Untanneh Tokef (, 'let us speak of the awesomeness [of the day]'), also spelled Unthanneh Toqeph, Un'taneh Tokef, or Unsanneh Tokef, is a piyyut that has been a part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy in some traditions of Rabbinic Judaism for centuries. It introduces the Kedushah of the Mussaf services of the High Holy Days. In many communities, it is chanted while the Torah ark is open and the congregants are standing.Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) s.v. Unetaneh Tokef, page 332; The Orot Sephardic Yom Kippur Mahazor (1997, NJ, Orot Inc.) page 1090. It is the "central poem of the High Holy Day [of the Day of Atonement]", argued Herman Wouk.Wouk, Herman, This is My God (1959, NY, Doubleday) chap.6, page 88. The ArtScroll machzor calls it "one of the most stirring compositions in the entire liturgy of the Days of Awe".The Complete ArtScroll Machzor – Yom Kippur (Nusach Ashekenaz), (1991, Brooklyn, Mesorah Publ'ns Ltd.) page 530; similarly, Birnbaum, Philip, High Holyday Prayer Book, (1951, NY, Hebrew Publ'g Co.) page 359; Golinkin, David, Solving a Mahzor mystery, Jerusalem Post, 7 Oct 2005; Munk, Elie, The World of Prayer (1961, NY, Feldheim Publ'rs) vol. 2, page 209.
Origin
Traditional account The following story is recorded in the 13th-century halakhic work Or Zarua, which attributes it to Ephraim of Bonn (a compiler of Jewish martyrologies, died ca. 1200):Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) s.v. Unetaneh Tokef, page 332; The Orot Sephardic Rosh Hashahhah Mahazor (1996, NJ, Orot Inc.) page 512; The Orot Sephardic Yom Kippur Mahazor (1997, NJ, Orot Inc.) page 1089; Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1916) vol.1 page 525-526, s.v. Amnon of Mayence.I found in a manuscript written by Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn that Rabbi Amnon of Mainz wrote Untanneh Tokef about the terrible event which befell him, and these are his words: "It happened to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, who was the greatest of his generation, and rich, and pedigreed, and handsome, that the bishop and his officials began to ask him to convert to their faith, but he refused to listen to them. Thus they spoke to him day after day, but he did not listen to them, so the bishop became angry with him. When they arrested him, he said 'I wish to consult and to think upon this matter for three days.' Though he said this only to delay them, he was immediately consumed by guilt, for he had implied that he doubted the word of God and could be convinced to apostatize. He went home, but he could not eat nor drink, and he sickened. All his friends and family came to comfort him, but he would not be comforted, saying 'I will follow my words to a mournful death', and he wept and his heart was bitter. On the third day, as he sat in pain and worry, the bishop sent for him, but he said 'I will not go". The bishop sent numerous and distinguished messengers, but still he refused to go. Now the bishop ordered that he immediately be brought by force, and he was brought. He said to Amnon, 'Why did you not come to me at the time which you appointed, to answer me and fulfill my request?', and Amnon answered, "Let me be struck dumb, for the tongue which lied to you deserves to be severed', wishing to sanctify the name of God because of what he had said. But the bishop said, 'I will not sever the tongue which has spoken so well, but I will cut off those legs which failed to bring you to me at the appointed time, and mutilate the rest of your body'. This villain cut off Amnon's fingers and toes, joint by joint, and after every cut he would ask, 'Will Amnon now convert to our faith?', but Amnon always replied 'No'. When at last this was complete, the evil bishop ordered that he be placed upon a shield, with his fingers and toes beside him, and carried home. Thus was he called 'Rabbi Amnon', for he believed (he'emin) in the Living God enough to suffer these terrible wounds for his faith, out of love, all because of the words which he had said.
When Rosh haShanah came around, Amnon asked his family to carry him to the synagogue with his preserved fingers and toes, and to place him next to the cantor, which they did. When the cantor reached Kedusha, Amnon said to him, 'Wait a moment, and I will sanctify the Great Name'. And he cried aloud, Uv'khen l'kha ta'aleh k'dusha, viz. 'I have sanctified your name for your majesty and unity'. And then he said Un'taneh tokef k'dushat hayyom, and he said Emet ki atah hu dayyan umochiakh, to justify the verdict. So he continued, saying V'chotem yad kol bo, to ask that his own hand be received before God, which had been severed for the sake of His unity. And vatifkod nefesh kol chai, for this had been decreed for him on Rosh haShana. So the whole poem [was a personal response to his experience]. When he had finished, he disappeared from this world right before their eyes. About him did the Psalmist say: 'Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee'.
Three days after Amnon was taken away to the Heavenly Academy, he appeared in a dream-vision to Rabbi Kalonymus ben Rabbi Meshullam ben Rabbi Kalonymus ben Rabbi Moses ben Rabbi Kalonymus, and taught him this poem, viz. Untaneh tokef k'dushat hayyom, and he told Rabbi Kalonymus to distribute it throughout the diaspora, to be for him a memorial and a legacy, and so he did".The commentary on Unetanneh tokef given here is notably unrelated to that of MS Hamburg 17 (f. 113r) which was completed in 1317 and contains work attributed to Ephraim of Bonn. However, MS Hamburg titles the work "Silluq of Rabbi Amnon".
Modern scholarship
It was once speculated that Kalonymus is the true author of the poem.Munk, Elie, The World of Prayer (1963, NY, Feldheim) vol.2, pages 209, citing Zunz. However, both the language and style are different from the other poems of Kalonymus.Idelsohn, A.Z., Jewish Liturgy and Its Development (1932, NY, Henry Holt) page 220. In addition, there is evidence that a very similar piyyut was being recited in Italy in contemporary with Kalonymus.Hoffman, op.cit., page 23.
Since then, a copy of the poem was discovered in the Cairo Geniza, Fragment Cambridge T-S H8.6, originally dated by Eric Werner to the 8th century.Werner, Eric, The Sacred Bridge (1959, NY, Columbia Univ. Press) page 253 (quoting the liturgical scholar Menahem Zulay). Planer, John H., The Provenance, Dating, Allusions, and Variants of U-n'taneh tokef and Its Relationship to Romanos's Kontakion, Journal of Synagoague Music, vol. 38 (Fall 2013) page 166. Photograph in Brander, Kenneth, U'Netaneh Tokef: Will the Real Author Please Stand Up , (2013, NY, Yeshiva University) The Benjamin and Rose Berger Torah-to-Go, Tishrei 5774, page 14. http://ebookbrowsee.net/rosh-hashanah-to-go-5774-pdf-d557435989Mack, Hananel, Day of Judgment for Angels, too, Haaretz, Sept. 26, 2003 (which suggests it dates to the period of Yannai (6th or 7th century). Ben Outhwaite thought this date unrealistic considering the paper and script, instead dating it to the 11th century.
While medieval history testifies amply to the intense persecution of Jews by Christians at the time of the Crusades, there are difficulties with the legend that it was composed by Amnon. Not least of these is its portrayal of Amnon as an illustrious Torah giant, while Jewish history of that period provides no record of a 'Rav Amnon of Mainz' at all. It seems unlikely that a person of such tremendous stature would be remembered only in a single legend. The received story has all the qualities of an urban legend - a heroic rabbi of whom there is no disparaging or even tedious information, an extremely cruel gentile villain (also without the problem of additional biographic details), the esteemed name and endorsement of Kalonymus, miraculous or extraordinary events, and supernatural instructions to include the poem in the annual liturgy.Ivan G. Markus, Une Communauté Pieuse et le Doute: Mourir pour la Sanctification du Nom en Achkenaz et l'historie de rabbi Amnon de Mayence. Annales Histore Sciences Sociales, 49th year, Nr. 5 (Sept-Oct 1994) pages 1031-1047. Scholars have long known that there is no historical foundation for the story of Rabbi Amnon and that this story may have been inspired or derived from the Christian legend associated with Saint Emmeram of Regensburg.Martin, Bernqrd, Prayer in Judaism (1968, NY, Basic Books) page 209. Emmeram is not included in Butler's Lives of the Saints and his story resembles Rabbi Amnon only in the prolonged execution by amputation, no miraculous prayer or hymn involved. Moreover, the discovery of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer within the earliest strata of the Cairo Geniza materials, dating well before the 11th century, makes it almost impossible that the prayer could have been composed as the legend claims.Brander, Kenneth, U'Netaneh Tokef: Will the Real Author Please Stand Up , (2013, NY, Yeshiva University) The Benjamin and Rose Berger Torah-to-Go, Tishrei 5774, page 14. http://ebookbrowsee.net/rosh-hashanah-to-go-5774-pdf-d557435989
Additionally, some scholars see parallels with non-Jewish hymnology, suggesting that elements of the prayer stemmed from other sources.. Werner, Eric, The Sacred Bridge (1959, NY, Columbia Univ. Press) pages 252–255. It is possible that the Rabbi Amnon story was entirely invented, not necessarily by the author of Or Zarua, to legitimize a piyyut of doubtful origin or simply to satisfy popular curiosity about the background of such an impressive liturgical work. Indications of this are the absence of evidence of the existence of a Rabbi Amnon, the fact that the name Amnon is a variant of the Hebrew word for "faithful", the extravagance of the story, the conspicuous inclusion of Kalonymus, and evidences that this piyyut or something very similar was already in use before the time ascribed.Hoffman, Lawrence A., Who By Fire, Who By Water – Un'taneh Tokef (2010, Vermont, Jewish Lights Pub'g) pages 13–25; Gillman, Neil, Reading the Liturgy Through the Spectacles of Theology: The Case of U-n'taneh Tokef, Journal of Synagogue Music, vol. 33 (Fall 2008), pages 48–49; also "The Origin of the Piyut Unetanneh Tokef", newsletter of Beurei HaTafila, Aug. 3, 2012, page 5, https://www.beureihatefila.com/files/2012-08-03_Tefila_Newsletter.pdf . Mayence, in 1096, the time of Kolonymus was the scene of terrible slaughter of Jews (see Rhineland massacres) as an incident of the First Crusade. See "The Crusades as the Story of Rabbi Amnon", newsletter of Beurei HaTafila, Aug. 17, 2012, page 8, https://www.beureihatefila.com/files/2012-08-17_Tefila_Newsletter-1.pdf .