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Prayer and Piyyut in the Worms Mahzor

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Prayer and Piyyut in the Worms Mahzor Prayer and Piyyut in the Worms Mahzor Ezra Fleischer A. TYPOLOGY OF THE MAHZOR HE CODEX KNOWN as the "Worms Mahzor" is one of the have never been documented from early prayer books. An most impressive liturgical manuscripts to have come examination of the present Codex allows us in many cased to verify Tdown to us from the legacy of mediaeval Ashkenazi these prayer rites, to ascertain their antiquity, and to precisely and Jewry. Its remarkable scope, the wealth of its contents, its correctly explain them. imposing artistic format, its texts and vocalizations, as well as the The impression that the Worms Mahzor is a rather standard customs reflected in it present us with a wealth of information on Ashkenazi mahzor can be attributed in large measure to its many aspects of the lives of our ancestors, who created it. The rite internal structure. The extant mediaeval prayer books, early and of the Codex was first described by the late Dr. Daniel Goldschmidt late, belong to several types. There are those which can be called in an article published in Kiryat Sefer in 1959.' Since this publica­ siddurim, which present mainly the texts of the regular prayers for tion there has been no detailed study of the liturgy of this Mah­ both community and individual, for weekdays and Sabbath. zor,2 as, at first glance, nothing in it seemed surprising in this These manuscripts sometimes also contain piyyutim for special regard. Though it pre-dates most extant liturgical manuscripts Sabbaths, halakhot concerning prayer, commentaries on the from Central Europe, its content was described as reflecting the prayers and piyyutim, laws of the Sabbath and various other more-or-less usual rite of western Ashkenaz. The almost final items relating to daily religious life. The mahzorim, which contain arrangement of this rite was thus shown to pre-date our Codex. the holiday prayers constitute a different type. These are designed However, this impression, though correct in principle, is not to complement the siddurim, and generally contain only what is totally accurate. True, the Ashkenazi rite, or more precisely the rite added to the regular prayers on the holidays, primarily the of the Rhenish communities and of western Germany, was piyyutim.Codices of this type are often divided into two parts: one formulated before the writing of the Worms Mahzor.* But a contains the liturgical material for the winter season, including closer examination of the prayers and the piyyutim included in the High Holy Days and Sukkot, while the other is for use in the the Mahzor, of how they were copied, and of what was stressed or summer period, reaching from Parashat Sheqalim until after the glossed over, reveals several interesting points. Though not Ninth of Av. These codices often differ from one another in necessarily exceptional in the given context, they still serve to content and scope. Some limit themselves quite strictly to the enrich and to diversify our knowledge of the wording of the piyyutim, omitting entirely the regular prayers, the readings prayers and, most importantly, of the mode of prayer in the early from the Torah and Prophets, the megillot read on the different German synagogues. Some of these modes have been described in holidays, and the piyyutim for special Sabbaths in each season, the later Minhagim (^Customs) literature, but they apparently while others are more generous in this respect, in varying 1 E.D. Goldschmidt, "The Worms Mahzor" [Heb.], Kiryat Sefer, XXXIV (1959), pp. 388-396, 513-522; reprinted in Mehqerei Tefillah u-Piyyut Die Ritus des synagogalen Gottesdienstes2, Berlin 1919, pp. 66 f. On the (Studies in Prayer and Piyyut), Jerusalem 1979, pp. 9-30. Worms rite, see references in Zunz' index. For a general discussion of the 2 On this, see E. Roth, "Das Wormser Machsor", Udim, XI-XII Ashkenazi rites, see the introductions by D. Goldschmidt to his Mahzor (1981-1982), pp. 219-223. The article deals at length with the illustra­ for the High Holy Days, Jerusalem 1970, and Mahzor for Sukkot, tions of the Worms Mahzor, but also refers to the regular prayers and the Jerusalem 1981, ed. Y. Fraenkel. piyyutim in the Codex. The Worms Mahzor is composed of two The prayer rites followed in the different Ashkenazi communities were volumes. The volume discussed here contains only the liturgical texts for not identical, and in the course of time two major branches took shape: the summer season (from Parashat Sheqalim until the Ninth of Av). The the western branch, based on the rite observed in the communities of the second volume contains the material for the winter holidays. On the Rhineland, primarily Mainz, Worms and Speyer; and the eastern branch, relationship between the two volumes, see the article by M. Beit-Arie used in the communities east of the Elbe River. The eastern Ashkenazi (above, pp. 13 ff.). See also below. rite was also followed in the countries of East Europe, including the 3 On the rites of Ashkenaz, see, for example, the classic work of L. Zunz, Bohemian, Austrian and Polish rites. See also below. Praye and Piyyut degrees.4 The manuscripts also differ as to the scope of the western Ashkenaz included piyyutim in memory of the victims of instructions provided for the worshipper,5 as well as in whether the Crusades and other massacres of the early Middle Ages.10 they were intended to serve the individual worshipper or the There was certainly no Ashkenazi community in the thirteenth hazzan, or both. They differ as well in their objectives. Some century which did not recite piyyutim of this kind on these simply present the texts as they are, and nothing else, while Sabbaths. We must therefore assume that, at the time and place of others seek to provide the worshipper with a better understand­ our Mahzor's scribe, these piyyutim were copied in a special ing of the piyyutim and the prayers through commentaries and volume and were therefore not included in this Codex.11 glosses. Even these commentaries, though largely drawn from Even the sections which are included in our Mahzor are repres­ identical or similar sources, differ in scope and in wording.6 ented relatively sparsely. As we will see below, this volume was Ancient mahzorim differ also in their treatment of the piyyutim intended explicitly for the hazzan's use,12 and it lacks, as a general for special Sabbaths. In the winter mahzorim, this is reflected in rule, all those passages not recited in the early Ashkenazi com­ the presence or absence of the piyyutim for the Sabbath between munities by the cantor. Thus, absent from the Mahzor are the the New Year and the Day of Atonement (Shabbat Shuvah), and opening passages of the morning prayer,13 the Pesuqei de-Zimra, the piyyutim for the Sabbaths between the Day of Atonement and the holiday Torah readings, and the like. There is not even a hint Sukkot, for Shabbat Bereshit, for the two Sabbaths during to these passages in the manuscript, except by chance. The Codex Hanukkah, and several others.7 In the summer mahzorim, the also lacks such common liturgical texts as the Passover Hag- optional material is even more extensive: it includes the two gadah and Pirqei Avot. intermediate Sabbaths between the four special Sabbaths (the The Mahzor is also very sparing in its instructions to the wor­ piyyutim for Purim appear in almost every instance), the six shipper: in most cases, such instructions are totally absent, Sabbaths between Passover and Shavu'ot, the Sabbaths between clearly indicating that the copyist had in mind a learned hazzan, Shavu'ot and the Ninth of Av, and the Sabbath (or Sabbaths) who did not require instruction in prayer. The few instructions 8 following the Ninth of Av. This material is not only fairly which do surprisingly appear in the Codex may have fulfilled abundant, but also quite specific: even after the piyyutim for the some artistic or calligraphic need, or some momentary caprice of major holidays (including the four special Sabbaths and Purim) the scribe.14 There are similarly no commentaries on the regular were fixed more or less definitively, in most of the Ashkenazi prayers and the piyyutim in the body of the manuscript. Several communities the piyyutim for these Sabbaths remained fluid, or interpretative remarks, some of them apparently by the scribe were fixed differently in the various communities. The special himself, appear in the margins; but even these are few, and are rite of the mahzorim can be recognized primarily by the choice of additions to the manuscript, not part of it.15 According to the 9 piyyutim for these Sabbaths. master plan of the copyist, the Mahzor was to include only The Worms Mahzor is a summer mahzor of the restricted type. liturgical texts, and nothing more. Also relatively scarce in the Like most of the mahzorim of this type, it too begins with manuscript, though not markedly so, are informative headings at Parashat Sheqalim and ends with the Ninth of Av, but it does not the beginning of the piyyutim. Professional scribes were usually include the piyyutim for the intermediary Sabbaths before Pas­ familiar with the piyyutim they copied, and often possessed sover (Shabbetoth Hafsaqah) and for all the Sabbaths between reliable traditions regarding the authorship of the piyyutim. Passover and the New Year. Especially surprising is the absence They used to note this information in the headings. The scribe of of piyyutim for the Sabbaths between Passover and Shavu'ot, the present manuscript, Simhah b. Yehudah, was an experienced 16 since prayers on these Sabbaths in the Jewish communities of scribe, and the son of a scribe.
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