Rosh Ha-Shana

When I was a teenager, I spent some years in Holland, together with my family. I don’t come from a religious family, but I used to go to the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, to feel a bit of “yidishkeit”.

I haven’t been to a synagogue since, but I remember very well how overwhelming the services of the “High Holidays” are, with all their special prayers and poems.

One of the most impressive poems of Rosh ha-Shana is called עת שערי רצון להיפתח “The time has come for the Gates of Favour to be opened”. It is recited at the end of the Shacharit-prayer, before blowing the Shofar.

When the community reaches the impressive final lines of this poem: “Say to Zion: ‘the time for redemption has come, I am sending you Yinnon (=the Messiah*) and Elijah’”, you could feel people had something stuck in their throats; it still sends shivers down my spine, even now as I’m writing this.

So, for old time’s sake, I post here the first and the last stanzas of the poem, accompanied by an audio file of its recitation.**

Et Sha'arey Ratson.wav (5.23 MB) (Right click, Save As)

עֵת שַׁעֲרֵי רָצוֹן לְהִפָּתֵחַ
עֵת אֶהְיֶה כַפַּי לְאֵל שׁוֹטֵחַ
אֹמַר זְכֹר נָא לִי בְּיוֹם הוֹכֵחַ
עוֹקֵד וְהַנֶּעְקָד וְהַמִּזְבֵּחַ

לִבְרִיתְךָ שׁוֹכֵן זְבוּלים שִׁבְעָה
זָכְרָה לְעֵדָה סוֹעֲרָה וּנְגוּעָה
וּשְׁמַע תְּקִיעָה תּוֹקְעָה וּתְרוּעָה
וֶאֱמֹר לְצִיּוֹן בָּא זְמַן הַיְשׁוּעָה
יִנּוֹן וְאֵלִיָּה אֲנִי שׁוֹלֵחַ
עוֹקֵד וְהַנֶּעְקָד וְהַמִּזְבֵּחַ

The poem was written by Jehuda Ibn ‘Abbās (Morocco, 12th century), and as usual in this kind of poems, it is a masterpiece of embedded midrashim, linguistic puns and “twisted” biblical verses. I think that a philological commentary on the complete poem -- if ever one should be written -- might very easily take the form of a small book.***

* Yinnon, in Jewish tradition, is the name of the Messiah; see e.g. Bavli Psahim 54a (it’s a midrashic interpretation of Psalms 72:17).

** The tune is Italian, a bit different than the Portuguese. I took it from the excellent Hebrew Liturgy site, now also available in English. Note how the ע is pronounced as ‘ng’: this pronunciation tradition is common to the Jews of Italy, France, and Portugal (=Amsterdam).

*** You can see the complete poem here. I looked for an English translation in the library, and couldn’t find one; I suspect it has to do with the fact that this poem is only recited by Sephardic Jews, who usually don’t use translations.