Next Year in Jerusalem "Habenuya"?

Post date: Mar 31, 2019 1:48:56 PM

Every Yom Kippur and Pesach we sing לשנה הבאה בירושלים, Next Year in Jerusalem (Read about the first English translation of this HERE). In Israel, the word הבנויה “rebuilt” is added. But when did this custom start? Why was it added? Does everyone add it? Should one translate it into English? And if yes, what would be the proper English translation?

The most logical place to look for explanations on changes in the Haggadah nussah are the books by Kasher (1950,) Goldschmidt (1960, 1981) and Safrai & Safrai (1998). These, however, do not relate to the addition of the word Habenuya at all except for the fact that it should be added in Israel (Kasher and Goldschmidt). Other sources do not help either. The Brisker Rov (1886-1959) specifically stated this should NOT be added because there is no source for it. But others, like Sefer Sha'arei Yemei HaPesach, bring Tehillim 122:5-6 as a possible source. The Admor of Mattersdorf (1889-1967) stated in his Haggadah that although he lived in Jerusalem and people there had the custom of adding "Benuyah", he did NOT do so.

I turned therefore to the Ask the Beit Hamidrash Facebook page, my favourite place for first-class information. I received several replies.

Joshua Kulp, author of the Schechter Haggadah mentioned that Prof. Avigdor Shinan (Professor Emeritus in the departments of Hebrew Literature, Yiddish and Comparative Jewish Folklore at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) called הבנויה the “last word added to the Haggadah”.

Abraham Katz, founding director of Beurei Hatefila Institute, showed how Rabbi Yissachar b. Zvi Tamar, who moved to Israel from Poland in 1933, says in Alei Tamar that it originated in Israel in the 20th century.

This would indicate that the custom is clearly pre-1933.

Dr. Alan Brill, Cooperman/Ross Endowed Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, suggested that the word was added in the 1930's in the Yishuv. And although there was opposition to the phrase by non-Zionists such as the Brisker Rov, the phrase was part of various independent piyyut/songs in Eastern Europe since the late 19th century (e.g. in Europe it was part of hatan bereshit) and was therefore accepted by most.

All sources seemed to indicate an origin of late 1920’s beginning 1930s as the time period for the initial inclusion.

Looking through my own collection of Haggadot I found a 1930 Haggadah which already has the inclusion of “benuya”. This is a Haggadah printed by Omanut Co. Ltd. in Tel Aviv (Erez-Israel (Palestine)) with woodcuts by the artist Nahum Gutman.

The fact that Omanut printed it in 1930 means that it was already an established addition by that time, making it in all probability a pre-1930 innovation. It was therefore influenced by immigrants who came from Europe and Asia during the period of the 4th aliyah/ immigration wave (1924-1928). These immigrants settled mainly in Tel Aviv and suffered through the worst economic crisis of the country (1928-1929) resulting in a record number of immigrant (23000) who decided to leave the country.

It would make sense that those remaining felt the rude awakening that they might have reached the holy land, but that it is still a far cry from the idyllic messianistic era prayed for for thousands of years. Next year in Jerusalem was for them easy to achieve, but they started praying for Next Year in a Rebuilt Jerusalem with a temple and eternal peace!

Since the 1930s that phrase has become common practice in most Haggadot printed in Israel (although the renowned Sinai Printing House did not include it in their Haggadot as late as the 1980s).

The addition received official status with its appearance in the influential Israel Haggadah by Menachem Kasher in 1950, albeit printed in a different font.

When the trio Chocolate, Mentah, Mastik sang at the 1973 Hassidic Song Festival, the expression had already become a household phrase.

And even Hassidics today use the addition without considering it a Zionist invention

Nowadays, they might even consider it a suitable reply to the “Zionists” who feel Jerusalem is already rebuilt!

In many Haggadot, we can find the instruction that the addition should be said in Israel only, which leads to the question of why so many translated Haggadot do include it.

In English Haggadot

Although some translated Haggadot are also meant for the Israeli market, the bulk of translations have as target audience Jews living outside Israel. As such, one would not expect the “habenuyah” addition in such Haggadot. Indeed, large publishing houses like Artscroll do not include it in their nussach. Neither Maxwell not the New American Haggadah (Foer/ Englander) include it. And Kasher’s Israel Haggadah with English translation has in the Hebrew text the instruction to add the word but nothing about this is mentioned in the English text. However, a surprising number of translated Haggadot do add it. I looked at my collection of English Haggadot and found the following:

The 1972 Feast of History Haggadah by Chaim Raphael has (in Hebrew and in English) both versions with the instruction that “In Israel the words are:”

Likewise in Freedman’s 1974 Polychrome Historical Haggadah, printed in the USA, which color-codes the Haggadah text according to the historic periods of the sources for every verse, phrase and even single words. The benuyah phrase, also translated into English, is duly coded in light blue indicating its modern origin and has the instruction: “In Israel” next to it.

However, the 1988 Pessach Haggadah in Memory of the Holocaust published by Goldman’s Art Gallery Haifa for Yad Vashen made the strange decision to print in Hebrew לשנה הבאה בירושלים (without the addition) whereas this was rendered in English as Next Year in rebuilt Jerusalem. The same surprising combination we find in the American Heritage Haggadah (1992).

The English 2009 Schechter Haggadah, printed in Israel but clearly targeting Jewry world-wide, translates the phrase without any instruction to say it only in Israel. Similarly in the 2016 English translation of the Jonathan Sacks Haggadah with the addition both in Hebrew and English without any instructions.

Koren’s 1965 Haggadah, translated by Harold Fisch, has the strange English translation: “Next Year in Yerushalayim the Rebuilt”. This was corrected in later editions to “Next Year - In Jerusalem Rebuilt” which is the version used by ELAL in its ELAL Haggadah. Although the text does not indicate anywhere to say it only in Israel, the target audience is decisively non-Israelis as the following marketing line was cunningly added to it: “And may we of EL AL wish that when you do come you fly EL AL, the airline of the people of Israel.”

And this leads to the final question: What should be the proper translation?

Rebuilt Jerusalem or Jerusalem Rebuilt?

The Schechter Haggadah and the Holocaust Haggadah talk about “Rebuilt Jerusalem” placing the adjective before the noun as standard English syntax prescribes. But they are in the minority.

The Moriah Hagadah with illustrations by Avner Moria (2005), The Feast of Israel Haggadah, The Polychrome Haggadah, The JPS Haggadah, The Go Forth and Learn Haggadah by Rabbi David Silber (2011) and the Sacks Haggadah all have “Jerusalem Rebuilt”. Where does this strange construction come from and why is it used here?

Most adjectives in English go in two main places in the sentence: in attributive position and predicative position. In attributive position, the adjective comes before the noun: "A rich man", "a nice girl", "a rebuilt Jerusalem". In predicative position, the adjective comes after the verb: "He is rich", "she is nice", "Jerusalem is rebuilt".

While attributive adjectives usually go before the noun, a few can be used AFTER the noun. It happens with some adjectives ending in -able/-ible for example: “The only solution possible”, “Book all the tickets available” and after words like "something", "everything", etc. For example: “Somewhere quiet”, “Something interesting”. In addition, we use this construction in most expressions of measurement: “Ten years older”, “six feet deep”, “two miles long” (http://www.Englishgrammar.org). Adjectives that come after the noun are called post-positive adjectives.

The postpositive adjective of “Jerusalem Rebuilt” does not seem to fall under any of the categories mentioned above. There are, however, other situations in which we use it for example fixed/ institutionalized expressions like "Poet Laurette", "court-martial", "a job well-done" and "mission impossible". The expression “Jerusalem Rebuilt” I found in older Haggadot (using my digital corpus of English translations of Haggadot) in different places in the text. The “Revised Hagada”, translated by Rev. A. A Green in 1898 (London) has, in the blessing of Redemption over the 2nd cup of wine, the expression “There (in Jerusalem rebuilt) may we partake, in They favour, of the sacrifices…” and the “School Haggadah”, with a new translation into English by Saadya Maximon (1958), has in the Retsee prayer in Grace After Meal the expression “Thy city of Zion consoled, Thy holy Jerusalem rebuilt”. So one could claim that by the time the other translators used it, it had already been accepted as a fixed phrase.

But wikipedia on postpositive adjectives gives a better explanation. It points out that the postpositive is the regular Hebrew position of the adjective and, as a result, many translations of Abrahamistic religious concepts follow this syntax. Examples given are: “God Almighty” and “Love everlasting”. Jerusalem rebuilt would perfectly fall in this category. In addition, Wikipedia mentions that adjectives that are also past participles often take this position e.g. “paradise lost”, “death foretold” and “The Road not Taken”. As “rebuilt” is indeed a past participle, this could be another explanation. Last but not least the postpositive position is often used to sound archaic, something Haggadah translators often try to do to get a more official sounding effect.

May we all soon see a Rebuilt Jerusalem or Jerusalem Rebuilt so that we can celebrate Pesach in the Temple.