Aw HaRachamim

This article or section needs to be revised. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Aw HaRachamim ( Hebrew אַב הָרַחֲמִים"Father of Grace" or "Gracious Father") is a Jewish memorial prayer that was written in the late eleventh or early twelfth century after the destruction of the Ashkenazi communities around the Rhine by Christian crusaders during the First Crusade . It is documented from 1290 in a prayer book both in the tradition of Nusach Ashkenaz ( Hebrew נוֹסַח אַשְׁכְּנַז) as well as the Nusach sfarad ( Hebrew נוֹסַח סְפָרַד); it is part of the morning prayer on the Sabbath .

In some communities it is not spoken on every Sabbath, but only on the Sabbath before Shavuot and Tischa beAv . The memorial prayer “Jiskor” ends with Av HaRachamim because it prays for all Jewish martyrs.

Text and translation

The Father of Mercy, enthroned in the heights, may, with his mighty mercy, consider the devoted, straight lines and whole, the holy communities, who gave their lives for the sanctification of the divine name, who were loved and gracious in their life and also through death could not be separated from him. They were lighter than eagles and stronger than lions to accomplish the will of their owner and the desire of their hoard.
Remember our God, her for good with the other righteous times and fully bring the vengeance of the shed blood of his servants, which it is written in the teaching of Moshe, the man of God: Watch peoples, cheer up his people's lot, for the blood of his servants he avenges, and turns vengeance on his enemies, and his human earth atones his people. And by the hand of your servants, the prophets it is written: Whatever I forgive, I have not forgiven their blood, and God still lives in Zion. and it is said in the holy scriptures: Why should the peoples say: Where is their God? Will it be recognized among the peoples as revenge for the shed blood of your servants! And he says: That the one who demands accountability for every blood shed has thought of it, has not forgotten the cries of modest people. And he says: one day he will judge corpses among peoples after he split the head that ruled the mighty land, which, because it drinks the stream flowing along the way, proudly lifts its head up.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Siddur Tefillot yisra'el / Israel prayers , translated and explained by Samson Raphael Hirsch . Kauffmann, Frankfurt a. M. 1895 (3rd edition 1921), pp. 350-353.

literature

• Israel A. Goldstein: Article Av Harachamim , in: Edward Foley (ed.): Worship Music: A Concise Dictionary. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 2000, p. 24 ( available from Google Books ).
• Seligmann Baer : Siddur Avodath Yisrael. Roedelheim 1868, 2nd edition 1901.

Web link

• Ein Kamocha, Aw HaRachamim, Waje'hi Binsoa sung by Cantor Brian Shamash (* 1975 in New York) onYouTube, South Huntington Jewish Center, Melville, New York.