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

or

Adonai —Hu— HaElohim

or

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


©Nachman Davies

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.