Notes for Tehinnot

The Hebrew word tehinnot is plural for the singular tehinnah, which can be defined as “request or “plea.” It also applies to a particular genre of Jewish prayer written especially for women and, in many cases, by women as well. (With some exceptions, notably the tehinnot of Sarah bat Tovim, most of those written by women tend to be in the vernacular Yiddish, whereas those written in Hebrew are most frequently composed by men.) A tehinnah exists for every occasion within a Jewish woman’s life; often, these prayers are more intimate in nature than their masculine counterparts, as they deal with more earthly aspects of existence, such as lighting candles, praying for the health of pregnant mother or for the health of her husband and children.

My choice of text for Tehinnot reflects some of the different attitudes towards women that are apparent during the course of Jewish history. The words, therefore, are a diverse compilation of excerpts taken from actual tehinnot, from the Shabbat liturgy, from the Midrash and – lastly from the Bible. The evolution of the perception of women during the early centuries of the Common Era could be seen as paralleling the gradual metamorphosis in Jewish thought at that time, as the more Biblical notion of nationhood gives way to a view increasingly influenced by the new presence of Christianity. Thus, we see a dichotomy: On one hand, the woman is the allegory for Israel in the Song of Songs and Psalms, who proclaims effusions of love for her divine King (these “songs” might also be interpreted more literally and personally, as the sensual proclamations of a young woman in love.) The very entity of the holiest day of the week – the Sabbath – is personified as a queen and bride. On the other hand, however, a darker view of women, reminiscent of the “original sin” concept, can be seen in the later Midrashic texts, as Eve is held to be responsible for the fall of Adam, and regarded as a metaphor for sin and temptation.

Tehinnot is sung, for the most part, by the voice of this dual-faceted woman, who has accumulated so many contradictory characteristics over the centuries. Our woman struggles with these ambiguities within herself: She is, all at once, a sweet young maiden in love, a devout mother who worries for her family, the ghost of the Mother Rachel (who, in the last movement, figures almost as a distant and bereft Goddess) and the bearer of obligations that she must fulfill in order to exonerate herself for bringing about the downfall of Adam. The resulting conglomerate, then, is a paradox: She fulfills her three obligations (niddah, challah and candle-lighting) with love and joy, and yet must do so out of guilt, under threat of death at childbirth (according to the Midrash).

I divide Tehinnot into four movements.

I. “Praeludium” is the opening prayer, a compilation of excerpts of tehinnot taken from the Korban Mincha Siddur; the literary structure is reminiscent of the more male-oriented “Amidah.” The four mothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah are invoked, as the earnest mother pleads for acceptance of her prayers. The next three movements illustrate the three obligations required of every Jewish woman:

II. “Niddah” (translated as “family purity,” which takes place at the mikvah, where bathing occurs). In this particular tehinnah, the young bride excitedly and nervously entreats God for a successful and happy marriage.

III. “Challah” (baking and distributing of the bread). As this obligation is generally associated with the Sabbath, in which the woman plays an important and venerated role, I chose to regard much of this movement as a “love song,” even writing it in A Major, long regarded as the key of love.

IV“Hadlakat ha-Ner” (candle-lighting). During this movement, a transformation takes place, as the woman realizes that she performs these obligations as punishment for her guilt; the piece ends with Rachel (who died during childbirth, the type of death threatened in the Midrash for the woman who neglected to fulfill her obligations) mourning over the absence of her sons, and a harrowed intonation of the blessing for Shabbat candles.

Dalit Hadass Warshaw

TEHINNOT: Text

I. “Praeludium”

Ribono shel olam [trans.: “Master of the Universe“], I pray to You just as Queen Esther prayed to you …

Please hear my techina at this time in the merit of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, our Mothers. Allow our neshoma [trans: “soul”] to illustrate that it not be extinguished forever. Cause Your face to graciously shine so that we are saved, and illuminate our soul forever. Amen. …

Accept our prayer and may you answer us in this new month by the merit of our Mother Sarah …,

And by the merit of our Mother Rebecca, who caused our Father Jacob to receive the blessings from his father Isaac: May those blessings soon be fulfilled for Israel, her children.

And by the merit of our Mother Rachel, the faithful one, about whom You said that in her merit her children would go forth from exile.

Adonai Eloheinu: You have commanded us to separate the dough for the challa, kindle the Sabbath candles, and to inspect ourselves so that our souls may remain pure.

Amen.

II. “Niddah: A Bride’s Prayer” [translation]

May it be Your will that Your presence dwell between my husband and me … and remove from us all evil thoughts and plans … that neither of us fix our gaze upon any other person in the world, but that I should regard only him, and he, only me. May he be in my eyes as if there were no other man in the world as good, as handsome, and as charming; and may I be in the eyes of my husband as if there were no other woman in the world as beautiful, as charming, and as fitting for him. … May his thoughts always be about me. … Thou art beauteous among men!

III. “The Distributing of the Challah”

Yafyafita mi-kol b’nei Adam! [trans: “Thou art beauteous among men!”]

Thou art beauteous among men!

Let my Challa be accepted … on the mizbeiach [trans.: “altar”]. My mitzvah should be accepted as if I[’d] … done it perfectly. Long ago the Cohen was given the offering and for it the giver was forgiven of sin. So, too, should God forgive my sin. I should be like a newborn child.

Lecha dodi likrat kallah, penei Shabbat nekabelah. [trans.: “Go, my love, toward the bride, to greet Shabbat.”]

[Translation from Hebrew text:]

May God grant me that my husband and my children and I be nourished by God, that my children be protected by the loving God, may He be blessed, with great mercy and great compassion. May my Challa be as if I brought maaser - a tithe. Just as I perform my mitzva of Challa with my whole heart, so may God protect me from pain and discomfort all my days.

Yafyafita … dodi … [trans.: “Thou art beauteous, my love …”]

IV. “Hadlakat ha-Ner: Lighting of the Candles”

Ve-ed ya’aleh min ha-aretz, va-yitzar Adonai Elohim et ha-Adam, ve-garmah lo Chavah mitah. [trans.: “And a cloud came up from the earth, and God created the Adam, and Eve caused him death.”]

Thus from three sins do women die from childbirth when they are not carefully observant: from Niddah, from Challah, and from Lighting of the Candle.

[T’chinah: “Be-motza’ei Shabbat,” S. Ben Zion] (= translation pending)

Kol ba-ramah nishmah, n’hi b’chi tamrurim, Rachel mevakah al baneiha, me’ana l-hinachem al baneiha, ki einenu. [trans.: A voice can be heard from the hills, a mournful cry, Rachel yearns for her sons, cannot be consoled about her sons, for they are gone.]

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu ve-tivanu lehadlik ner shel Shabbai. [trans.: “Blessed art Thou, our God, King of the Universe, who sanctified us and commanded us to light the candle of Sabbath.”]