Richard Steiner, Kol Nidre - Yeshiva University Blogs

More documents

Recommendations

Info

8Richard C. SteinerMy lord father corrected Kol Nidre, which we say on YomKippur night, (to read): “from this Yom Kippur to (next)Yom Kippur, coming (we pray) favorably upon us—all ofthem that we (shall have) regretted 22 (shall be released),”and that is the true (version). He who says “from last YomKippur to (this) Yom Kippur coming (we pray) favorablyupon us—all of them we have regretted” is committing anerror, because it is not possible to release oneself (from avow) or (to release someone other than oneself from avow) without ab initio regret 23 and either an expert (judge)or three ordinary ones, and also because the halakhah is inaccordance with (the view of) R. Papa, the final authority,who said in “The Sender of a Bill of Divorce” (= chapter 4of Giṭṭin) that one must specify the vow (that he wishes torelease)—and that is (indeed) our practice. Thus, “from thisYom Kippur to (next) Yom Kippur, coming (we pray)favorably upon us” is the true (version), and support forthis (comes from) what they say in “Four Vows” (= chapter3 of Nedarim): “He who wants the vows that he makesduring the entire (coming) year not to be valid should standat the beginning of the year and say, ‘all vows that I maymake shall be void,’ (and it shall be so)—provided that heremembers this at the time of the vow.”In this passage, Rabbenu Tam puts his seal of approval on therevision of Kol Nidre proposed by his father, R. Meir b. Samuel ofRamerupt. The latter, we are told, replaced the temporal phrase of the‏,מיום כפורים שעבר עד יום כפורים הבא עלינו לטובה version, traditionalמיום כפורים זה עד יום sense, with a phrase that made more halakhicThis is a remarkably economical and elegant ‏.כפורים הבא עלינו לטובהrevision, affecting only a single word of the original: ‏.שעבר 24 Thelatter is replaced by ‏,זה thereby automatically changing the referent ofthe phrase יום כפורים הבא עלינו לטובה to the following Yom Kippur,the one that is a year away. 2522This is a translation of ‏,דאיחרטנא the reading of the standard edition. For amore likely reading, see section 3 below.23אנציקלופדיה in התרת נדרים For a detailed discussion of ab initio regret, see.11:351-52 ‏,תלמודית24See n. 20 above.25The other emendation noted in the passage is less relevant to this study:כלהון “all of them that we (shall have) regretted” in place of כלהון דאיחרטנאhttp://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ/12-2013/Steiner.pdf
Kol Nidre: Past, Present and Future9Rabbenu Tam is not the only member of the family known to haveaccepted R. Meir’s revision. R. Ephraim of Bonn informs us thatRabbenu Tam’s brothers, Rashbam and R. Isaac, accepted it as well:אבל אני לפי קט שכלי נרא'‏ בעיניי כאשר הנהיג הרב ר'‏ מאיר מןרמרו וכאשר נהגו בניו רבינו שמואל ורבינו יעקב והרב ר'‏ יצחקאחריו לומר מיום כפורים זה עד יום כפורים הבא עלינו לטובה....‏26But I, in accordance with my meager intelligence, findproper the practice instituted by R. Meir of Ramerupt andadopted by his sons, Rabbenu Samuel, Rabbenu Jacob, andR. Isaac after him, viz., to say “from this Yom Kippur to(next) Yom Kippur coming (we pray) favorably uponus.”…And one of Rashi’s disciples, cited in Liqquṭe ha-Pardes, reports thatRashi too lent his prestige to this version:ומשם ה"ר יעקב ב"ר שמעון נמצא:‏ בערב יום הכיפו'‏ באים לביתהכנסת ואומ'‏ כל נדרי ואיסרי וקונמי וחרמי ושבועי דנדרנאודישתבענא ‏[כך!]‏ ודיאחרמנא ודי אסרנא על נפשא ‏[כך!]‏בשבועי מיום כיפורים זה עד יום כיפורים הבא עלינו לטובה כולהוןאיחרט ‏[כך!]‏ בהון שרן שביתין בטלין ומבוטלין לא שרירין ולאקיימין.‏ נדרנא לא נדרי ואיסרנא לא איסרי.‏ ושבועתא ‏[כך!]‏ לאשבועי.‏ ונסלח לכל וגומ'.‏ כך שמעתי פה קדיש ‏[כך!]‏ אומ'‏ בעוברולפני התיבה ולא היה אומ'‏ מיום כיפורים שעבר ועד ולא יהון שרןולא ככת'‏ ונסלח ויחזור לראש עד ג'‏ פעמים.‏2931323328“all of them we have regretted.” This emendation appears to be based איחרטנאon the principle.... The emendation isapparently designed to stress that the feelings of remorse postdate the vow andpredate the recitation of Kol Nidre; see also after n. 102 below.26.1:369 ‏,התגבשות נוסח התפילה Wieder, = 190 ‏,עבר ועתיד Wieder,27‏.ודאישתבענ ' 1539: Venice edition of ‏;ודאשתבענה NLI: Ms. Jerusalem28‏.ודיאחרמנ ' 1539: Venice edition of ‏;ודי אחרמנא NLI: Ms. Jerusalem29‏.נפשנא 1539: Ms. Jerusalem NLI and Venice edition of30So too in Ms. Jerusalem NLI and Venice edition of 1539.31‏.ושבועתנא 1539: Ms. Jerusalem NLI and Venice edition of32‏.קדוש 1539: Ms. Jerusalem NLI and Venice edition of33The passage is transcribed from Ms. Frankfurt Oct 81 fol. 6r (dated 14thcent.); I have added a few notes from Ms. Jerusalem NLI 6655=28 fol. 71rלקוטי הפרדס אשר חבר הנשר הגדול רבינו edition: (dated (1535 and the Venice(Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1539), [22-23]. Both of the manuscripts שלמה זצ ‏"ל27שאי אפשר להתירבלא חרטה דמעיקרא30http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/JSIJ/12-2013/Steiner.pdf
Page 1: JSIJ 12 (2013) 1-45KOL NIDRE: PAST,
Page 4 and 5: 4Richard C. Steinerנוהגים ה
Page 6 and 7: 6Richard C. SteinerThe recitation o
Page 10 and 11: 10Richard C. SteinerIn the name of
Page 13: Kol Nidre: Past, Present and Future
Page 16 and 17: 16Richard C. Steineruntil I come ba
Page 19 and 20: צ(‏Kol Nidre: Past, Present and
Page 21 and 22: Kol Nidre: Past, Present and Future

Richard Steiner, Kol Nidre - Yeshiva University Blogs

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?