Kol Nidrei: Its Origin, Development & Significance

By Stuart Weinberg Gershon

Rabbi Stuart Gershon has written a thorough exploration of the Jewish prayer service and ritual known as Kol Nidrei. A moving and dramatic synagogue service that inaugurates Yom Kippur, it is known by... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568212003
• ISBN13: 9781568212005
• Release Date: July 1977
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A history of ' Kol Nidre' and its meanings

I remember the tremendous awe with which the Jews of the Shaarei Tefillah Shul in Troy, New York stood when waiting to hear the opening words on Yom Kippur Eve of ' Kol Nidrei'. There was the sense that each and every one knew his life was in the balance and that the prayer and devotion of the day to come could tip the scale this way or that. In this work we learn much about the origin and meaning of this central prayer in Judaism. There are chapters on "Vows in Antiquity " " The Kol Nidrei Formula" " Kol Nidrei In Historical Interaction" and appendices on Versions of Kol Nidrei, and the Music of Kol Nidrei. In the conclusion three significant points are made. "1) Each Jewish generation gave kol nidrei a different meaning and significance 2) Kol nidrei has been a source of controversy throughout history 3) In every era Jews were drawn to kol nidrei because of something other than its intellectual content" In his " The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer" Macy Nulman writes of how the chazzan on Kol Nidrei would begin softly and increase with each repetition the loudness of the prayer so intensifying the sense of awe at its hearing. If there is one difficulty I have with this book it is that it did not convey sufficiently the sense of awe at hearing Kol Nidre, an awe which the believing Jew must in a sense carry with them not only on Kol Nidre night but all through the year- at the goodness and greatness of the Holy One Blessed Be His Name.

Very interesting book

This book does a thorough and intriguing analysis of the Kol Nidrei prayer and its apparent absolution of all vows. A must read for any Jew who has wondered aout this prayer