Kabbalah (Not)

Kabbalistic ideas have become popularized in our times, particularly among the North African and Middle Eastern Sephardim. This has added to the pool of commentary and thought available to the average Jew-in-the-street. For example, the kabbalistic idea of the Tetragrammaton referring to God as the God of Mercy, while Eloheem refers to Him as the God of Justice, is today widely known and employed when analyzing biblical verses, by people without any particular kabbalistic qualifications. This has enriched Jewish thought generally.

However, there is a vast difference between this and actually basing halachic rulings on kabbalah, or using it as a reason to change the prayerbook, and on this point the S&P stand firmly on non-kabbalistic ground. Their tradition is a non-kabbalistic one, and this distinguishes them from most other Sephardim who have - over the generations - adopted many kabbalistic practices and made many kabbalah-based changes to their Siddur.

As for the increasing obsession among some segments of the modern Sephardi world with amulets, red strings, holy water and the veneration of supposed miracle-workers alive or dead, this is totally alien and unknown among the S&P.

The Amidah

The first of the middle blessings of the Amidah is the prayer for wisdom: "Atah honen le'adam da'at (You grace mankind with wisdom)". The original continuation of this blessing mentions three aspects of wisdom: "de'ah, binah, vehaskel". Many Sephardi communities, under the influence of the kabbalists, have changed this three-ply reference to "hochmah, bina veda'at" so as to correspond with the kabbalistic "sephirot" (divine emanations). The S&P, like the Ashkenazim, never made this change and retain the original form of the blessing.

Piyutim in the prayers

A variety of liturgical hymns or poems by the great Sephardi paytanim such as Ibn Gevirol and Yehudah Halevy were included in the Sephardi prayer book, particularly for the high holydays. They are interspersed among the prayers, and both their content and the tunes associated with them, link each one to its chosen location.

Over the years, under the influence of kabbalah, more and more communities have moved these poems out of their original location and context, and sing them instead at the end of the service - where they are incongruous and ungainly. One of the champions of the change was the Hidah (R. Hayim Yosef Azulai), another was the Ben Ish Hai (R. Yossef Haim of Baghdad), and in our times R. Ovadiah Yossef has also supported it, though allowing that communities with an established custom need not change.

The S&P, along with some Moroccan communities, retain the piyutim in their original locations.

Interestingly, among the Ashkenazim, there is a very similar rift. Here there was far less mystical influence overall, and liturgical poems in the prayers were traditionally far more widespread. In fact almost all communities inserted piyutim ("Yotzrot") in the Shema blessings on special Shabatot. Today, following the sustained kabbalistic influence of chassidut, the custom has all but disappeared, except among the Western Ashkenazim ("Yekkes"), whose traditional rationalist approach to halacha very much mirrors that of the S&P. However, even today, the Ashkenazi rite has many piyutim within the High Holyday services.

Evening Selihot

Perhaps the most striking "non-kabbalistic" practice of the S&P is their unique form of Selihot for the evening service.

During the month preceding the New Year, all Jewish communities say Selihot (supplicatory prayers). These were typically recited at dawn, and followed by a morning service at sunrise, but in recent times they have come to be said before morning services at the regular time, or just a little earlier than usual.

Amongst the Ashkenazim, Selichot are sometimes said late at night instead - divorced from the morning service altogether. Some Sephardi synagogues have adopted this practice too, though generally following the kabbalistic proviso (not followed by the Ashkenazim) that they are never said before midnight. This is because the kabbalists consider the first half of the night as a time of strict Justice rather than Mercy - and therefore inauspicious for reciting the 13 Attributes of God (which are part of the Selichot).

The S&P (all the S&P: London, Amsterdam, New York and elsewhere) long ago found a different way of dealing with the difficulty some people had in getting to the morning Selichot, and created a shortened form of Selihot to be included at the end of the evening service - not to replace the morning ones, but in addition to them - though obviously intended as a concession to the people who would not be getting up early for morning Selichot.

The aforementioned Hida, a renowned kabbalist, understandably did not like this custom, and ruled that someone finding himself in such a service should refrain from joining in the mention of the Thirteen Attributes. However, it must be borne in mind that the custom goes back at least 400 years, and has therefore the stamp of approval of generations of S&P Hahamim, including (in London) Nietto, Sasportas, Gaster and Meldola. As R. Shem Tov Gaguine writes (Keter Shem Tov Vol VI, note 5): "The prohibition that Hida mentions is based on kabbalah, with no basis whatsoever in straighforward halachah; while the London community do not observe (lit: "know") kabbalah, and are following the custom of their forefathers."

In the opinion of the present writer, it is to be regretted that a few years ago this custom was discontinued in London, to bring the Kahal in line with kabbalah-observant communities. It continues, however, in other S&P congregations, including Amsterdam, New York and Philadelphia.

In Ellul 5774 (2014) I was privileged to give a talk at Mikve Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia on this subject, and lead an Evening Service following the talk, that included the Evening Selilchot.

The Evening Selihot are said immediately after the Amidah, before Kadish Titkabal, and the psalm "Essa Einai" before Alenu is replaced with "Mima'amakim".

For the full text, from the London Daily and Occasional prayer book, click here (PDF file).

The Evening Selichot are all taken from the Morning Selichot, except for the opening five verses, which are unique to it.

For the music click here (link).

Berikh Shemeh

The prayer Berikh Shemeh is said when the Ark is opened, before the sefer is removed, in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities. The text is taken verbatim from the Zohar, though it does not contain any particularly kabbalistic references that the present writer can see. Although It appears in many early siddurim printed in Amsterdam for other Sephardi communities, as far as I am aware it never occurs in S&P siddurim.

Therefore, although this is sometimes cited as an example of a kabbalistic text having been expunged from the S&P rite, it would seem that it was simply never adopted in the first place, rather like the second paragraph of Alenu, which all other minhagim have adopted from the New Year service, but which the S&P simply never did.

In recent years some S&P communities have started to include Berikh Shemeh, and indeed the second paragraph of Alenu too, applying the specious and all too popular modern religious principle that "more is better". The present writer is strongly opposed to this erroneous development that makes services longer for no good reason.