Translating, Editing and Printing Tikkunim in Old Yiddish 

This post is based on research undertaken during Professor Jean Baumgarten’s stay at the OCHJS as an Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages Visiting Fellow in Hilary Term 2024.

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Old Yiddish texts produced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain numerous references to Jewish mystics. During this period, the Kabbalah became a major component of the literature read and studied by less-educated readers. Through numerous fragments taken from the Sefer ha-Zohar and the Lurianic Kabbalah, it occupied a special place within the corpus of Old Yiddish ethical literature. The popularization and vernacularization of kabbalistic ideas and texts testify to the transformation undergone by traditional Ashkenazi rabbinical culture during the early modern period. 

Take one example: the bilingual (Hebrew/Yiddish) or monolingual (Yiddish) prayer books called Tikkunim, which contain various liturgical components (pizmonim, bakashot, tehinot, zmirot, mizmorim); excerpts from biblical, rabbinical and kabbalistic texts; pieces of ethical advice taken from ha-sifrut ha-musar, especially those on repentance (teshuva); and stories (mayses, sippurim). It may be said that the Tikkunim combine three different types of texts: those intended for reading (leyenen), prayer (betn, oren) and study (lernen).

Some Old Yiddish Tikkunim are connected to specific feasts. One such example is the Tikkun Leyl Shavuot (Layla de-kala) (Frankfurt am Main, 1728). Kabbalists were inspired by the midrashic imagery of Shavuot as a mystical ‘marriage’ between God and Israel. The Tikkun Leyl Shavuot is often printed alongside the Tikkun Leyl Hoshana Rabbah(Amsterdam, 1708; Frankfurt am Main, 1725). The last day of Sukkot is called leyl ha-hotam, ‘night of the seal’, when heavenly edicts signed on Rosh ha-Shanah and sealed on Yom Kippur are executed by angelic forces. This day, also known as Hoshana Rabbah, is the last possible moment to repent one’s sins. Another example of an Old Yiddish Tikkun linked to a particular feast is the Tikkun le-Erev Rosh Hodesh, also known as Tikkun Yom Kippur Katan (‘the minor Yom Kippur’), first discovered in sixteenth-century Safed. The intention of the text was to make the day before Rosh Hodesh a day of fasting, prayer and penance for wrongdoing—similar, in many ways, to Yom Kippur. The night was to have two dimensions: the ritual of studying in the synagogue and the popular custom or ritual, as mentioned in the Sefer Hasidim, of checking one’s shadow (when standing in front of the moon, one’s shadow foretells one’s life story for the coming year).

We also find manuals of penitential prayers for repairing a transgression or a sin (refue tsu di neshome), such as Tikkun Teshuva (Amsterdam 1701) and Tikkun Shabbat (Prague, 1650 and 1660), a spiritual and physical preparation for the entry into Shabbat. Additionally, there is Tikkun Shlomo or Tikkunei Shabbat (Amsterdam, 1731), based on Lurianic traditions with rules and customs (Dinim, hanhagot and minhagim). Furthermore, Tikkun Seder ha-Tevila (Prague, circa 1600) contains prayers in Hebrew, sometimes accompanied by interlinear translations and explanations in Yiddish, for purification after niddah and keri, along with ritual immersion the day before Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur.

There are Tikkunim recited by men and women before bed and first thing in the morning. Chapbooks were created to be read before going to sleep (Kriyat Shema ‘al ha-mita) and included a confession (vidui) to repent, praise God and ask for protection against yetser ha-ra’, bad dreams, demons, and also for a good awakening and the rebuilding of the Temple. Examples include the Ovn zegn (Amsterdam, 1676), Nakht leynen (date and place of publication unknown), Seder kriyat shel layla (Frankfurt am Main, 1710), Taytsh nakht krishme [kriyat Shema] (Prague,1719) and booklets related to the ritual of Tikkun hatsot, performed at midnight to mourn the destruction of the Temple and to pray for the coming of the Messiah (bilingual, n. p.,1790). Then there are the prayers for when one wakes up, such as the Seder Shomerim la-Boker. (‘morning watchers’). Of additional note is the Tikkun Shalosh Mishmarot (1692; ‘Prayers for the Three Night Vigils’), lamentations in remembrance of the order of the service (mishmarot ve-ma’amadot) in the Temple which express hope for its restoration with the coming of the Messiah. This booklet was written in the style of supplications (Tekhines and bakoshes) by a learned woman and translator, Laza of Frankfurt, based on the Hebrew edition compiled by her husband, Yaakov ben Mordekhay of Schwerin (1691).

Some collections of Tikkunim, such as the Tikkun Kriyah le-Yom ve-Layla [in Hebrew] (Amsterdam, 1666), are connected to Nathan of Gaza’s and Shabbatai Tsevi’s penitential prayers and practices. There is also a Yiddish edition of Sabbatean penitential practices, Tikune teshuve erets tsvi (two editions in Krakow (1666), three editions of which are in Amsterdam (c. 1680; 17th century; 1687-1701), with an Haskama from Aryeh Leyb ben Zekhariah Mendel, who disseminated Nathan of Gaza’s doctrines in Poland. This booklet contains a list of sins and transgressions with their respective corrections and punishments preceding the messianic liberation.

There are a few treatises summarizing and combining these different textual traditions. These include the Seder Tefila le-Olam ha-Ba by Yehiel Mikhael Epstein (Frankfurt am Main, 1697), the Kohelet Shlomo by Solomon Zalman ben Moshe Raphael London (Amsterdam, 1744) and the Tikkunei ha-Moadim by Aryeh ben Yehuda Seligman of Binswangen (two volumes: Fuerth, 1725, and Fuerth, 1729). The originality of this type of chapbook lies in its ability to incorporate a large number of kabbalistic prayers and commentaries in Old Yiddish. The Tikkunei ha-Moadim, for example, contains, without doubt, the largest and most diverse collection of ‘vernacular kabbalah’ in Old Yiddish literature. The most important part includes prayers connected to rituals: Sefirat ha-omer(25b); Seder tevila (38b); Seder leyl shavuot (40b); Seder teshuva le-rosh ha-shana (60a); Tikkun teshuva (62b); Seder teshuva le-yom kippur (66b); Tikkun le-sukkot (68a); Seder tikkun le-hoshana rabbah (82a); and Leyl hoshana rabbah (91a).

Another interesting aspect of the Tikkunei ha-Moadim concerns the translation of ‘classical’ mystical texts. For instance, we find in it adaptations of the Idra Rabba (57a-58b) and Idra Zutta (96b-98a) from the Zohar (III, 127b-145a, 287b-296b) which illustrate how kabbalistic textual traditions were embedded in a popular text. Before the translation of the Idrot into Yiddish, there are two texts. The first is an Old Yiddish translation of the Sefer Yetsira (51a), an important text of ancient Jewish mysticism and the reading of which is included in the ritual. The second is a testimony on the origin of the minhag to stay awake for studying and praying during the night of Shavuot. Mystical narrations (mayses, sippurim and shevahim) are an essential channel of transmission of kabbalistic doctrines and moral lessons. These stories migrated from the Zohar and hagiographical narratives to popular literature, from Aramaic and Hebrew to Yiddish. We find in the Tikkunei ha-Moadim (45a) a story, Mayse godl ve-nore oyf taytsh, taken from the Iggeret Alkabetz, a letter by Shlomo Alkabetz transcribed in Yosef Caro and entitled Maggid Mesharim: Eleh divrei hakham ha-shalem ha-mekubal ha-elohi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (Lublin, 1646; Amsterdam, 1704 and 1708, 2a-4a), and later disseminated in many texts. This letter appears also in the Hebrew edition of the Tikkun leyl shavuot ve-leyl hoshana rabbah(Frankfurt am Main, 1725). At the end of the letter, we find a Yiddish version of the story in question, referred to as eyn vunderlekhe mayse (‘a wonderful story’). One day in 1534 in Adrianople, Shlomo Alkabetz and Yosef Caro were seated in their circle (havruta) and decided to stay awake the whole night to study. At midnight, a heavenly voice, the Maggid—in the Yiddish texts, the Shekhina—was heard from the throat of Yosef Caro saying that they must gather a minyan to pray and study Torah and Mishna. Here is part of the story translated from the Yiddish original:

A wonderful tale that happened during the night of Shavuot. There was a great sage, Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, who created the Lekha dodi [religious hymn recited at the entry of Shabbat] and was among Yosef Caro’s circle. He wrote the Beith Yosef founded on the Arba‘a Turim. These two sages with five students were together during the first night of Shavuot. Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz said: We have learnt verses from the Torah, Prophets and Hagiography with great concentration (kavone) and melody. We started to study the Mishnayot, so we merit that the Shekhina rest on the Pious Rabbi Yosef Caro. The Divine presence spoke with a strong and sweet voice and all the students seated around Caro heard the voice but without understanding. The voice was amplified, deeper and stronger, so we all fell on our faces and our souls were shaken from great fear and anguish. The voice told us: ‘My dear and loved ones, peace and respect on you, the best to you, and to your parents in this world and the world to come, because you have your heart set on crowning me during this night, which did not happen for years. You put again this crown as it was a long time ago. Strengthen yourselves, my beloved friends, know that you are among the praised sons in the palace of the Holy King, Blessed be He, and the voices of the Torah and the steam that comes out of your mouths have passed through many skies. And the angels and seraphim and holy hayyot stayed silent and the Holy One, Blessed be He, has heard your voices. And I am the Second One [after the Creator], as a mother who punishes her sons and I came to speak to you. And when you will be ten, a minyan to pray, you will be more praised. Blessed are you who avoided the sleep and erased it from your eyes. You are not like those who are drinking and sleeping in their bed. You are united to God who rejoices with you. Be strong my sons and be happy with my love, my Torah and my devotion. And do not stop studying because a thread of grace is stretched between you. And the Torah you study is heard and taken by the Holy Name, Blessed be He. Raise my sons and recite in a loud voice: Blessed be the Name of Honor and His kingdom forever and ever as in Yom Kippur.’ And we stood up trembling and did what He asked. And then He told us again: ‘Praised are you my beloved sons and go back to your study.’ We didn’t stop [to study] for a short while. It is what we heard and even more that we can’t describe. And we all cried with tears of joy. And we didn’t stop studying with great joy until the light of the day shone.               

These Jewish chapbooks show how Kabbalah began to be disseminated, albeit very partially, among ‘simple’ readers (hediot, hamon ‘am, gemeyne layt, proste yidn) in Old Yiddish (taytsh) throughout early modern Ashkenazi society. Although these sources constitute only a minor and limited corpus, they nonetheless enable us to broaden our understanding of the transmission of the Kabbalah; study the dynamics of dissemination of texts from Aramaic (loshn targem) and Hebrew (loshn koydesh) to Old Yiddish (loshn ashkenaz), as well as from learned culture to popular culture; and uncover some previously unknown facts concerning the piety, spirituality and religious practices of the Jewish people. Above all, these sources allow us to recognize the inventiveness, technical skill and creativity of a remarkable group of often-anonymous cultural agents (patrons, authors, printers, translators, editors and peddlers) who participated in the uninterrupted transmission of traditional Jewish sources. Long underestimated, Jewish popular literature, especially Old Yiddish mystical texts, of the early modern period now can be seen as having paved the way for Sabbateanism and later Hasidism.

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