send us.
Few we be, yet in Thy favor
All our hopes reposing,
Tearful eyes we turn to Thee,
When the gates are closing.
Lord, we pour our souls to Thee;
Rend the sins that rend us;
Now, when heaven’s gates are closing,
Thy forgiveness send us.
Save us, Lord, from scourge and sorrow,
Mercy interposing;
Seal us in the Book of Life,
When the gates are closing.
Show us pity, bring to end
All our foes horrendous;
Now, when heaven’s gates are closing,
Let Thy grace defend us.
Grant us for our fathers’ sake
Blessing and reposing;
Lord, renew the days of old,
When the gates are closing.
Homeward unto Zion, Lord,
Bring Thy flock, and tend us;
Now, when heaven’s gates are closing,
Let Thy grace defend us.
Through the stillness of the twilight
Sound the angels’ horn,
And Elijah cry through darkness,
Heralding the morn.
—Moses Ibn Ezra (1070-1138)
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The Music of the Spheres
(Eshnabê shehakim)
From the Morning Service of the Rejoicing
in the Law (Simhath Torah), Ashkenazic
rite. The hymn introduces the recital of the
Trisagion in the repetition of the Standing
Prayer.
Through the heavenly casements
A gentle music rings;
Through the clear and cloudless sky
Sounds a low, soft melody
And all the welkin sings:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The rainbow in the firmament
Is shot with colors three,1
And in those threefold tints and flames
The glory of the Lord proclaims,
A threefold litany:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
Enoch, who from mortal flesh
Was turn’d by God to flame,2
Sits like a teacher in the height,
Imparting to the Sons of Light
The song which they declaim:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The while the Angel of the Law
Takes in his hand the fire,
And, as he wreathes a crown with it,
To crown the words of Holy Writ,3
Sings with the heavenly choir:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
And he who is the Prince of Storms,
Whose winds do rage and roar,
Repeats in every thunder-crash,
Re-tells in every lightning flash,
The threefold message o’er:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
All the great lights of heaven,
Bear and Orion bright,
Proclaim the constancy of Him
Whose light ne’er darkens nor grows dim
Nor ever fades from sight:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The curtain-folds of heaven
Are hung with tinkling bells;
When they by morning winds are stirred,
A music of the spheres is heard,
As each one rings and tells:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
—Amittai Ben Shephatiah,
(10th Cent.)
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1 ldquo;The basic colors of the rainbow are three: red, blue, and yellow.
2 It was a common medieval belief that Enoch, the patriarch who “walked with God, and was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24), was turned into the fiery angel Metatron.
3 Rabbinic fantasy asserted that the Law was originally written by God “in black flame upon white flame,” and that every letter of it was surmounted by a fiery crown.
