Yekum Purkan

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Yekum Purkan (

Mi Sheberakh
(“May He Who blessed”) is also recited together with Yekum Purkan and asks for God's blessings on those who provide funds for the community's needs.

History

The two Yekum Purkan prayers were composed in

Saadiah Gaon (died 942), thus indicating a composition date towards the end of the Geonic period.[1][2]

The first of the two prayers was composed in the tenth or eleventh century, when the

Talmudic Academies in Babylonia were weakening and scholars in Europe were increasingly assuming Jewish religious leadership. The diminishing status of the academies led to a decrease in their revenues, and it was against this backdrop that Yekum Purkan was composed on behalf of the students and teachers of the academies, and their leaders – the geonim and the titular Head of the Diaspora known as the Resh Galuta or Exilarch. Thus, in addition to asking for God's help, the prayer also aimed to motivate people to give generously to support the academies of learning, and so were composed in the Aramaic vernacular rather than Hebrew and recited at Sabbath morning services when the largest number of congregants could be expected to be present.[3]

The earliest written record of the first Yekum Purkan prayer is found in the

Sephardi liturgy, but a similar, although more lengthy prayer, called “Tefillah L’ma’an Ha’kahal” (Prayer for the Congregation) is found in some Yemenite prayer book manuscripts.[1][2] Furthermore, some claim that it was recited in the Sephardic liturgy until the abolishment of the establishment of the Geonim, at which point it was deemed to be irrelevant.[5]

Yekum Purkan, and the Mi Sheberakh prayer that follows it, are among the earliest known recitations of personalized blessings in the Jewish liturgy, whose typical usage until then was standardized prayers using set Hebrew phrases, recited on behalf of the entire community, without specifying the roles or identities of the worshippers.[6]

Content

Both prayers are very similar in form and derive their name from their opening words, yekum purkan, meaning “may deliverance arise” or “may salvation arise.”[2]

The first is a prayer for the welfare of the Torah scholars in the Land of Israel and Babylonia, their teachers, the exilarch, and the judges. Many of the phrases of this prayer resemble those of the Kaddish de-Rabbanan ("the scholars' Kaddish"). It invokes God's blessings on the “heads of the academies” (the geonim), the “head of the Diaspora” (the exilarch) and the “judges at the gates” and requests divine favor for those who uphold Torah – by teaching, study, support and especially by undertaking the responsibilities of communal leadership.[1][2][3]

The second Yekum Purkan prayer is phrased similarly to the first and is a more general prayer for the welfare of the congregation; it requests God's blessing for all the members of the congregation and their families “wives, sons and daughters and all that is theirs.”[1][2][3]

Place in the liturgy

In the Ashkenazi ritual, the two Yekum Purkan prayers are recited on Sabbath morning, following the public

Reish Galuta
.

These prayers are recited on every Sabbath of the year, including

Shmini Atzeret.[1][3][8]

One reason given for Yekum Purkan not being recited on a weekday holiday is so as to end the lengthy holiday services somewhat earlier so that people can leave to prepare their

Mount Sinai.[9]

As the prayer concerns those who teach, learn and provide leadership and material support to maintain Torah study, the placement of the Yekum Purkan prayer in the order of the service is immediately following the readings from the Torah and Prophets.

resh galuta would give his address after the reading of the Torah
, then a representative of the congregation would bless him, and then he would bless the congregation.

Following the two paragraphs of Yekum Purkan, an additional prayer, the

Mi Sheberakh (May He Who blessed our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), is recited in honor of all those who volunteer for the benefit of the community and calls for God's blessings on those individuals who provide funds for the general welfare. It calls for special blessings to those who “give candles for illumination and wine for Kiddush and Havdalah, bread for guests and charity to the poor; and all who involve themselves faithfully with the needs of the community.” Mi Sheberakh is written in Hebrew but is read in the vernacular in some congregations because it clearly articulates the financial and moral responsibilities of the audience.[3] In the Western Ashkenaic rite, this third prayer is omitted on Shabbat Mevorkhim.[10]

Even though the academies of Babylonia and positions referred to in the first Yekum Purkan no longer exist and Aramaic is no longer a spoken language of the Jews, this prayer has remained part of the Sabbath liturgy in Ashkenazic communities.[3] In modern times, some communities have added the phrase “and all that are in the lands of our dispersion” to make the prayer more relevant to them[1][2] while others interpret the term “Babylonia” – when used together in distinction to the term “Land of Israel” – to apply to all the lands outside of the Land of Israel in which Jews were dispersed.[8]

According to the Orthodox practice, a person who is praying alone does not say the second Yekum Purkan, as it is recited on behalf of the congregation, which is not present when one prays alone. Some halachic authorities rule that both paragraphs of Yekum Purkan should be omitted by someone who prays alone.[11]

Further reading

  • Duschinsky, C (1927). "The Yekum Purkan". Livre D'Hommage a la Memoire du Dr. Samuel Poznanski. Warsaw. pp. 182–198.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 088482876X
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Yekum Purkan". Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 16 (1st ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd. 1973. p. 735.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-8276-0760-1
    .
  4. ^ Daniel Goldschmidt, Rosh Hashanah Machzor, p. 27 of introduction.
  5. ^ Daniel Goldschmidt, Rosh Hashanah Machzor, p. 27 of introduction, note 51.
  6. ISBN 9781434828293
    .
  7. ^ Rema. Shulchan Aruch. Orach Chayim. 284:6.
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-89906-662-3
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0873068895
    .
  10. ^ Machzor Shivchei Yeshurun, page 50.
  11. Chofetz Chaim
    . Mishna Berura. 101:19.

 

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