Unetanneh Tokef

Berosh Hashana Yikatevun (from Unetane Tokef). Ashkenazi (Chasiddic) version. Performer: Yeshayahu Bik; Recorded by: Yaakov Mazor; In NSA Studio, 1997
recording by Cantor Jacob T.

Untanneh[1] Tokef, Unthanneh Toqeph, Un'taneh Tokef, or Unsanneh Tokef   (ונתנה תקף) ("Let us speak of the awesomeness ") is a piyyut that has been a part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy in some traditions of rabbinical Judaism for centuries. It introduces the Kedusha of Musaf for these days. In many communities, it is chanted while the Torah ark is open and the congregants are standing.[2] It is the "central poem of the High Holy Day [of the Day of Atonement]."[3] The ArtScroll machzor calls it "one of the most stirring compositions in the entire liturgy of the Days of Awe."[4]

  1. ^ Jonathan Sacks (2012). The Koren Yom Kippur Mahzor : [Hebrew/English High Holiday prayerbook] (Rohr family ed.). Jerusalem: Koren Publishers. ISBN 978-965-301-345-2. OCLC 793572925.
  2. ^ Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) s.v. Unetaneh Tokef, page 332; The Orot Sephardic Yom Kippur Mahazor (1997, NJ, Orot Inc.) page 1090.
  3. ^ Wouk, Herman, This is My God (1959, NY, Doubleday) chap.6, page 88.
  4. ^ The Complete ArtScroll Machzor – Yom Kippur (Nusach Ashekenaz), (1991, Brooklyn, Mesorah Publ'ns Ltd.) page 530; similarly, Birnbaum, Philip, High Holyday Prayer Book, (1951, NY, Hebrew Publ'g Co.) page 359; Golinkin, David, Solving a Mahzor mystery, Jerusalem Post, 7 Oct 2005; Munk, Elie, The World of Prayer (1961, NY, Feldheim Publ'rs) vol. 2, page 209.