“All the vows, all the prohibitions, all the oaths, all the consecrations… that we have promised, or sworn, or consecrated, or forbidden ourselves, from this Yom Kippur until the next Yom Kippur (Ashkenazi version), from the last Yom Kippur until the present Yom Kippur (Sephardic version), may they come to our benefit. As for all of them, we repudiate them. They are all undone, abandoned, canceled, null and void, they are no longer in force or effect. Our vows are no longer vows, and our prohibitions are no longer prohibitions, and our oaths are no longer oaths.”

This is the text of the Kol Nidrei prayer, which begins Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and undoubtedly one of the best-known rituals within Judaism. The accompanying melody, especially the Ashkenazi version, is even better known than the meaning of the lyrics. Many Jews who do not normally attend synagogue make an exception on Yom Kippur night to hear the Kol Nidrei prayer. However, Kol Nidrei is not a prayer; it is a legal formula for canceling vows; it does not mention God and is written in Aramaic with a bit of Hebrew. Nor does it speak of repentance, the main theme of the holiday.

The Torah mentions the subject of vows or vows in several passages. In Deuteronomy 23:22-23 it is written: “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for be sure that the Lord your God will require it of you, and if you break it, you will bear a sin. 23 However, you do not sin if you refrain from making vows.” Eventually, the rabbis defined how to nullify vows in the Talmudic tractates Nedarim and Shevuot. This is why it is customary to say “bli neder,” “without this being a promise,” when a person makes a promise.

It is unknown when and where Kol Nidrei was written. Evidence of it dates back to the 9th century CE. It is known that the great rabbis disliked it. Rabbi Amram Gaon, in his “Seder,” says that it is a foolish custom and that it is forbidden to practice it. But by the year 1000, the Kol Nidrei prayer had already gained acceptance in Babylon. In the 11th century, Rabbeinu Tam changed the phrase “from last Yom Kippur to the present Yom Kippur” to “from this Yom Kippur to the next Yom Kippur,” which was accepted by the Ashkenazi community, but not by the Sephardim. Scholars such as Joseph S. Bloch have sought the ritual’s origin in the forced conversions of Jews to Christianity during the Visigoth era in 7th-century Spain, in the Byzantine Empire (700-850), and in Inquisition Spain, when converts prayed it in secret.

Chanting Kol Nidrei on Yom Kippur night, with all the men covered in their tallit and all the Torah scrolls surrounding the Bimah dressed in white, pretending to witness a song and lyrics that commemorate those forced to abandon their Judaism, is more than simply asking for the annulment of a vow; it is proclaiming our belonging through the power of a melody.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Articles by Louis Kaplan, Herman Kieval, and other sources.