by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Kol Nidre
Language: English
Rabbi: The Kabalah tells a legend: At the beginning God Said: «Let there be light.» Out of space a flame burst out. God crushed that light to atoms. Myriads of sparks are hidden in our world, but not all of us behold them. The selfglorious, who walks arrogantly upright, will never perceive one; but the meek and modest, eyes downcast, he sees it: «A light is sown for the pious.» Bishivoh shel maloh uvishivoh shel matoh. In the name of God: We solemnly proclaim that every transgressor, be it that he was unfaithful to our people because of fear, or misled by false doctrines af any kind, out of weakness or greed: we give him leave to be one with us in prayer tonight. A light is sown for the pious, a light is sown for the repenting sinner. All vows, oaths, promises and plights of any kind, wherewith we pledged ourselves counter to our inherited faith in God, Who is One, Everlasting, Unseen, Unfathomable, we declare these null and void. We repent that these obligations have estranged us from the sacred task we are chosen for. Chorus: We repent. Rabbi: We shall strive from this Day of Atonement till the next to avoid such and similar obligations, so that the Yom Kippur to follow may come us to for good. Chorus: All vows, oaths, promises and plights of any kind, wherewith we pledged ourselves counter to our inherited faith in God, Who is One, Everlasting, Unseen, Unfathomable, we declare these null and void. We repent that these obligations have estranged us from the sacred task we are chosen for. We shall strive from this Day of Atonement till the next to avoid such and similar obligations, so that the Yom Kippur to follow may come us to for good. Rabbi: Whatever binds us to falsehood may be absolved, released, annulled, made void and of no power. Chorus: Falsehood absolved, released, annulled, made void and of no power. Hence all such vows shall be no vows, and all such bonds shall be no bonds, all such oaths shall be no oaths. We repent. Null and void be our vows. We repent them. A light is sown for the sinner. Rabbi: We give him leave to be one with us in prayer tonight. Chorus: We repent.
Glossary
Kol nidre = All vows
Bishivoh shel maloh uvishivoh shel matoh = by the authority of the earthly court, and by the authority of the heavenly court.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Kol Nidre", op. 39 (1938) [ speaker, chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Alberto Pedrotti
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 49
Word count: 385