El male rachamim

El male rachamim , in Ashkenazi pronunciation Eil molei rachamim ( Hebrew "God full of mercy"), are the opening words of a Jewish prayer that is given during burials, on the anniversary of the death of a deceased person ( year ), when visiting the graves of relatives and on Yom haScho ' a is presented in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and in memory of Israeli soldiers ( IDF ) who died in the war . To commemorate Holocaust victims and fallen soldiers, there are extended versions of El male rachamim .

The prayer originated in the Middle Ages and was offered first in Western and Eastern Europe in memory of the victims of the Crusades , and later for the victims of the Khmelnytskyi Uprising . That is why there are different versions of prayer in different European churches. In Ashkenazi communities, El male rachamim is often performed in a virtuoso manner by the prayer leader , but is also known in Sephardic rites. One version that emerged after the Kishinev pogrom has achieved particular fame. The version widespread today, in which the names of the extermination camps Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka are mentioned, was coined by the cantor Schalom Katz at the 22nd Zionist Congress that took place in Basel in 1946 .

literature

• Encyclopedia Judaica , Volume 6, pp. 682-683.

Web links

Commons : El male rachamim  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• אל מלא רחמים. (El male rachamim). In: hofesh.org.il. September 22, 2000(Hebrew). 
• Yom HaSikharon: El malej Rahamim - prayer for the fallen and victims of terrorism. In: hagalil.com. (Version for the memorial day of the fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorism. Text transcribed and translated into German). 
• El male Rahamim: G "d full of mercy. In: schoah.org. HaGalil onLine(text transcribed and translated into German). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jeanette Jakubowski: History of the Jewish cemetery in Bremen. disserta Verlag, Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-95935-365-6 , pp. 196 and 197.
2. ↑ Ronald L. Eisenberg: Dictionary of Jewish Terms. A Guide to the Language of Judaism. Schreiber Publishing, Rockville (Maryland) 2008, ISBN 978-0-88400-334-2 , p. 462.
3. ↑ Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: The power of music. On the 35th anniversary of the death of the cantor legend Schalom Katz In: davidkultur.at. David. Jewish Culture Magazine, 2017, accessed on February 27, 2019 (No. 115, December 2017).