sign in sign up
<<
Home , Adon Olam, Avinu Malkeinu, Hebrew Melodies, Kol Nidre, Piyyut, Shalom Rav

The History of

Program This is in , the vernacular of the Babylonian Exile and of Jewish halakhic (legal) discourse, and it is only recited on the eve of Yom Kol Nidre Prelude – L. Lewandowski Kippur. It is a legal declaration canceling all personal vows that a person On Mighty Wings – M. Graumann has made in any form in the course of the year that went unfulfilled. Or Zarua – H. Fromm Its origins are hazy. Scholars have not determined when this text was created, nor when it passed from the domain of individual practice into Esa Einai – Y. Rosenthal the communal worship space as liturgy. It likely originated during the Kol Nidre – M. Bruch early Geonic period outside of Babylonia. (The Geonic period, from the Shalom – B. Steinberg 6th through 11th centuries, is named for the , who were the heads Ya’aleh – M. Janowski of the ancient Talmudic academies of Babylonia.) From the 9th century – M. Janowski on there are written opinions of the Babylonian Geonim – interestingly, Avinu Malkeinu - Folk overwhelmingly opposing the text, often in strong words. Despite the Tavo L’Fanecha – P. Jassinowsky objections of the Geonim, Kol Nidre has persisted. One change did occur V’al Kulam – H. Fromm to the text in the 12th century; Kol Nidre previously had cancelled all vows from the prior year. In the 12th century, Rav Tam emended the text to – Traditional refer to the future, “all vows made from this to the next.” String Quartet, Op. 55: II. Lento (Yom Kippur) – J. Weinberg Different communities in different locations maintained these divergent traditions. This prayer has been part of baseless accusations against over the centuries, though all commentaries and scholarly discourse agree Musicians that this text does not focus on vows made to other people or outside of the Jewish community. Rather, authorities are unanimous in the opinion that Kol Nidre’s power touches only those vows made to oneself and regarding Piano & Conductor– Dyer fulfillment of Jewish law, lived within Jewish community. Violin 1 - Erin Gallagher Violin 2 - Kate Northfield Lanich The longevity of this prayer likely is not due to its words as they are legalistic Viola - Julia Foran rather than spiritual in nature, but rather due to its melody that has pulled Cello - Graf on the heartstrings of Jewish individuals and communities for generations. Bass - Lindsay Bobyak Kol Nidre (along with and the nusach, traditional chant, of the ) is among the oldest melodies of our worship services. Vitry, a prayerbook composed in the 11th century, refers to the custom of singing Kol Nidre three times (as we do today), each time with a change in musical inflection to express developing emotions. The 16th century Talmudist Mordecai Jaffe of Prague and Lublin describes a set tune of fine quality so well-established that he was unable to have cantors fix some errors in emphasized syllables and pronunciation. The first written evidence of our familiar Kol Nidre melody is by Aron Beer in 1765. While Kol Nidre Prelude – L. Lewandowski there are some differences in rhythm and ornate embellishments to the melody included in this version, it is essentially the same as the melody we This is the prelude to the Lewandowski’s setting of Kol Nidre are familiar with today. published in 1871 for voice and organ. It has been sung regularly in many ever since. Interestingly, Kol Nidre has appeal that has reached beyond the Jewish world. In 1826, Beethoven Kol Nidre’s opening motive into the Composer : Louis Lewandowski 6th movement of his String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, op. 131. The most famous use of the Kol Nidre melody, and the one most commonly Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) was a music performed today, is “” Op. 47 composed by Max Bruch director and composer in Berlin; he was prolific and (1838-1930), as a single movement piece for orchestra and cello. contributed greatly to the liturgy of the modern synagogue Bruch was not Jewish but was introduced to the melody by Cantor service. His melodies form a substantial part of synagogue Lichtenstein, the cantor of the most prominent services in many Jewish movements throughout the world synagogue in Berlin. Of this music, Bruch said “...I became today. Lewandowski was the first Jew to be admitted to acquainted with Kol Nidrei … in Berlin through the Lichtenstein the Berlin Academy; he was admitted to the school of family, ... Even though I am a Protestant , … I deeply felt the composition at the request of . outstanding beauty of these melodies and therefore I gladly spread them through my arrangement.” Lewandowksi’s arrangements of ancient Hebrew melodies for , cantor, and organ are considered masterly Following Kol Nidre’s inclusion in , popular productions, characterized by great simplicity and a recordings of Kol Nidre were made by non-Jews such as Perry Como profound religious sentiment. Many of his students became and Johnny Mathis. prominent cantors. His gravestone, shared with his wife Helene, is inscribed, “Liebe macht das unsterblich!” (Love makes the melody immortal.) On Mighty Wings – M. Graumann

This melody was adapted from the traditional Avinu Malkeinu melody. It was originally found in the Hamburg Temple Hymnal. This piece appears in the original Union Prayer Book in 1892. The melody was written by Max Graumann.

Lyrics On mighty wings rush swiftly by Composer: Max Graumann The hours, the days, the year; We cannot stay however we try Max Graumann (1871-1933) was one of the most learned The flight of time’s career. traditional cantors to have come to America from Central A fleeting shadow is our life, Europe prior to the influx of European cantors who followed ‘Tis as a passing dream; the mass immigration waves of Eastern European Jews. West Its labors seem but empty strife, End Synagogue (now Congregation Shaaray Tefila), one Its aims a flash, a gleam. of Manhattan’s principal Reform congregations, engaged Graumann as Cantor in 1907. This piece, part of his Musical We stand, O , with awe and fears Service for the New Year and Day of Atonement According Before Thy holy throne; to the Union Prayer Book, was published posthumously Our thoughts, our deeds, our joys, our tears in 1937. His music reflects a thorough grounding in the To Thee, O Lord, are known. traditional prayer modes (nusach) of Ashkenazi custom, If angels e’en, so pure and bright, a fluency in the melismatic, improvisational elements of Cannot endure Thy test, traditional chazzanut, as well as influence from Salomon How, then, can we approach Thy sight, Sulzer’s restrained, artistic cantorial style. Who are by sin, oppressed

We cannot hide our trespasses, Cannot our deeds rescind; With contrite heart we must confess: “Our Father, we have sinned!” O God, Thy pardon we implore, Thou knowest we are frail, Refresh us from Thy mercy’s store, Uplift us when we fail. Or Zarua – H. Fromm

Translation of Hebrew Text

Light is sown for the righteous, radiance and joy for the pure of heart. With the approval of the Omnipresent and with the approval of the congregation, in the convocation of the court above, and in the convocation of the court Esa Einai – Y. Rosenthal below, we sanction prayer with the transgressors. (:11) Translation of Hebrew Text About the Prayer A song of ascent: I lift my eyes to the mountains. What is the source of my help? My help comes from God, maker of The opening verse offers the beautiful image of light sown like a seed in the heaven and earth. God will not let your foot slip; the One dark earth, to burst forth only in the distant future. According to Who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, the One (1808-1888), the verse promises “that evil cannot Who watches over will neither slumber nor sleep. last forever in this world, that the future belongs to the righteous, and Adonai watches over you; Adonai is your shield at your right that with every human act of intervention against evil, the sovereignty of hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by God…is brought one step nearer.” Even as we acknowledge the reality of night. Adonai will keep you from all harm; God will watch human sin, we celebrate the inevitable blossoming of good. over your life. Adonai will guard your coming and your

going now and forevermore. (Psalm:121) Composer: Herbert Fromm Composer: Yitzchok Rosenthal Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), was one of the most prominent and prolific composers of synagogue and other respected . He was Yitzchok Rosenthal is the composer of the group Shalsheles. among Jewish musicians from Germany and Austria who sought refuge Shalsheles came into the Jewish music scene in 1999; it from the Third Reich in the United States in the 1930’s with the help of the is a vocal musical group singing its own compositions. Reform Movement in America. Their goal is to produce an updated musical sound while remaining connected to the soul of Jewish Music and the past About his preferred style of music for his Jewish compositions, Fromm via a “chain” (hence the name Shalsheles which means chain wrote: or link). The group has produced seven albums. “The Chants of the Near East come closest to my ideal of liturgical melody: supremacy of the text, idiomatic inflection, and, above all, a loftiness of expression which honors the timeless holiness of the words….Remolding this type of melody for use in our synagogue presents a challenge to the contemporary composer, demanding flexibility and a resourcefulness for which no models exist.” Kol Nidre – M. Bruch

This setting, which contains an additional original melody in its interlude, is played on the eve of Yom Kippur to this day—separately from any cantorial rendition—in many Reform congregations, where the Orthodox halakhic (legal) prohibitions against instrumental music – B. Steinberg on holy days do not apply. Apart from its interlude, this setting tampers very little with the simple exposition of the melodic line as it is sung Translation of Hebrew Text traditionally by cantors and , allowing the beloved melody to shine through. May You grant abundant peace to Isarel, Your people, forever, For you are the sovereign source of all peace. Composer: Max Bruch So may it be good in Your eyes to bless Your people Israel in every season and in every hour with Your peace. Max Bruch (1838–1920), was a Protestant composer who, like virtually Blessed are You, Adonai, all who encounter the Kol Nidre melody in any of its many variants, Who blesses God’s people Israel with peace. was beguiled by its haunting character when he heard it through his friendship with Abraham Lichtenstein, the cantor at one of Berlin’s Let us, and the whole family of Israel, major synagogues. The success of Kol Nidre led to the assumption by be remembered and inscribed in the Book of Life. many that Bruch was of Jewish ancestry, although the composer himself May it be a life of goodness, blessing, and prosperity! refuted this. Indeed, as long as the National Socialist Party was in power May it be a life of peace! (1933–1945), performance of his music was restricted because he was Blessed are You, Adonai, the Source of peace. considered a possible Jew for having written music with an openly Jewish theme, despite repeated denials by his surviving family. As a result, his music was largely forgotten in German-speaking countries. There is no evidence, however, that Bruch was Jewish. As far as can be ascertained, none of his ancestors was a Jew. Ya’aleh – M. Janowski

Translation of Hebrew Text

About the Prayer Let our needs rise up with the , our cries with the rays of the sun. All day our praise is before You – songs of joy and bliss till evening comes. Shalom Rav, the prayer for peace, is the last of the seven blessings in the (which contains a full 18 blessings on weekdays that are May our voices soar at nightfall, our just deeds shine forth with the light. not holidays; on those days it is the final of these 18 blessings). This All day we await deliverance – fervent our hope for redemption till placement suggests that peace is the culmination of all of our , evening comes. the ultimate goal for which we strive. Rabbi Sheldon Lewis writes that within Jewish tradition, “there are more expressions lauding the virtues Let our suffering ascend at twilight, our forgiveness with the break of of peace than of any other single value.” Rabbinic sages rejected the dawn. All day we sigh from oppression – cry out for right and justice till notion of God as a militant deity. Rabbi Lewis explains, “The sages evening comes. carefully filtered divine actions on their way to a more compassionate understanding of God, and that evolving belief shaped what they asked May there be refuge when night surrounds us, at sunrise – safe haven, for of the Jewish people. The softer, gracious image of God became the Your sake. All day our words rise from a sea of sorrow – and they break in model to which to aspire.” waves of atonement till evening comes.

On and Yom Kippur, a special addition referencing the Let evening bring salvation. Let morning make all hearts pure. This day Book of Life is added into this benediction, as reflected in the above our prayers spell healing – peace, peace, to all, far and near – till evening translation. comes.

Composer : Ben Steinberg May mindfulness of us rise with the evening star, our worthy deeds revealed in the radiance of dawn. All day we meditate on life’s beauty – Born in 1930 in Winnipeg, Canada, Ben Steinberg was educated at the precious jewels of creation – till evening comes. Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto. He is well-known across Canada and the U.S. for his lecture-recitals on Let our pounding on the gates of mercy thunder on high, as darkness falls. Jewish music history and style. He composes both sacred and secular And with dawn, let the joy of renewal arrive. The day holds the urgency music and is among the most widely commissioned composers of of our prayers – confessions of the heart, lamentations of the soul – till Jewish music worldwide. evening comes.

May our yearnings rise above the shadows of dusk. May the searching of our souls reach You in the morning. All day our praise is before You – may it be acceptable, may it be received – till evening comes. About the Prayer

Ya’aleh is the (liturgical poem) that introduces the (seeking forgiveness) sections of the Yom Kippur evening service. It does not rhyme but rather uses repeated words and phrases to frame each line and stanza. This prayer traces the spiritual arc of Yom Kippur from dusk to dawn and then, again, to twilight. Its acrostic (outlined by the middle word of each Composer: Max Janowski clause) flows from the end of the alphabet to the beginning – like a river of light flowing toward its origin, Alef: the One Who unifies all Max Janowski was educated in Germany as a classical pianist. He of creation. immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s when he was unable to return to Germany after a trip to Japan. He composed Ya’aleh dates back to the medieval period, and its author is not prolifically for the synagogue beginning in the late 1940s. His known. Some have emended the final stanza of this piyyut, changing settings are notable for harmonic simplicity, structural innocence, “eilecha” to “Eliyah,” in line with the familiar expression, “Ad and scarcity of cultivated counterpoint due to a self-imposed Sh’yavo Eliyahu” (until the coming of Elijah), based on Malachi 3:23, vacuum without collegial communication in circles of composers “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet.” This edit would make of Jewish music. Many of his compositions have been heard Elijah the subject of the final line, thus asking for the coming of the primarily in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas where he held Messiah to be granted to us as the gates of heaven are shuttered at choirs and permanent posts, though many gained popularity the end of Neilah. This was a fitting, ultimate expression of a hope across the country, becoming staples in Reform and some by the of generations past for a world that is entirely free of Conservative repertoires nationally. sin and evil, a world full of peace and exemplifying a perfect existence. While our prayerbook does not include that change, we can share the wish if not for a Messiah, for the metaphor that the concept of a Messiah lifts up. We pray that our sincere prayers have been heard, that we may find forgiveness, and that the year ahead will be one of peace, understanding, and purpose.

The line in the piyyut, “Peace, Peace” references Isaiah 57:19, which is within the Haftara reading traditional to Yom Kippur. Avinu Malkeinu – M. Janowski

Translation of the Hebrew Text:

Avinu Malkeinu – Almighty and Merciful – hear our voice. Avinu Malkeinu, we have strayed and sinned before You. Avinu Malkeinu, have compassion on us and on our families. Avinu Malkeinu, halt the onslaught of sickness, violence, and hunger. Avinu Malkeinu, halt the reign of those who cause pain and terror. Avinu Malkeinu, enter our names in the Book of Lives Well Lived. Avinu Malkeinu, renew for us a year of goodness. Avinu Malkeinu, let our hands overflow with Your blessings. Composer: Max Janowski Avinu Malkeinu, let our eyes behold the dawn of redemption. Avinu Malkeinu, we pray: do not turn us away from You with nothing. Arguably Janowski’s most prominent composition is his Avinu Malkeinu. Avinu Malkeinu, welcome our prayer with love; accept and embrace it. He developed this, originally as an arrangement, out of a theme furnished Avinu Malkeinu, act toward us as befitsY our name. to him in 1951 by Pavel Slavensky, then the cantor at Temple Sholom of Avinu Malkeinu, act for Your sake, if not for ours. Chicago. Avinu Malkeinu, You alone are our Sovereign. Avinu Malkeinu, let the gates of heaven be open to our prayer. Avinu Malkeinu, hear our voice; treat us with tender compassion. Avinu Malkeinu – Folk Avinu Malkeinu – Almighty and Merciful – answer us with grace, for our deeds are wanting. Save us through acts of justice and love. This familiar folk melody encompasses the final phrase of the full Avinu Malkeinu prayer discussed above: About the Prayer Avinu Malkeinu – Almighty and Merciful – answer us with grace, for our Avinu Malkeinu is a that begins with the words Avinu Malkeinu deeds are wanting. Save us through acts of justice and love. (sometimes translated as “Our Father, our King,” and in egalitarian services as “Our Parent, our Ruler.”) It dates back to a prayer that once recited on a fast that had been proclaimed on account of an extended draught. The (BT Taanit 25b) teaches, "Rabbi Akiva went down before the ark and said: Avinu Malkeinu, we have sinned before you. Avinu Malkeinu, though we have no good deed among us, perform for us acts of generosity and save us." These two sentences still frame the prayer as its very first and last lines. Over time, different Jewish communities throughout the world have had a wide range of variations in the other sentences that fall between those lines, often up to 25 or more additional sentences. Tavo L’Fanecha – P. Jassinowsky Composer: Pinchas Jassinowsky Translation of Hebrew Text Pinchas Jassinowsky (1886-1954) was an acclaimed artistic cantor and Our God, God of all generations, may our prayers reach Your presence. lieder recitalist. He is best remembered for his learned and refined And when we turn to You, do not be indifferent. Adonai, we are arrogant approach to both cantorial and secular Jewish composition and his and stubborn, claiming to be blameless and free of sin. In truth, we have academic contributions to the descriptive and analytical literature. stumbled and strayed. We have done wrong. He was also a gifted poet. He was born to a Chasidic family in a small town near Kiev. He was a gifted musician from a very young age, and About the Prayer at 20 years old left home to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. After touring the Scandinavian countries for a couple years following This brief but powerful prayer dates back to Talmudic times (approximately graduation, he emigrated to the United States in 1917 where he held 200-500 CE) and is found in one of the earliest extant prayerbooks, his first cantorial position in St. Louis. Following a period as the Rav Amram, from the 9th century. This is one element of the Vidui cantor of the most prominent congregation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he (confessional) section of the Yom Kippur prayers and is also found in took the cantorial post at the Jewish Center synagogue in New York the Selichot service. TheVidui is recited 10 times over Yom Kippur, both where he served for 34 years, until his death. individually and communally. A specific discussion of theVidui is found in the Talmud (BT 87b), in which Rav and Mar Samuel teach that In his liturgical compositions, Jassinowsky frequently treated each element of the Vidui must be introduced with a specific formula traditional cantorial material and modalities with modern Western of words. “Aval Anachnu Chatanu – however, we have sinned” (the techniques. His secular choral pieces and his Hebrew and Yiddish art concluding words of Tavo L’Fanecha) must be followed by the now-familiar songs also retain a delicate genuine folk character. His most unusual Ashamnu prayer which is an acrostic poem detailing our communal sins. work is his Symphonische Gesangen (1936), which contains his own Tavo L’Fanecha was in the original core of the Vidui service, around which Yiddish poetic description of Beethoven symphonies. other prayers have been layered. We can be confident that this prayer, with identical or very similar wording, has been recited for over 1500 years. Yigdal – Traditional

V’al Kulam – H. Fromm Translation of Hebrew Text Great is the Living Source. Praised be the Existence that exists beyond time. Translation of Hebrew Text One and unique, You are the fathomless Unity – infinite and alone. Without body, form, or image, You are Holiness immeasurable. For all these sins, O God of mercy, forgive us, pardon us, grant Before all creation – You! You are the beginning with no beginning of its own. us atonement. Behold! – a sovereignty sublime – You are the Greatness we see in every facet of creation. About the Prayer Wellspring flowing with prophecy, You are the Gift of glory to Your precious ones who treasure their calling. The confessions found in our Yom Kippur worship services In Israel’s history, none like would arise again ; encompass a broad-ranging number of human sins and misdeeds, You gave us a prophet who made Your presence known. but our Sages recognized that no liturgical text could include the By the hand of Your most faithful prophet wrongful acts of every individual. The formal confessions are You gave the House of Israel a of truth. meant to stir the memory and prompt our private . Ours is an ageless faith, an eternal law – We also bear, if not guilt, then a measure of responsibility for the and You are the Lawgiver whose law will not be supplanted or replaced. actions of any collective of which we are a part, particularly those The consequences of our deeds are seen and known by Conscience, Your in which we exercise power, be that named power or implicit. sacred home within us. We are not only part of a community that misses the mark, but You are the Source of kindness, rewarding acts of compassion; we are also part of a community that joins with us in the work You are the Source of love, condemning wickedness and correcting it. of t’shuvah: introspection; acknowledgement of weakness and At the End of Days there will come an era of redemption; strengths; and, at the end of the day, a return to the right path. for those who await deliverance, a messianic age. You implanted within us eternal life – our immortal yearnings, our undying hopes. Blessed is Your glorious name from eternity to eternity. About the Prayer

Yigdal is a common opening or closing song on both and String Quartet, Op. 55: II. Lento (Yom Kippur) holidays. It is based on the Thirteen Principles of Faith articulated by (the famous 12th century Egyptian scholar). – Jacob Weinberg While other songs and poems were based on these Thirteen Principles, this is the longest-lived and most popular. Ashkenazi This piece is the second movement of a three-movement string quartet. Jews sing thirteen lines (one for each Principle), repeating the The first two movements of the quartet depict the Jewish High Holy final line in an antiphonal manner with the cantor or prayer Days – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – by drawing upon two of leader. Sephardic Jews traditionally sing in congregational unison their oldest and most familiar signature melodies in the Ashkenazi rite. throughout, and rather than repeating the final line, add “These are the Thirteen Principles of the rule of Moses and the tenets of The first movement is built partly upon the traditional melody his Law.” associated with the evening service on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The second movement, which we have included this evening is Scholars debate the authorship of this piyyut. Leopold Zunz wrote an unfolding of the complex musical sine qua non of the Ashkenazi Yom that Yigdal was written by Daniel Ben Yehuda Dayan in the 14th Kippur evening service: The Kol Nidre melody. The third movement is century in Rome. Little is known about this figure. Hartwig entitled “,” yet does not relate to any of the traditional melodies Hirschfield wrote that the famous scholar and poet Immanuel of the festival or its well-known Ashkenazic leitmotif tune. This of Rome (13th-14th century), who authored many attempts brief third movement incorporates fragments of phrases of Hassidic at putting the Thirteen Principles to song or poetry, wrote this melodies and dance tunes, rather than liturgical sources. piyyut. Interestingly, this prayer has been included, in English translation, in several Christian hymnals. “The God of Abraham This quartet premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1952 at the 12th annual Praise,” written by Thomas Olivers in approximately 1770, is Festival of Jewish Arts. recognizable as a paraphrase of one of the traditional melodies for Yigdal. This piyyut also appeared in English as “We praise the Living God,” a metrical version by Newton Mann in the Reform Movement’s Union Hymnal. Composer: Jacob Weinberg Born in Odessa, Ukraine, his family engaged in little, if any Jewish practice. They were sophisticated and connected to the musical and literary circles of the intelligentsia. Pressured by his family into pursuing a profession, he became a lawyer but also began composing. In the early 20th century, Jacob Weinberg joined with other pioneering Jewish composers, folklorists, and intellectuals in Russia to attempt to found a new Jewish national art music based in an authentic Jewish musical heritage. He was in the Moscow section of the Gesellschaft fur Judische Volksmusik (Society for Jewish Folk Music) in St. Petersburg. He commented, “There began my interest in things Jewish. I became very much absorbed in Jewish music, and I began to collect and study Jewish folksongs. A new, great, and practically unexplored vista was opening before me.” After immigrating to the United States in 1926, Weinberg joined the faculty at the New York College of Music and became deeply involved in New York’s intellectual Jewish music circles.

The Aspen Jewish Congregation has received special permission from the composer’s granddaughter, Ellen Mausner, to include this piece in our program this evening. We are grateful to her for her enthusiasm and generosity. On this night of Kol Nidre, when our prayers include songs of forgiveness, it is the custom of many Jews to wrap themselves in the and feel its warm embrace while recalling God’s compassion, What an extraordinary gift it is – what a blessing, what a miracle love, and care. to have been raised by imperfect parents who did their very best; (Based on a teaching from Talmud Rosh Hashanah 17b) to share our life with a partner no more flawed than we are; to count as a friend one who understands and accepts us most of the time. How brave, how hard it is to be “good enough” in our ties to one another: Open Closed Open to give, even when we’re exhausted; to love faithfully; (Yehuda Amichai) to receive with grace the love imperfectly offered to us. And why is the tallit striped and not checkered black-and-white like a chessboard? Because squares are finite and hopeless. Can this night set us free from the tyranny of expectations? Stripes come from infinity and to infinity they go Can this night release us from fantasies impossible to fulfill? like airport runways where angels land and take off. We resolve this night to embrace the practice of forgiveness: to forgive others who fail to be all we hoped they would be; Every soul needs to express itself. Every heart needs to crack itself to forgive ourselves when we fall short of what others hoped we would be. open. Every one of us needs to move from anger to healing, from We declare this night that we will cherish goodness wherever it is found, denial to consciousness, from boredom to renewal. These needs and open ourselves to the gifts that are before us. did not arise yesterday. They are among the most ancient of human -Rabbi Lewis Kamrass yearnings, and they are fully expressed in the pageantry and ritual of the Days of Awe, in the great journey we make between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. -Rabbi Alan Lew All vows, promises, and commitments made in Your presence – may we be given the strength to keep them: our vows to ourselves, be with them all their days. commitments to self-discipline – Our marriage vows – may they endure may we take our own lives through dark days and through dull days seriously enough to heed them, through fatigue and through frustration – honoring our resolves may our love prove strong and our faith firm. in the way we eat and drink O God, we meant the promises we made the way we work and rest to you, to each other, and to ourselves, the way we regulate our lives. Even as we mean the vows Commitments made to loved ones and friends we silently make tonight. pledges made to worthwhile causes – Reach down to us as we strive help us to become to reach up toward you; as compassionate and generous give us strength and self-respect, as we sought to be at those noble moments. the fidelity and vision, The promises we made to grow to become the people to study and to worship – we have sworn to be. we meant them when we made them, All worthy vows and commitments but distractions were many, which we make and our wills were weak. from this Yom Kippur until the next, This time, may we be strong enough; may we be faithful enough may our better selves prevail. and firm enough to keep them. Promises made in the synagogue -Rabbi Harold Kushner by young people who glimpsed what life as Jews might hold in store for them, may devotion and idealism Will you Hear My Voice ( Bluwstein, known as Rachel. 1890-1931) Will you hear my voice, you who are far from me? Will you hear my voice, wherever you are; a voice calling aloud, a voice silently weeping, endlessly demanding a blessing.

Kol Nidre: a chant that begins in a whisper and rises to a cry. This busy world is vast, its ways are many ; On this night of promises remembered, paths meet for a moment, then part forever ; each soul in solitude communes with the Soul of the universe. we can go on searching, but our feet stumble ; we cannot find that which we have lost. God, from this Day of Atonement to the next – may we reach it in peace – Perhaps my last day is already drawing near, all Israel makes these vows: drawing close are the tears of parting. to turn from wrong, dishonesty, and greed, I will wait for you till my days flicker out, to walk the path of justice and right. like Rachel waiting for her beloved.

Yet we know our weakness – how prone we are to fail: help us to keep our word; help us to act with humility and integrity. We seek pardon and forgiveness. In its emphasis on humility, Kol Nidre provides a corrective to the We seek your radiance and light. toxic certainties of polarized discourse. What if we approached (From Mishkan HaNefesh) each other with the humility to recognize that our most confident convictions will always be qualified by the limits of our own knowledge and understanding? In its haunting melody and strangely legalistic language, we begin to sense the twilight truth: our high horses too often stumble, and our soapboxes stand on shaky ground. Kol Nidre grants us the gift of sacred uncertainty: the chance to begin this new year with a sense of what we do not know, rather than a narrow certainty about what we do. It’s what Buddhists call “beginner’s mind.” What if every time I were ready to proclaim some self-evident truth, I allowed Kol Nidre to whisper in my ear, “Says who?” -Rabbi David Stern