Kol Nidre

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The Kol Nidre, Wormser Machsor , 1272.
Kol Nidre, 1950s

Kol Nidre (aram .: כָּל נִדְרֵי“All vows”) is a formulaic declaration that is spoken before the evening prayer on the Day of Atonement (Hebrew: Yom Kippur). The entire evening prayer on Yom Kippur is often named after this declaration.

history

The origin of the Kol Nidre is unknown. There are numerous theories on this, but none of them have proven to be conclusive. For example, in 1917 Joseph Samuel Bloch formulated a dramatic but unsubstantiated theory that Kol Nidre arose as a reaction to forced conversions by Jews to Christianity, which occurred particularly in 7th century Spain under the Visigoths , in Byzantium between 700 and 850 and from 1391 to 1492 to have taken place under the Spanish Inquisition .

In the early days of Judaism, numerous vows were made , and at the same time there was a need to revoke them. Such absolution could either be done by a scholar or by a congregation of three lay people. This initially personal forgiveness of guilt found its way into the liturgy of the Day of Atonement. Above all, rabbis from the Babylonian academies in Sura and Pumbedita spoke out against the formula of Kol Nidre because it ran counter to the controlled practice of Hatarat Nedarim , which only permitted the withdrawal of vows under certain conditions and under the control of a halachic court. The Karaites also always turned strictly against the Kol Nidre. In some cases even the study of the Talmudic treatise Nedarim was restricted. Originally the Kol Nidre was designed for the forgiveness of guilt towards God . It was not until the 12th century, at the instigation of Rabbenu Tam , that it was changed to concern future vows. In the 13th century, the German rabbi Meir von Rothenburg added a formula that is still recited by three parishioners before the actual Kol Nidre:

"Before heavenly judgment and before earthly judgment, with the consent of God and with the consent of this church, we affirm that it is lawful to pray (together) with evildoers."

In Reformed Judaism , Kol Nidre was banned from the prayer books for the Day of Atonement for a long time, following the example of the Hamburg Temple since 1818 and David Einhorn . One of the main reasons why it is recited again in most Jewish communities today is because of its emotional significance.

The melody of Kol Nidre is one of the most famous examples of Jewish music and found its way into art music in the processing by Max Bruch (for cello and orchestra). The recording became famous in 1968 with the cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim . In his work of the same name op. 39 for speaker, choir and orchestra, Arnold Schönberg used some of the traditional motifs.

content

In fact, Kol Nidre is a revocation of all personal vows, oaths, and promises to God that have been unwittingly or thoughtlessly made. In principle, according to Deuteronomy 23.23 EU , the believer should refrain from taking vows. Vers 24 EU obliges to keep what has been said. An oath knowingly pronounced before God is still valid. Even so, the Kol Nidre was a popular destination for anti-Semitic interpretations. The view that the Jewish faith allows for example perjury in court with the Kol Nidre or that this prayer would invalidate all contracts between Jews and non-Jews is wrong.

The older Sephardic version of Kol Nidre and the Ashkenazi version, which dates from the Middle Ages, are slightly different from each other. In the Ashkenazi version the future tense is used: "All vows that we make from now until the coming day of Atonement ...", in the Sephardic the past tense.

rite

On the Day of Atonement , the believer stands during the first prayer said in the synagogue . The short Kol Nidre is repeated three times. In this way one comes to an agreement with Almighty God that every oath, every vow, every word of honor, which one gives for oneself personally or in relation to ordinances of the church in the next year, should be invalid.

The Kol Nidre in full

“כָּל נִדְרֵי וֶאֱסָרֵי וּשְׁבוּעֵי וַחֲרָמֵי וְקוֹנָמֵי וְקִנּוּסֵי וְכִנּוּיֵי, דְּאִנְדַרְנָא וּדְאִשְׁתַּבַּעְנָא, וּדְאַחֲרִימְנָא וּדְאָסַרְנָא עַל נַפְשָׁתָנָא. מִיּוֹם כִּפּוּרִים זֶה עַד יוֹם כִּפּוּרִים הַבָּא עָלֵינוּ לְטוֹבָה. בְּכֻלְּהוֹן אִיחֲרַטְנָא בְהוֹן, כֻּלְּהוֹן יְהוֹן שָׁרָן, שְׁבִיקִין שְׁבִיתִין בְּטֵלִין וּמְבֻטָּלִין, לָא שְׁרִירִין וְלָא קַיָּמִין. נִדְרָנָא לָא נִדְרֵי וֶאֱסָרָנָא לָא אֱסָרֵי וּשְׁבוּעָתָנָא לָא שְׁבוּעוֹת. ”

Kol Nidrej ve esarej, uschevu'ej, va charamej, ve konamej, ve kinusej, ve chinujej, dinedarena ude'ischtaba'na ude'acharimna ude'asarna al nafeschatana. Mi Yom Kippurim zeh ad Yom Kippurim habah alejnu le'tovah. Bechulhon icharatna behon, kulhon jehon sharan. Shevikin. Shevitin. Beteylin umevutalin. La scheririn ve la kajamin. Niderana la nidrej ve esarana la esarej. Uschvu'atana la schevuot.

“All vows, prohibitions, spells, paraphrases and everything that resembles them, punishments and oaths that I pledge, swear, utter as a ban, impose on me as a prohibition from this Yom Kippur on until the redeeming next Yom Kippur. I regret all of them, all of them were triggered, enacted, repealed, invalid and destroyed, without legal force and without existence. Our vows are not vows, our vows are not vows. "

- Jewish life / Talmud.de

literature

Web links

Wikisource: The Text of the כל נדרי  - Sources and Full Texts (Hebrew)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lawrence A. Hoffman: All These Vows - Kol Nidre , Jewish Lights Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-58023-430-6 , p. 9
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica , Volume XII (Kat-Lie), Thomson Gale, Detroit, 2nd ed., 2007, p. 276
  3. ↑ Ben Rabbi Nathan: The Kol Nidre prayer and the justification for anti-Semitism ; from the rubric Ask the Rabbi : “Anti-Semitism is based on a prejudice. The reasons for anti-Semitism and prejudice are not to be found in the victim, but in the anti-Semite, the perpetrator. - As with any other prejudice, the perpetrator looks for a reason for his hatred. Since there can be no justification for a prejudice, it is constructed by the perpetrator. - For centuries, the Kol Nidre prayer served some Christians to suspect and accuse the Jews of unfaithfulness, unreliability, and false vows on the grounds that the Jews would renounce their promises and oaths in advance and afterwards. - The reason why this prayer was used for this may be related to the bad conscience of those Christians who free themselves from their sins through confession and penance, which they then commit again. They accuse the hatred objects of hypocrisy and infidelity, which they do not want to see in themselves. This is where the function of the projection comes to the fore: one's own bad qualities and evil actions are projected onto the opponent and he is burdened with them. ”Last accessed on September 21, 2010.
  4. ↑ Ben Rabbi Nathan: The Kol Nidre prayer and the justification for anti-Semitism ; From the rubric Ask the Rabbi : "While the vows that are subsequently or in advance declared null and void refer to oneself, the cancellation of an obligation towards others is excluded by the provisions of Jewish law." Last accessed on September 21, 2010.
  5. ↑ Chajm Guski: The Kol Nidrej Prayer. In: talmud.de. November 29, 2013, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  6. ↑ The reports about the (sung) prayer Kol Nidre in the camps emphasize its emotional quality for the prisoners, as in the case of Leon Szalet : “Suddenly the oppressive silence was interrupted by a sad melody. It was the plaintive sound of the old 'Kol Nidre' prayer. ”Thomas Rahe: “ Hear Israel ”- Jewish religiosity in National Socialist concentration camps . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999, p. 156; “A (...) phenomenon is a noticeable frequency of deportations, selections and extermination campaigns on Jewish holidays, both outside and inside the concentration camps, which can no longer be explained by chance. (...) The Warsaw ghetto was closed on Yom Kippur 1940, (...) the final liquidation of the ghetto was scheduled for the Passover festival in 1943 (...) - a practice for which the name 'Goebbels' calendar' soon arose among Polish Jews. The fact that some of the Jewish resistance actions also began on Jewish holidays (...) is at least symbolic in this context. ”P. 47.