Ani hu ha-sho'el (Hebrew: אני הוא השואל, literally 'I am the one who asks') is a Selicha piyyut for Yom Kippur; in most rites, but not all, it is (or was) recited in the Musaf service.[1] It is composed by Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel of Mainz. As is common in Selichot for Musaf, the Selicha describes the Yom Kippur service in the Temple and the loss since the destruction of the Temple. In many communities, it is recited aloud by the Hazzan with a moving melody. Usually, even in communities where it is customary to recite the Selichot on a multi-year cycle and to choose only some of the Selichot each year, this Selicha is recited each year.[2]
The selicha is included in the liturgy of most of the printed Western Ashkenazic Selichot rites.[3] Like most piyyutim of 12th century poets from Western Europe, the Selicha is not recited in most Eastern Ashkenazic rites, although it is recited in the Bohemian rite (which is also the rite of East Germany),[4] and in the rite of the Old Synagogue in Prague.[5]
Editions of the piyyut
editThe Selicha has been printed twice in critical editions. Once in Avraham Meir Habermann's edition of the piyyutim of Rabbi Baruch of Mainz,[6] and a second time in Daniel Goldschmidt's edition of the Yom Kippur Machzor.[7]
It has also been translated once to English.[8]
Structure of the poem
editThe poem includes an alphabetic acrostic, and at the end, it is signed Baruch bar Shmuel Hazak (Baruch son of Samuel the Strong). It is structured in stanzas of two lines (four hemistichs), in the Yated meter and four vowels, and a closing hemistich of yated and five vowels.[7]
External links
edit- The piyyut from the Kavvanat ha-paytan machzor
- The piyyut from the Rödelheim machzor
- A recorded rendition of the piyyut in the tradition of the Ashkenazim in Italy, on the National Library of Israel website. This piyyut appears at minute 25 of the recording.
- A recording of the piyyut according to the Frankfurt tradition, on the Kol Halashon website.
References
edit- ^ In some communities, it is recited at a different prayer on Yom Kippur: In the rite of the Ashkenazim in Italy and Nuremberg-Fürth it is recited in the selichot of the Shacharit prayer (Daniel Goldschmidt, Machzor for High Holidays, Volume 2 (Yom Kippur), pages 203-204), and in the Cologne rite and in the rite of the Old Synagogue in Prague it is recited in the Selichot of Mincha (Daniel Goldschmidt, Machzor for High Holidays, Volume 2 (Yom Kippur), page 629).
- ^ See for example "Customs of the Ashkenazic Synagogue for the year 5772", Yerushaseinu 6 (5772), page 483. In the community of Rabbi Nathan Adler, who objected to the recitation of Selichot and Piyyutim during the Repetition of the Amidah, this Selicha was recited before the beginning of the Repetition, see Rabbi Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger, "The Customs of the Study Hall of our Rabbi Nathan Adler", Moriah, Year 17 (5750), page 241; Beis Hakneses Niederoesterreicherhof: The Order of the Service for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (Vienna, 1920), page 6, on Otzar Hachochma.
- ^ Goldschmidt, page 502. See also Selichot for a discussion of the Selichot rites.
- ^ Goldschmidt, page 550. It appears to have been inadvertently left off the list on page 530.
- ^ At Mincha. Goldschmidt, page 670.
- ^ Avraham Meir Habermann, "The Piyyutim of Rabbi Baruch bar Shmuel of Mainz", Yedi'ot Ha-makhon Le-heker ha-Shira Ha-'ivrit 6 (1946), 129.
- ^ a b Goldschmidt, 516.
- ^ Wolf Heidenheim (editor) and Jenny Marmorstein (translator) (1965). Prayerbook for the Day of Atonement. Basle: Victor Goldschmidt Publishers, page 226-228.