The Hebrew Goddess (Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology) by Raphael Patai

Author:Raphael Patai [Patai, Raphael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780814338216
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Published: 1990-08-31T21:00:00+00:00

8 | The Yiḥudim Today

At the present time the unifications are still being recited by numerous Jewish communities. Among the Hasidim, who so far have succeeded in holding their own against currents of modernization, and to maintain their traditional religious life-style practically unchanged, whether in Israel, in the United States, or in their other, smaller concentrations, the performance of mitzvot continues even among the young generation in the same form in which it was practiced by the previous ones. This means that the recital of the unifications is as integral a part of their prayers and other religious rituals as it was in the past. The yiḥudim are recited by them in the course of the morning service, prior to wrapping themselves in the tallith, and before putting on the tefillin, as well as at the beginning of the afternoon and evening prayers, and also on many other occasions in the course of the day which, for the Hasidim, consists of an almost continuous series of observances of mitzvot (“commandments”), dinim (“rules”), and minhagim (“customs”).

This being the case, even the most recently published prayer books intended for Hasidic communities contain the l’shem yiḥud formula more or less as frequently as did their older traditional prayer books. Apart from this feature, in which they remain tradition-bound, some of their newly issued prayer books are thoroughly modern, in the sense of containing, in addition to the original Hebrew or Aramaic text of the prayers also their English translation, as well as a running commentary on them. The best example is the recently published Complete Art Scroll Siddur with “a new translation and anthological commentary by Rabbi Nosson Sherman.”67 This beautifully produced prayer book is used by several Hasidic communities in the United States. At its very beginning it prints the l’shem yiḥud formula with the following introductory explanation in English: “Many recite the following declaration of intent before donning the tallis” (and similarly before putting on the tefillin), and then follows the usual text of the unification in the original Hebrew-Aramaic, and in an English translation which reads: “For the sake of the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Presence, in fear and love, to unify the Name—yud-kei with vav-kei [i.e., yod-he with waw-he] in perfect unity in the name of all Israel.”68 As we see, the only concession to “modernity” made in this translation is the substitution of the English word “Presence” for the Hebrew Shekhina, which, of course, dilutes and masks the original meaning of the unification formula.

As far as the meaning, or the interpretation, of the l’shem yiḥud formula is concerned, a certain erosion is noticeable in many of the communities in which it is still recited. The crucial words, “For the sake of the unification of the Holy One and His Shekhina,” have begun to lose their original meaning, and are being reinterpreted in a manner that enables the average congregant to recite them without having to face their full import. I made inquiries

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