Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre
Seph. Heb. /kawl nee drdday"/; Ashk. Heb. /kohl" nid"rddeuh, -rdday/, Judaism.
a liturgical prayer for recitation at the beginning of the service on the eve of Yom Kippur asking that all unfulfilled vows to God be nullified and all transgressions forgiven.
[ < Aram kol all + nidhre vows, promises]

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Prayer sung in Jewish synagogues at the start of services on the eve of Yom Kippur.

The prayer begins with an expression of repentance for all unfulfilled vows, oaths, and promises to God during the previous year. It was in use as early as the 8th century, perhaps as a means of annulling oaths forced on Jews by their Christian persecutors. The melody used by Ashkenazi Jews became famous when the composer Max Bruch used it in his Kol Nidrei (1880).

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      (Aramaic: “All Vows”), a prayer sung in Jewish synagogues at the beginning of the service on the eve of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The name, derived from the opening words, also designates the melody to which the prayer is traditionally chanted. Though equally ancient versions exist in Hebrew and Aramaic, the Aramaic is generally used in the predominant Ashkenazic and Sephardic rites. The prayer begins with an expression of repentance for all unfulfilled vows, oaths, and promises made to God during the year. Some Jewish authorities contend that even fulfilled vows are included since the act of vowing itself is considered sinful.

      According to some historians, forced Jewish converts to Christianity in 7th-century Spain recited the Kol Nidre to annul oaths forcibly extracted from them by their persecutors. All that is known with certainty, however, is that the prayer was used as early as the 8th century. Rabid anti-Semites in the European Middle Ages, brushing aside the repeated Jewish assertion that the absolution referred only to matters between God and man, used the prayer as a pretext to question the trustworthiness of all oaths taken by Jews in Christian courts. Fears of misunderstanding led to the elimination of the Kol Nidre from the Reform Jewish liturgy in the 19th century, but a revised form was reintroduced in 1945.

      The melody to which the Kol Nidre is sung in the Ashkenazic (German) rite became famous when the Protestant composer Max Bruch (Bruch, Max) used it (1880) as the basis for variations for cello. The melody is widely popular because of its plaintive and appealing qualities and can be heard in several variations in different localities. Its origin is unknown, although many unsubstantiated theories have been offered. The earliest known mention of a specific—rather than an improvised—melody dates from the 16th century. The earliest surviving musical notation is the work of an 18th-century cantor (ḥazzan), Ahron Beer, and is closely related to the version used by Bruch. Other composers, such as Arnold Schoenberg (1938), used the Kol Nidre melody as a basis for musical compositions. The Sephardic (Spanish), Italian, and Oriental Jewish traditions use their own distinct melodies that are unrelated to the Ashkenazic melody.

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  • Kol Nidre — (Aramaic: כל נדרי) is a Jewish prayer recited in the synagogue at the beginning of the evening service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is written in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Its name is taken from the opening words, meaning All vows . Kol… …   Wikipedia

  • Kol Nidre — (aram.: כל נדרי „alle Gelübde“) ist ein jüdisches Gebet, das vor dem Abendgebet des Versöhnungstages (hebr. Jom Kippur) gesprochen wird. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte 2 Inhalt 3 Ritus 4 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kol Nidre — (ashkenazi), Kal nidré (sefardí), Col Nidré o Cal nidré es el nombre de la declaración recitada en la sinagoga previo al comienzo del servicio vespertino de Yom Kipur, su nombre está tomado de las palabras iniciales de la declaración. Se… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Kol Nidre — [kōl nē′drā, nid′rə; ] Heb [ kō̂l′nē drā′] [Heb Aram kol nidre, all (our) vows: opening words of prayer < Aram kol, all + nidre, vows, pl. of neder, vow < root ndr, to vow] n. 1. the prayer declaring a release from religious vows and… …   English World dictionary

  • Kol Nidre — (ashkenazi), Kal nidré (sefardí), Col Nidré o Cal nidré es el nombre de la oración recitada en la sinagoga al comienzo del servicio vespertino de Yom Kipur, su nombre está tomado de las palabras iniciales de la oración. Se introdujo en la… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Kol nidre — Kol ni|dre auch: Kol nid|re 〈n.; ; unz.〉 synagogales jüdisches Gebet am Vorabend des Versöhnungstages Jom Kippur [aram., „alle Gelübde“] * * * Kọl nidrẹ   [hebräisch »alle Gelübde«], Anfangsworte des jüdischen Gebets, das am Vorabend des… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Kol Nidre — Kol Nidre, ein Gebet der Juden (s.d. C) …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Kol nidre — (chald., »alle Gelöbnisse...«), Anfang einer den jüd. Versöhnungstag eröffnenden Formel, die aus einem hohen Grade der Gewissenhaftigkeit entsprungen ist und bezwecken soll, alle in Übereilung oder leidenschaftlicher Erregung sich selbst… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Kol Nidre — Liturgie de Yom Kippour Kol Nidre כָּל נִדְרֵי …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kol Nidre — [kɒl ni:dreɪ] noun an Aramaic prayer which annuls vows made before God, sung by Jews on the eve of Yom Kippur. Origin from Aramaic kol niḏrē all the vows (the opening words of the prayer) …   English new terms dictionary

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