El Nora Alila

This article is about a piyyut. For the album by Orphaned Land, see El Norra Alila.

El Nora Alila (Hebrew: אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה), also transliterated as Ayl Nora Alilah,[1] is a piyyut (liturgical poem) that begins the Ne'ilah service at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. The piyyut is recited as part of the Sephardic and Mizrahi liturgy,[2] and has been adopted by some Ashkenazic communities.[3]

The English translation offered below is a lyric rendering, reproducing a rhyme similar to the Hebrew. A more literal translation makes the title and recurring line, "God of awesome deeds". It consists of eight stanzas, each stanza consisting of four lines of five syllables to the line.[4] Each line (in Hebrew) has three words and the fourth line is always two words, "as Thy gates are closed at night"[5] – the gates being shut are presumably those of Heaven's gates for receiving prayers of repentance (modelled after the gates of the Temple, Ezekiel 46:2), and the hymn is one last impassioned plea for Divine pardon in the last minutes of the Day of Atonement. The initial letters of the eight stanzas of the piyyut spell out משה חזק תם, "Moses, may he be perfectly strong", in reference to the piyyut's author Moses ibn Ezra (ca. 1055-1138) of Granada.[6]

  1. ^ Nulman, Macy; Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson), s.v. Ayl Nora Alilah, page 67.
  2. ^ E.g., The Orot Sephardic Yom Kippur Mahazor (1997, NJ) page 986; Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson), s.v. Ayl Nora Alilah, page 67; Bahat, Avner, EL NORA ALILA (God of Might, God of Awe) -From Spain to the Four Corners of the Earth, Inter-American Music Review, vol. 17, issues 1-2 (Summer 2007) Pages 77-90.
  3. ^ E.g., Birnbaum, Philip, High Holyday Prayer Book (1951, NY, Hebrew Publ'g Co.) page 975; Silverman, Morris, High Holiday Prayerbook (2nd ed. 1951, Hartford, Prayer Book Press) page 458; also adopted into American Reform liturgy as early as David Einhorn's Olath Tamid in 1858, the American Reform mahzor, Gates of Repentance: The New Union Prayer Book for the Days of Awe (1978, NY, Central Conference of American Rabbis) page 508, Mishkan Hanefesh (2015, NY, Central Conference of American Rabbis) page 614; but not included in the Orthodox mahzorim by Adler, by ArtScroll, or by Rinat Yisroel.
  4. ^ Birnbaum, Philip, High Holyday Prayer Book (1951, NY, Hebrew Publ'g Co.) page 975.
  5. ^ Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson), s.v. Ayl Nora Alilah, page 67. This is Nulman's English rendering, but see the comments attached to the verses, below.
  6. ^ Mishkan Hanefesh (2015, NY, Central Conference of American Rabbis) page 614; Bahat, Avner, EL NORA ALILA (God of Might, God of Awe) - From Spain to the Four Corners of the Earth, Inter-American Music Review, vol. 17, issues 1-2 (Summer 2007) Page 78.