El Nora Alila ( he, אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה), also transliterated as Ayl Nora Alilah, is a

piyyut A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, ch ...

(liturgical poem) that begins the

Ne'ilah Ne'ila ( he, נעילה, lit=locking), the ''concluding service'', is a special Jewish prayer service that is held only on Yom Kippur. It is the time when final prayers of repentance are recited at the closing of Yom Kippur. Neilah marks the fifth ...

service at the conclusion of

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

. The piyyut is recited as part of the Sephardic and

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to: *Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian ...

liturgy, and has been adopted by some

Ashkenazic Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

communities. The English translation offered below is a lyric rendering, reproducing a rhyme similar to the Hebrew. A more literal translation makes the title and recurring line, "God of awesome deeds". It consists of eight stanzas, each stanza consisting of four lines of five syllables to the line. Each line (in Hebrew) has three words and the fourth line is always two words, "as Thy gates are closed at night" – the gates being shut are presumably those of Heaven's gates for receiving prayers of repentance (modelled after the gates of the Temple, Ezekiel 46:2), and the hymn is one last impassioned plea for Divine pardon in the last minutes of the Day of Atonement. The initial letters of the first six stanzas of the piyyut spell out משה חזק, "Moses, may he be strong", in reference to the piyyut's author

Moses ibn Ezra Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ ("writer of penitential prayers") ( ar, أَبُو هَارُون مُوسَى بِن يَعْقُوب اِبْن عَزْرَا, ''Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'qub ibn 'Azra'', he, מֹשֶׁה ב ...

(12th century Spain).

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Melodies

File:The_National_Library_of_Israel_-_El_Nora_Alila_-_Baghdad_version_-_1785181_HURI.ogg, El Nora Alila - Iraq, Baghdad version, Performers: Yaakov Huri and a group, recorded by: Edith Gerson-Kiwi in Jerusalem 1958 File:The_National_Library_of_Israel_-_El_Nora_Alila_-_Greek_version_-_1785182_larisa.ogg, El Nora Alila - Greek Version, Greece, Larissa Performer: Itzhak Meizan Recorded by: Amnon Shiloah In Larissa, 1970. The melody for El Nora Alila is generally sprightly, as is much of the Ne'ilah service, deliberately, coming at the end of a 25-hour fast, when the congregants are probably feeling fatigue and weakness.Nulman, Macy, ''Concise Encyclopedia of Jewish Music'' (1975, NY: McGraw-Hill) s.v. Ne'ilah, page 184.

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External links

El Nora Alila
at the

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

video of three melodies - Turkish, Moroccan, and Spanish-Portuguese - to El Nora Alila

page with multiple videos of different renditions
{{High Holidays Hebrew-language songs Jewish liturgical poems Jewish prayer and ritual texts Yom Kippur Ne'ila Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings

Text

Melodies

See also

References

External links