Richard Steiner, Kol Nidre - Yeshiva University Blogs

10Richard C. SteinerIn the name of R. Jacob b. Simeon, 34 (the following) isfound: On Yom Kippur eve, they (= the people) come tothe synagogue and say: “All vows, resolutions, promises,pledges, and oaths that we have vowed, sworn, pledged,and imposed upon the self [sic!] 35 by oath from this YomKippur to (next) Yom Kippur, coming (we pray) favorablyupon us—all of them I shall regret [sic!]. 36 (May they be)released, cancelled, rendered null and void, not in force,not valid—our vows not vows, our resolutions notresolutions, and the [sic!] 37 oaths not oaths. ‘Forgivenessshall be granted to all, etc.’ (Num 15:26).” So I heard theholy mouth (of Rashi) say when he went (and stood) infront of the ark (to lead the service). He would say neither“from last Yom Kippur to ...” nor “may they be released”nor “as it is written, ‘Forgiveness shall be granted....’” Andhe would return to the beginning until (he had recited it)three times.According to one source, the idea that Kol Nidre should beprospective goes back even further in the family, to Rashi’s father-inlaw!38דנדרנא But how is it possible to leave the tense of the verbsunchanged after changing the reference ודאשתבענא ודאחרמנא ודאסרנאof their temporal adverbial from past to future? In the version cited inLiqquṭe ha-Pardes, most of the verbs seem to remain in the past tense,creating an internal contradiction. Moreover, איחרט “I shall regret” isa singular imperfect verb, appropriate to the prospective version butare available online; I am indebted to Yisrael Dubitsky of the Institute forMicrofilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, National Library of Israel, for providing thelinks and folio numbers for both. Wieder ‏,התגבשות נוסח התפילה)‏ 1:389) notesthat this report is not cited elsewhere, but his conjecture that opponents of therevised version suppressed the report does not explain why even the manyproponents of the emendation (see below) fail to cite it.34חכמי Grossman, This should read “Jacob b. Samson” according to Avraham(Jerusalem: צרפת הראשונים:‏ קורותיהם,‏ דרכם בהנהגת הציבור,‏ יצירתם הרוחניתMagnes, 2001), 417. For his relationship to Rashi, his reported role as theteacher of Rabbenu Tam, etc., see ibid., 411-26.35Or: “and self-imposed”; instead of “and imposed upon ourselves.”363738Instead of “we have regretted.”Instead of “our.”Grossman, ‏,חכמי צרפת 124 n. 9. Grossman doubts that the source is reliable.http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ/12-2013/Steiner.pdf