Jewish Sufis-(Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi): Jewish Sufi Dhikr for Yom Kippur

During the last year, on the Facebook group of Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi, I have been publishing a series of graphics that highlight certain dhikr (invocatory mantra) texts that members might use during private meditation. I am still adding to this collection with a view to collating them as a proposed paraliturgical sequence for use by our Tariqa.

So far, they have all been in Hebrew or English and have been taken exclusively from the Hebrew bible or siddur and the majority of them are focussed on a Divine Name or Attribute. [i]

It is assumed from certain passages in the writings of R.Abraham HeHasid, R.Abraham Maimuni, and R. David ben Joshua Maimuni that the Mediaeval Egyptian Pietists—who we regard as our forebears on this Path—will have performed some kind of dhikr and that it involved the recitation of Divine Names. But actually, the clearest indication that this is so comes from the inseperablity of Khalwa and Dhikr in solitary devotion. [see footnote ii on this]

Professor Paul B. Fenton has stated that it is highly unlikely that the Egyptian Pietists would have made use of Islamic/Arabic dhikr texts paraliturgically, and also that they would almost certainly have performed any private or secluded dhikr in hebrew.[iii]

We have no surviving record of any Jewish-Sufi congregational dhikr that may have been practiced in the private synagogues and oratories of the Cairene Pietists, but this is not surprising given that it would have been somewhat clandestinely performed anyway, to avoid persecution from unsympathetic Muslim and Jewish locals.

The Maimuni-Innayati Sufis (and even some of our own Tariqa members) are more liberal in their choice to use Arabic and/or Islamic texts during Dhikr. In the Israeli Tariqa Ibrahim, I imagine this is also the case. Some see the sharing of hebrew and arabic texts as a way to bridge political and religious gaps through active coexistence in worship. This is laudable in so many ways in our era of politico-religious strife, but in this essay I intend to focus on dhikr practices in hebrew and/or the vernacular of the practitioner. This is principally because our Tariqa’s practice of Dhikr is (at least currently) a solitary activity.

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The liturgy of Yom Kippur gives us a most significant text that might well be regarded as our a Tariqa’s pre-eminent dhikr mantra:

יי הוא האלהים

“ADONAI HE IS GOD”

This declamatory text marks the moment when we make the day’s last pleas for Divine Mercy at Neilah. It is repeated many times, usually seven, and is often executed with gasps and breathless urgency as the metaphorical gates of prayer close. It comes immediately before the final act of Yom Kippur—the tekiah gedolah of the shofar and is a cry from the heart— a passionate declaration of faith and a final expression of entreaty and, it must be said, relief.

On Yom Kippur, the sevenfold repetition of this mantra-like phrase (often fourteenfold if the shaliach tzibbur recites it first) reminds me of the repetition that is such a strong feature of the congregational and private forms of sufi dhikr— so much so, that I would suggest we might derive from it some subsidiary mantras that could be used in sequence during our devotional activity.

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The text “Adonai Hu HaElohim” originates in the biblical tale of Elijah’s victory over the Baalist cult on Mount Carmel. Consequently for the purposes of this essay on repetitive dhikr, I will refer to it as “The Elijan Mantra”.

It is a declaration made by the witnesses to that fiery Elijan miracle which you may read in chapter 18 of the first book of Kings:

וירא כל־העם ויפלו על־פניהם ויאמרו

יי הוא האלהים יי הוא האלהים

And all the people prostrated themselves (fell on their faces)

and they said:

“The LORD, He is G-d! The LORD, He is G-d!”

Melachim alef, 18:39

Why is this specific text so significant for our Tariqa?

We are Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi and the Prophet Elijah is the root (as it were) of our uniquely Jewish silsila. This text might be described as “our” dhikr text par excellence because it was first uttered in response to a biblical miracle performed by our Master, Eliyahu HaNabi himself.

It is clear from its liturgical eminence on Yom Kippur that any contemplative Jew might profitably recite the Elijan Mantra in private meditation or perhaps use it as a hegyon ha-lev text in contemplative reflection. But because of our relationship of hiskashrut with Eliyahu HaNabi, for us it has a special resonance.

But the there is another reason that I have suggested that the Elijan Mantra has a certain potential pre-eminence for us as aspiring Sufis. I claim this is so because there are several remarkable and highly fortuitous connections between our text and the language used in Islamic-Sufi dhikr— fortuitous because anything which brings together the Sufis of Islam and the Sufis of Judaism (without compromising either Sharia or Halacha) will bring closer the time when “He shall be One and His Name will be One”.[iv]

There are certain linguistic and theological resonances present in the text of the Elijan Mantra that I would like to bring out for you. I would like to try to clothe this mantra in a garment of invocations that might reveal some of its inner light— and its potential for generating a little achdut between Islamic and Jewish sufis and aspirant sufis.

I will explain.

The Shahada is the Muslim declaration of witness and consists of two phrases. The second phrase refers to the role of the Prophet of Islam, but the first section (which is a declaration of monotheistic singularity) is a phrase which all Jews and Muslims could recite together without fear of any compromise.

The most universally praised dhikr text in Islamic Sufism— and one which has been used for centuries by all the Islamic-Sufi Orders— is derived from the first half of the Shahada. It might be rendered as:

La ilaha il Allah

There is no god but G-d

The inter-relation of this Muslim text with the Jewish Elijan Mantra is self evident—both are stating the same fundamental principal of monotheism.

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Whether any personal name can be ascribed to G-d in Himself—the Divine Essence—is a disputed matter in both our religions, but if we choose to regard the name “Allah” simply as the Judeo-Arabic term “G-d” (which is the way it was used by our Maimuni forebears) then some (but perhaps not the majority) of our members would be happy to use the first Shahada phrase in their devotions even in its Judeo-Arabic form. But any Jewish theological or halachic difficulty is removed if we use the Elijan Mantra in our dhikr recitation, as a kind of Shahada variant.

Of course, it might well be said that the most apt dhikr phrase would be the Sh’ma.... or perhaps simply the extracted Sh’ma phrase “ADONAI ECHAD”. (The problem with repeating the Sh’ma in its entirety being that repeating it consecutively is generally forbidden). As a theological affirmation, the texts of the first Shahada phrase and the Elijan Mantra share a very special universalist character.

But it is the linguistic connections between the Elijan Mantra and the Sufic dhikr mantras that inspire me to underline its connections with the shahada and with our brothers and sisters in Islamic Sufism.

In many Islamic Sufi Orders, progressively shorter forms of invocation are often used in cyclic dhikr recitations. Sometimes this kind of progression is seen as being directly related to Stations and States— but many Orders see this progression as representing the progressive stripping away of inessential detail to reveal (as it were) something of the Divine Essence—The Real Itself. Some Islamic Sufi masters would view the dhikr of no dhikr (to coin a phrase), where verbal and conceptual thought is all but obliterated, as being the ultimate aim of the Sufi act of Recollection that we are considering here.

The most commonly used shorter mantras used by Islamic sufis in this manner are:

the Divine Name ALLAH

the  word HU  (He)
and  the  exclamatory phrase  Ya Hu

In Islamic usage, HU (He)  is regarded as being a Divine Name.
In Hebrew “hu” (הוא)is a simple pronoun meaning “he”
In Arabic “ya!” is an interjection and  may be  translated as “Oh!”
But in hebrew YAH  (with a final  ה ) is a Divine Name.

This  could  produce a Jewish-Sufi construct “YAH HU”  (G-d is He) , which would  sound  almost exactly  the  same as the Islamic-Sufi  “Ya Hu”.

Those two forms —the Jewish (hebrew) and the Islamic(arabic)— seem to dance with each other. They shimmer as they each reflect the Divine Names and the this-worldly pronouns/interjections, as in a mirror that seems to pass in and out of one's vision. They seem to be engaged in a fluid statement of shared faith in the One G-d—The Real who can never be comprehended or grasped in any way, only experienced in the swiftly-passing intuitive glimpses of inspirational thought.

By addressing G-d as “HU” in their dhikr—both Jewish and Muslim Sufis would be acknowledging G-d’s incomprehensible otherness using exactly the same Sufic term.

This is a remarkably fortuitous possibility.

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The awareness of these interrelationships opens the way for us now to consider Hebrew equivalents for the entire Sufic progression (from longer text to shorter text cycles of repetition) thus:

La ilaha il Allah might be expressed by us as Adonai Hu Ha Elohim

Ya Hu might be expressed by us as YAH HU

Allah might be expressed by us as ADONAI

HU becomes a shared Divine Name

With this in mind I produced the graphic that heads this commentary. Some Tariqa Eliyahu members might prefer to make things simple and use the Elijan Mantra as it is without any other adaptations, and many Sufis follow the principle that one or two dhikr phrases should be persevered with without variation or additions for months or even years. Personally I have used the same two or three “mantras” daily for decades and reserve others for special occasions.

So, how might this Elijan text from Neilah of Yom Kippur form a special dhikr practice that our members could use on Yom Kippur itself ?

There are so many words in the formal liturgy of Yom Kippur, and hardly any space for personal contemplative prayer.

•Many of our members will be (more or less) willingly incarcerated in a synagogue (as though in a communal khalwa-cell) for the day.

•Some of our members will endeavour to recite every single word of every single service.

• Some of our members will choose to zone-out during those services.

• Some will prefer not to recite all the texts in the machsor;

• Some may not use a machsor or attend public services at all!

The observations and suggestions which follow might give some of you a form of dhikr cycle that can be recited silently in one's head—either as preparation for Yom Kippur (where it already makes an appearance in Sephardi Selichot)—or during the Night and Day of Yom Kippur itself.

The long night of Yom Kippur after one has returned home and/or fulfilled one’s liturgical obligations at Kol Nidrei-Arbit is perhaps the most ideal time for such a dhikr practice.

The Elijan Mantra can, of course, be recited on any day of the year but I would suggest that it might have a certain radiance and vibrance when recited on Yom Kippur where it is already given a most exalted status liturgically.

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For those who might wish to mark Yom Kippur (or other occasion) with a special dhikr, here is a suggested Jewish Dhikr cycle for Yom Kippur that might be practiced (either vocally or silently) as follows:

אדני הוא האלהים

אדני הוא — אדני הוא — אדני הוא — האלהים

יה הוא —יה הוא — יה הוא — האלהים

אדני הוא — אדני הוא — אדני הוא — האלהים

אדני הוא

יה הוא

הוא!

Adonai Hu HaElohim

(repeated x times)

Adonai Hu—Adonai Hu—Adonai Hu—HaElohim

(repeated x times)

Yah Hu—Yah Hu—Yah Hu—HaElohim

(repeated x times)

Adonai Hu—Adonai Hu—Adonai Hu —HaElohim

(repeated x times)

Adonai HU

(repeated x times)

YA HU

(repeated x times)

HU!

(repeated x times)

In the above cycle (which may itself be repeated any number of times) the number of repetitions could be according to choice, or the practitioner might prefer not to pre-determine the number of repetitions at all.

For those who use a tasbih (a rosary,chaplet, or knots on a tallit) each unit of repetition might be repeated: just for example 7, 13, 33,99, 100, 42, 72 times or many hundreds of times. (I use a 33 or a 42 or a 99 bead tasbih)

In the schema above I have used a hyphen to represent a rhythm, or maybe a pause or a breath. Members are also invited to follow their own inspiration and intuition to derive slower and faster variants of the cycle to suit their preference.

The way one chooses to “punctuate” the primary Elijan mantra text itself could be:

Adonai Hu — HaElohim

Adonai —Hu— HaElohim

left in the breathless and rapid form that is usually

used in the Neilah repetitions on Yom Kippur as :

—Adonai Hu HaElohim—

I am not attempting to create a formal set-liturgy in this essay, merely making suggestions for members to use in whatever way they choose, but I hope that some of you will join in spirit in making the Elijan Mantra a special Jewish Sufi feature of this coming Yom Kippur, Each of us alone, all of us together.

Wishing you well over the fast

May we all be sealed in the Book of Life for Good New Year

20 September 2023

Safed

NOTES

[i] These statements and texts are discussed in a more detailed essay on the general subject of Jewish Sufi Dhikr which I am still working on..... This present “Elijan Mantra commentary” is a part of that work but I am publishing it now as a separate unit here today as we are currently approaching Yom Kippur itself.

[ii] At the moment we have no detailed exidence that they followed Islamic-Sufi dhikr practice closely—we only have veiled references to this as a possibility. But what seems certain to me is that some form of repetitive dhikr MUST have been performed by Egyptian Hasidim. For the following reason:

All the leading Cairene authors of the movement (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) practiced and promoted a form of khalwa (secluded retreat) that they had observed first hand in the Moslem-Sufi retreat center on the Maqqatam mountains (where R. Obadya Maimuni was on a personal retreat immediately before his death). The promotion of Khalwa retreats was of demonstrable importance to R. Abraham,R. Obadya,and R. David Maimuni. In the Islamic form of such Khalwa retreats, the repetition of Divine Names and texts in mantra form was an essential and universal activity.Thus it seems almost certain that they will have shared the same view — that Khalwa and Dhikr were inseperable. Therefore, although we have no surviving evidence of congregational dhikr in Egyptian Jewish-Sufi Hasidism, we can be confident in stating that private dhikr was almost certainly practiced by individual Jewish Sufis in contemplative Khalwa-hitbodedut.

[iii] See Paul B. Fenton, “La Pratique de la retraite spirituelle (khalwa) chez les judéo-soufis d’Egypte,” in Giuseppe Cecere, et al., eds., Les mystiques juives, chrétiennes et musulmanes dans l’Egypte médiévale (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2013), 211-252

[iv] See Zecharya 14:9

I would like to thank my friend, Kyai Paul Salahuddin Armstrong for checking the accuracy of those statements in this essay that concerned Islamic practice.