U'Netaneh Tokef
Sep. 13th, 2002 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magid This is a prayer that is in the traditional Rosh Hashana service. A lot of friends of mine find it incredibly moving (I remember this prayer from when I was young, and not much else stuck. ). And the melody used, how everyone is focused then, that is intense. But this year I didn't find some of the words as compelling. There's a bunch of King and Judge wording that comes before this paragraph, which I think is the most famous part of it (translation taken from the OU website, which uses the Artscroll translation; it was what I could find quickly):
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer, who will be impover ished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.
(and just after, we declare:
REPENTANCE, PRAYER and CHARITY Remove the Evil of the Decree!)
And this year it struck me that a lot of this paragraph is irrelevant these days. Most people will not be eaten by wild animals, or lost in flood waters, nor strangled nor stoned (thank goodness!). The majority will die from other sorts of diseases entirely, be it cancer or AIDs, diabetes or heart disease.
The rest of the paragraph that doesn't deal with ways of dying has possible outcomes of living, all in general terms, except money (having or losing). I wonder where "health" is in this (perhaps I am preoccupied with that this year?), or whether the rabbis assume that sick people will die, or something. There are a couple of other prayers where we ask for the good things in life all listed out, and health just never seems to make the cut (except in the prayer for the new moon).
Also missing is any idea of happiness. Tranquillity is well and good, but joy is nice some of the time, too....
I wish I didn't feel so disconnected.
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer, who will be impover ished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.
(and just after, we declare:
REPENTANCE, PRAYER and CHARITY Remove the Evil of the Decree!)
And this year it struck me that a lot of this paragraph is irrelevant these days. Most people will not be eaten by wild animals, or lost in flood waters, nor strangled nor stoned (thank goodness!). The majority will die from other sorts of diseases entirely, be it cancer or AIDs, diabetes or heart disease.
The rest of the paragraph that doesn't deal with ways of dying has possible outcomes of living, all in general terms, except money (having or losing). I wonder where "health" is in this (perhaps I am preoccupied with that this year?), or whether the rabbis assume that sick people will die, or something. There are a couple of other prayers where we ask for the good things in life all listed out, and health just never seems to make the cut (except in the prayer for the new moon).
Also missing is any idea of happiness. Tranquillity is well and good, but joy is nice some of the time, too....
I wish I didn't feel so disconnected.