'Abodah 'Abodah, Music of
THE JEWISH EN'CYCLOPEDIA
the most solemn aiui impressive portion of tlic Atciiiemenl service. The ritual in the order (Mahzor) most universally used begins with a beautiful pniyer for the synago.srue reader, followed by a cursory review of the Then Uiiilical history from Adam down to Aaron. the whole Teinide service is minutely described: thi preparation of the high priest during seven days preceding the festival, the appointment of a substitute to meet the emergency of the high priest's becoming distiualilied. the preparation of the holy vessels, the olTering of the regular morning .Siicritice. the baths and ablutions of the high priest, and his different changes of garments. I^aying his hands upon the head of a yoimg bullock, his own sill offering, the high priest made confession for himself in these words; caiiK-
"O
have sinned, I tiave trespn.'ised. I liave done () I/>rd. trraiit atonement I and my house. and wniiips wliieli I have cnnunitted l)eforeTlKV, I ami my house, a.s U Js written in the Toniliof Tliy servant Moses, For on this day lie shall atone for you to cleanse you from alt your sins liefore the Lord' [Lev. xi. 30]." Lord,
I
WTODR before Thee.
fur the sins, tre-spas-ses,
fered the daily evening sacrilicc and the incense and lighted the candles. During the long and elaborate service he bathed five times and washed his hands and feet ten times.
With joy and e.ultation he was then accompanied home by his friends, to whom he gave a fea.st, beleft the siuictuary unharmed. so-called prayer of the high priest after the completion of the service is then recited. follows a glowing description after Ecclesiastieus (Sirach). Milt sn/. of the beauty of the appearance
cause he hail
The
Now
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of the high priest, and those arc pronounced happy who had .seen all the old glory, while the misfortune is deploied of the living who are deprived of Temple, altar, and priest, and have constantly to submit to
new and
intoleralile sutTcrings.
in the ancient ritual
with
The
service closes
prayers for the rcestablishment of the i)ristine conditionsaiid the maguireform ritual expression is given ticent ritual. In the to the view of an atonement for mankind liy the sacrifice which Israel, as the martyr priest, is destined ardi'iit
'
He
then proceeded to the eastern part of the court,
where he found two goats and drew lots for them, selecting one for God and one for Azazel. On the head of the latter he tied a red woolen thread, and then, returning to his bullock, laid his hands upon head and made the .second confession, including therein the children of Aaron, that is, the whole priestly tribe. Then lie killed the bullock, received the blood in the s]ninkling liowl. and had it stirred lest it should coagulate wliile he iierformed the fumigation, lie next took burning coals Description from the altar, put them into a golden of Temple censer, and after having provided himself with two handfuls of incense, lie Service. entered through the veil into the Holy of Holies. Between the two staves of the ark (or on the stone which took its place) he deposited the censer and cast the incense upon the coals. And when the whole place was tilled with a cloud of smoke, he left it and, walking backward, took the blood from the jierson who had stirred it. entered with it into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled with the blood once upward and si'ven limes downward, counting the numbers in the presciibed manner. Then he returned, slaughtered the goat, and, with its blood, received in another bowl, sprinkled as before. After having once more sprinkled with the blood of the bullock, he pcnired the two bowls of blood together and jiuritied the golden altar by putting the mingled blood round the horns, and sprinkling it seven times. Thereupon he went to he living goat and over its head he made confession of the peol>le's sins, inserting in the formula recited before, "Thy people, the house of Israel." In all the three confessions he pronounced the distinctive name of God (the Shem ha-ineforash) And the priestsand the people who were in the court, when they heard the holy name of God coming from the high priest's mouth, bent their knees, fell down and worshiped, and e.claimed. "Bles.sed be the name of His glorious kiugilom forevermore." Then Ihcscapego:it was led away into the wilderness and put to its
t
.
death l)y being thrown down a rocky precipice. The high priest s:icriticed the i)iecesof the other goat and the bullock, read the lesson of the day from the Scrij)tnres. and put on his gold-enibroiilered garments. Thereupon he offered u[i a ram for himself and one for the people, put on his linen garments, and brought the censer from the Holy of Holies. Then he took off his linen garments, which were put away forever, and, clothed in the gold-embroidered garments, of-
to liring.
JI,
'ABODAH, MUSIC OF:
15y its
Lan.
liturgical posi-
tion, the Abodah " stands out as the cential point of the .services on the Day of Atonement. The confessiim of sin being the most essential and characteristic element in those services, a peculiar importance and solemnity attach to that form of the confession introduced in the "'Abodah" which is couched in the very words uttered by the high priest according to the record of the .Mishnah (Vonia, iii. s, iv. 2. vi. 2.) when laying his hands upon the head of the scapegoat. In sympathy with the exhortation of Hosea. xiv. 2, the pious .lew would at any time devoutly read of the Atonement, as of other sacrifices, that lie might menially, at least, go through the "order of the service," But on the "great fast " itself his devotions would arouse poignant grief that, "because of abundant iniquities," he was not priviU'ged to be picsent in the great Temple at .Iirnsiilem to behold those solemn rites of which he read. Accordingly, the recital of the " 'Aboilah is followed by a long series of i)iyutim giving utterance to this grief, in such expressions as; "Happy the eye which beheld all this; only to hear of it wringeth our heart." Among the northern Jews it was the function of the hazan not merely to lead the liturgical son.c of the congregation, but rather, by his singing, to interIiret and elucidate the liturgy to the congregation. Even in medieval times the cantors were inspired by a subconscious sentiment of this kind, to voice in the "'Abodah" all of Israel's longing for rest and liberty and at times they would apiiroach to the expression of sublunest emotion. Expression Whenever the contrast between the of servitude they knew and the .irlory Emotion, they read of was more than usually keen, a particular intensity was lent to the Atonement liturgy and there developed, probably before the modern period, a rhapsody reijlete with inarticulate vocalization; although its lines Avere distinct enough for successive generations of hazanim so to utilize the traditional matter that, in the lendering of the " Abciilaii," the climax of the cantor's art was reached. These main lines, through their parallel employment in the "Kedushah." have remained distinct under the growth of imjirovised cadences.
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Some such adornments were, no doubt, but an echo of the unending scale-passages and sequences of rapid figures so common in both vocal and instrumental music two centuries ago. But .so far
