Yekum Purkan

Yekum Purkan(Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:יְקוּם פֻּרְקָן, lit. “may deliverance arise” or “may salvation arise” ), is the name of two Aramaic prayers recited in theAshkenaziJewish liturgyimmediately after the public reading of the Torah and theProphetsduring theSabbath morning service.The first prayer is for the welfare of Torah student and teachers, judges and leaders; the second is recited for the well-being of all the members of the congregation. A third prayer, in Hebrew,Mi Sheberakh( “May He Who blessed” ) is also recited together withYekum Purkanand asks for God's blessings on those who provide funds for the community's needs.

History

The twoYekum Purkanprayers were composed inBabyloniaand are written inAramaic,where Aramaic had been the daily language of the Jews for more than a thousand years until Arabic became thevernacularin the ninth century. The prayers do not appear in writing in the manuscriptprayer booksof the Babyloniangeonim,RabbiAmram Gaon(died 875) and RabbiSaadiah Gaon(died 942), thus indicating a composition date towards the end of the Geonic period.

The first of the two prayers was composed in the tenth or eleventh century, when theTalmudic Academies in Babyloniawere weakening andscholars in Europewere increasingly assuming Jewish religious leadership. The diminishing status of the academies led to a decrease in their revenues, and it was against this backdrop thatYekum Purkanwas composed on behalf of the students and teachers of the academies, and their leaders – the geonim and the titular Head of the Diaspora known as the Resh Galuta orExilarch.Thus, in addition to asking for God's help, the prayer also aimed to motivate people to give generously to support the academies of learning, and so were composed in the Aramaic vernacular rather thanHebrewand recited atSabbathmorning serviceswhen the largest number of congregants could be expected to be present.

The earliest written record of the firstYekum Purkanprayer is found in theMaḥzor Vitrymanuscript of Simhah ben Shmuel of Vitry, who died 1105 in France. Only this first prayer was recited in the French rite.The earliest written record of the second prayer appears in the work known asSefer HaRoke’achbyEleazar ben YehudahofWorms(c. 1176–1238). Neither prayer is found in theSephardiliturgy, but a similar, although more lengthy prayer, called “Tefillah L’ma’an Ha’kahal” (Prayer for the Congregation) is found in someYemeniteprayer book manuscripts.Furthermore, some claim that it was recited in the Sephardic liturgy until the abolishment of the establishment of theGeonim,at which point it was deemed to be irrelevant.

Yekum Purkan,and theMi Sheberakhprayer that follows it, are among the earliest known recitations of personalized blessings in the Jewish liturgy, whose typical usage until then was standardized prayers using set Hebrew phrases, recited on behalf of the entire community, without specifying the roles or identities of the worshippers.

Content

Both prayers are very similar in form and derive their name from theiropening words,yekum purkan,meaning “may deliverance arise” or “may salvation arise.”

The first is a prayer for the welfare of the Torah scholars in theLand of Israeland Babylonia, their teachers, the exilarch, and the judges. Many of the phrases of this prayer resemble those of theKaddish de-Rabbanan( "the scholars' Kaddish" ). It invokes God's blessings on the “heads of the academies” (the geonim), the “head of the Diaspora” (the exilarch) and the “judges at the gates” and requests divine favor for those who uphold Torah – by teaching, study, support and especially by undertaking the responsibilities of communal leadership.

The secondYekum Purkanprayer is phrased similarly to the first and is a more general prayer for the welfare of the congregation; it requests God's blessing for all the members of the congregation and their families “wives, sons and daughters and all that is theirs.”

Place in the liturgy

In the Ashkenazi ritual, the twoYekum Purkanprayers are recited on Sabbath morning, following the publicreading of the Torahand thehaftarah.In many orthodox congregations, it has in recent years become the custom that the Rabbi gives hissermonimmediately after thehaftarahand before the recitation ofYekum Purkan(rather than the more common practice of thesermonbeing given after theTorah scrollis returned to theAron HaKodesh). The Rabbi's sermon at this juncture mimics the order that was used during the period of thegaonimwhen this was said after the address of theReish Galuta.

These prayers are recited on every Sabbath of the year, includingfestival daysthat occur on the Sabbath. However, they are not recited on festival weekdays, when instead, the service continues withYah Eliin some customs, followed byAshrei,or (in most communities)Yizkoron the final days of the festivals ofPassover,ShavuotandShmini Atzeret.

One reason given forYekum Purkannot being recited on a weekday holiday is so as to end the lengthy holiday services somewhat earlier so that people can leave to prepare theirholiday meal(on the Sabbath, meals are prepared before the Sabbath).Another reason suggested is that it was decided that the prayer for the support ofTorah studywas most appropriate for the Sabbath day, as the day on which theTorahwas traditionally believed to have been given onMount Sinai.

As the prayer concerns those who teach, learn and provide leadership and material support to maintain Torah study, the placement of theYekum Purkanprayer in the order of the service is immediately following the readings from the Torah and Prophets.During the period of thegaonimtheresh galutawould give his address after thereading of the Torah,then a representative of the congregation would bless him, and then he would bless the congregation.

Following the two paragraphs ofYekum Purkan,an additional prayer, theMi Sheberakh(May He Who blessed our forefathers,Abraham,IsaacandJacob), is recited in honor of all those who volunteer for the benefit of the community and calls for God's blessings on those individuals who provide funds for the general welfare. It calls for special blessings to those who “give candles for illumination and wine forKiddushandHavdalah,bread for guests andcharityto the poor; and all who involve themselves faithfully with the needs of the community.”Mi Sheberakhis written in Hebrew but is read in the vernacular in some congregations because it clearly articulates the financial and moral responsibilities of the audience.In the Western Ashkenaic rite, this third prayer is omitted onShabbat Mevorkhim.

Even though the academies of Babylonia and positions referred to in the firstYekum Purkanno longer exist and Aramaic is no longer a spoken language of the Jews, this prayer has remained part of the Sabbath liturgy in Ashkenazic communities.In modern times, some communities have added the phrase “and all that are in the lands of our dispersion” to make the prayer more relevant to themwhile others interpret the term “Babylonia” – when used together in distinction to the term “Land of Israel” – to apply to all the lands outside of the Land of Israel in which Jews were dispersed.

According to theOrthodox practice,a person who is praying alone does not say the secondYekum Purkan,as it is recited on behalf of the congregation, which is not present when one prays alone. Some halachic authorities rule that both paragraphs ofYekum Purkanshould be omitted by someone who prays alone.

Further reading

• Duschinsky, C (1927). "The Yekum Purkan".Livre D'Hommage a la Memoire du Dr. Samuel Poznanski.Warsaw. pp. 182–198.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)