Finding Theological Comfort 
in the Unetaneh Tokef

Published in Koach on Campus, Fall 2000

By William Friedman
MIT Class of 2002

The concepts of sin and repentance weigh heavily upon our minds as we enter the month of Elul, with the blowing of the shofar every morning and evening, with the daily, pre-dawn recitation of Selihot beginning the Shabbat preceding Rosh Hashanah, all finally culminating with the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) themselves, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

It is a time of reflection, on both the positive and negative experiences of the previous year. We search for reasons for our joy and meaning in our tragedy. Fortunately, the liturgy of the Yamim Noraim helps us do just that--put our struggles and triumphs in context. With that in mind, we shall delve into a quintessential prayer of the Yamim Noraim, the Unetaneh Tokef, and examine the difficulties and, ultimately, the comforting solutions it offers.

The Unetaneh Tokef is a piyyut (poem) composed and introduced into the liturgy during the eleventh century CE (4700 - 4800). The poignant story is recorded in the Or Zarua [note 1, below] (which is unproved one way or the other by scholarship [note 2]).

The bishop of Mainz had forcefully insisted his friend and advisor Rabbi Amnon convert to Christianity. R' Amnon was granted three days reprieve, at his own request. He spent them in solemn contemplation, afraid that even this delay would cause him to be looked upon askance, as if he were seriously considering the request. When he returned to the bishop at the end of the three days, and defiantly refused, R' Amnon was tortured [note 3] and crippled. Three days later, on Rosh Hashanah, R' Amnon asked to be brought to the aron (ark) before the hazzan's recitation of Kedushah. There R' Amnon recited the Unetaneh Tokef, and died.

Three days later, R' Amnon came to R' Kalonymus in a dream, and taught him the prayer. Whatever we think of the this latter part (perhaps the text is allegorically teaching that R' Kalonymus wrote the Unetaneh Tokef from memory of R' Amnon's recitation and disseminated the prayer as a tribute to a friend), the poignancy of this tale should add meaning to our own recitation of the Unetaneh Tokef this year in addition to helping us decipher it.

With the background understood, on to the contents.

The first paragraph declares the fearsome, awe-inspiring sanctity of the day (the Unetaneh Tokef is recited on both days of Rosh Hashanah as well as Yom Kippur). We acknowledge God's omniscience, God's flawless recall and constant witnessing of our deeds. The image of the open Book of Life is established, with all our names contained within. It continues with a beautiful contrasting image - the sounding of the great shofar (u'vashofar gadol yitaka) juxtaposed with the hearing of the still, small voice (v'kol d'mamah dakah yishmah), the latter familiar from Eliyahu's contact with God (I Kings 19:12), when he heard God's voice as a small, thin sound amongst powerful wind, grand noise, and fire.

The angels tremble at the awesomeness of the Yom HaDin (Day of Judgement), for their fate rests with ours. We imagine ourselves passing one by one in front of God in judgement, as a shepherd counts his sheep, an image derived from an erroneous reading of Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2 [note 4]. The second paragraph contains the familiar reading of the fates of all that are inscribed for us on Rosh Hashanah and sealed on Yom Kippur.

Then we reach the crux of the Unetaneh Tokef - "U'teshuvah, u'tefillah, u'tzedakah ma'avirin et ro'a ha-gezeirah" - Repentance, prayer, and righteousness cancel/avert/remove the harsh/severe/evil decree. This is the counterpoint to the preceding paragraph; the prayer would have drowned in its own fatalism had it not been for this proud declaration of free will, of our inherent ability to change our ways and return to God [note 5].

(In the great Jewish tradition of tangible action over intangible intention, many mahzorim print the words "Tzom, Kol, Mamon" (Fast, Voice, Money) over teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah, respectively, to remind us that our intentions require actions to back them up.)

There is a problem here, however - free will extends only so far. We are still victims of random catastrophes, both natural and as a result of others' misuse of free will (what we often call "evil"), and no amount of teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah can avert that. One ingenious (if ahistorical) solution, is to note the root of ma'avirin is avar - to cross over or to transcend, and thus interpret the line as "teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedekah transcend the severe decree", as if they are coping mechanisms [note 6]. 

As accurate as that may be, it doesn't deal directly with the issue at hand, nor with the peshat (plain meaning) that Rabbi Amnon intended.

We must be honest and admit that God's ways are often inscrutable to us. Reading the fates listed in the preceding paragraph of the Unetaneh Tokef, the listing of the many possible methods of death is striking. It seems redundant--death is death. But then the paragraph lists the various fates of those inscribed for life (who will wander, who will have rest, etc.), and we are able to identify with that, for we know that quality of life can vary greatly.

It should not be so difficult to imagine, then, that to God, quality of death can also vary greatly. What seems to us a uniform ro'a ha-gezeira may have different meanings to God. (We are even able to relate to this--it is common to be glad that one dies naturally quickly rather than slowly in a particular situation.) Even for Rabbi Amnon, his teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah, and indeed his death al kiddush Hashem (on the sanctification of God's name) averted the more severe possibility that his hesitation at refusing to convert would lead the less committed in the community to apostasy.

The challenge of all this lies in realizing that we can never know (and often tragically underestimate) the extent to which our own actions can influence our fate; we must thus strive daily to perfect ourselves, our community, and the world.

The comfort is in knowing that God is our companion in change, that God desires it even more than we, for as we conclude in the Unetaneh Tokef "v'ad yom moto t'chakeh lo, im yashuv miyad t'kab'lo"--"Until the day of his death You await him; if he repents You will accept him immediately." Shanah Tovah.

Footnotes

(1) Twelfth century halakhic work by Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna.

(2) http//www.uba.uva.nl/nl/publicaties/treasures/text/t02.html

(3) The details of this torture are not for the faint-hearted. R' Amnon told the bishop that his tongue should be cut out for the sin of saying he would consider the request. The bishop replied that it was not his tongue, but his legs that should be removed for not coming as he should have (R' Amnon did not come when called, and the bishop sent soldiers to get him). The bishop then proceeded to have R' Amnon's feet and hands amputated, and had him tossed on the street in blood-soaked rags.

(4) According to Rabbi Simchah Roth, who runs the Masorti/Conservative on-line Mishna study group: The text reads "kivenumeron", where "numeron" was a Greek word for regiment. Later, however, the text was rendered as "kivnei maron", which can be read as a flock of sheep.

(5) Arzt, Max, quoted in Goodman, Phillip. The Rosh Hashanah Anthology. Philadelphia: JPS, 1970, page 94.

(6) Rabinowitz, Stanley. "Communications," Conservative Judaism, 52:1 (Fall 1999), p. 92.