THE U’N’SANA TOKEF

QUESTION:

The community of Mainz and other Ashkenazic communities have the U’n’sana Tokef prayer only on Rosh Hashonah. Others have it both on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. Which of these observances is more justified in the liturgical tradition? (Asked by Rabbi Josef Zeitin, Odessa, Texas.)

ANSWER:

THIS FAMOUS PRAYER is ascribed, as is well known, to Amnon of Mainz in the time of the Crusades. Even if Amnon of Mainz is only a legendary figure, as some scholars say, nevertheless, since he is associated with the community of Mainz, it may well be presumed that the community of Mainz would be more likely to have kept the prayer in the appropriate service than other communities. Therefore, theoretically, we could assume that Rosh Hashonah is the appropriate occasion for the prayer. Furthermore, the theme of the prayer is that God passes judgment on who shall live and who shall die, etc., and it is Rosh Hashonah which is more properly and completely Yom Ha’din, the day of judgment, than Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, of course, seals the judgment, but the judgment itself is made on Rosh Hashonah.

But we do not need these theoretical considerations in this matter. The literary evidence, even though meager at best, points to the fact that Rosh Hashonah is the proper day for this prayer. Incidentally, the most available and complete source for the various references to this prayer in the literature is in Landshuth’s Amude Ho-Avoda, (I, p. 45). The first reference to the prayer is by Israel of Krems, who wrote the notes to Asher ben Jehiel, the Rosh (Ha-gohos Asheri). His reference to this prayer is on the very first pages of the Rosh to tractate Rosh Hashonah. He has no such note, as far as I know, to tractate Yoma. As for the Maharil, he also comments on the wording of the prayer but only in his minhagim to Rosh Hashonah and not to Yom Kippur. Incidentally, a beautifully complete version of the story of Amnon of Mainz is given in the early edition of Heidenheim’s Machzor to Rosh Hashonah. If you lack this book, I am enclosing a copy of the relevant page.

So, clearly, its original place is Rosh Hashonah. But how does it happen that so many machzorim have the prayer not only in the Mussaf Kedusha of Rosh Hashonah but also in the Mussaf Kedusha of Yom Kippur?

This is not a surprising phenomenon. The same thing occurred with Yizkor. Its original place and origin in the Rhineland were only on Yom Kippur. Then it spread to the last day of the three festivals (see my article on Yizkor in the HUC Annual). The same thing, therefore, must have occurred with the U’n’sana Tokef. It spread from its original place to an additional place in the liturgy (namely, Yom Kippur).

The motivation for the various rituals repeating this prayer on Yom Kippur seems clear and logical. The prayer describes the various tragic ways in which God may decree that our life might end, “in famine, or war, or fire,” etc. This prayer, therefore, belongs logically on the Day of Judgment, namely, the New Year, as has been said. However, God’s judgment is, after all, not yet decided. There still follow the Ten Days of Penitence; and so it may be that if we repent, the tragic judgment will, after all, not be “sealed” against us. Hence, we repeat the prayer on Yom Kippur, confident that its last line will apply to us, “repentance, etc., avert the evil decree.”

Nevertheless it is noteworthy that even this understandable extension of the prayer from Rosh Hashonah to Yom Kippur did not occur too early. The prime source of the minhagim of East European Jewry is Mateh Moshe by Moses Mat of Przemysl (1550 1606), the pupil of Solomon Luria (Maharil). In his Mateh Moshe (par. 818) he speaks of the prayer only on Rosh Hashonah.

To sum up, then: For the reasons mentioned above, the prayer belongs primarily to the Yom Ha’din, Rosh Hashonah. From there, in some minhagim, it was later extended to Yom Kippur. In our Union Prayer Book, we have the prayer only on Yom Kippur, for a practical reason, namely, that the Yom Kippur service, lasting all day, needed to be enlarged by additional prayers.