Translating, Editing and Printing Tikkunim in Old Yiddish

Introduction

Old Yiddish texts produced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain numerous references to kabbalah.^[1] Before this period, a strict separation prevailed between the culture of the learned rabbinical elite, who had access to the mystical traditions in Hebrew and Aramaic, and the less educated readership who remained on the threshold of the esoteric knowledge. During the first decades of the seventeenth century, this barrier seems to have been breached, at least to some degree. Kabbalah became a major component of the literature read and studied by average readers, entering the Old Yiddish ethical literary corpus through a multiplicity of fragments taken mainly from the Sefer ha-Zohar and the Lurianic kabbalah. Hebrew canonical texts maintained their inherent prestige and centrality, but they were complemented by a few vernacular texts that borrowed from the kabbalistic tradition. This phenomenon may be accounted for by the fact that kabbalah provided persuasive explanations for the endless torment of exile and the ubiquity of evil in the everyday life. From a messianic perspective, it offered hope for both individual and collective redemption. The popularization, or vernacularizing, of a tiny part of the kabbalistic texts and notions signifies the transformation and reshaping of traditional rabbinical Ashkenazi culture during the early modern period. Gershom Scholem noted »the growing influence of the [Lurianic] kabbalah in popular consciousness,« which, in his view, paved the way for the emergence of Sabbateanism and later, Hasidism.^[2] Jacob Katz explained that »in the field of culture and ideas, the most immediately obvious phenomenon is the penetration of kabbalistic ideas into ethical and homiletic literature during the second half [of the seventeenth century].«^[3]

How could you define the »vernacular kabbalah«? How to delimit the perimeter into which tiny parts of the mystical tradition will be transferred into Yiddish? Which forms will take these adaptations and translations of prayers?^[4] Should we consider these texts as simple cultural, religious and linguistic transfer from Hebrew (loshn koydesh), Aramaic (loshn targem), to Yiddish (loshn ashkenaz or taytsh) or could we speak of the creation of original popular mystical texts?

To reconstruct the slow and progressive propagation of kabbalah in the Old Yiddish literature would require a lengthy study that is beyond the scope of this presentation. The present essay focuses on one aspect of the Old Yiddish literature: the monolingual and, for the vast majority, bi- or trilingual (Aramaic, Hebrew and Yiddish) Tikkunim connected to kabbalistic prayers and rituals, containing fragments from the Bible, the Sefer ha-Zohar, Lurianic ideas, and mystical collections of stories, especially those concerning Shimon bar Yohai—the legendary protagonist of Zohar. These Jewish popular booklets were long considered minor works and received less scholarly attention. They have often been defined as simple translations in Yiddish of early Hebrew and Aramaic collections of texts. However, the Yiddish Tikkunim constitute an interesting testimony to the cultural and religious changes occurring during the early modern period. These collections of mystical texts and prayers highlight the importance, during this troubled historical period, of reading prayers and studying texts that could help amend faults (tikkunei avonot), repent, soothe the body and soul (marpe la-nefesh), redeem one from harsh decrees or purify before entering the feast time or Rosh Hodesh. Such practices could also serve as preparation of the redemption, in accordance with the belief that the Messiah will only come in the generation wherein everyone, regardless of education level, gender, or age studies mystical texts, especially the Zohar.^[5]

A Typology of Yiddish Chapbooks of Tikkunim

The Yiddish Tikkunim offer a rich textual laboratory to study translation methods and techniques. All Yiddish translations of prayers follow fixed patterns: the main goal is to convey the plain meaning of the prayers in simple language—generally called »clear« or »pure language« (safah berurah, lashon tsahah or lishana kalila)—for readers who lacked sufficient knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic. In each adaptation, written in simple versified prose, the translators added brief explanations and interpretations for less educated readers. They found it unnecessary—and impossible in Yiddish to create a corresponding version of the complex poetic language, rhythm, aesthetics, metrics, and rules of versification that characterize the religious songs and hymns (piyyutim).^[6] All the translations were based on the same principles and style, specific to Yiddish prayers, oscillating between literalism and commentary. They played an obvious role in the foundation and development of fixed traditions of translation and exegesis of the liturgy in the Jewish vernacular.

In order to illustrate this point, I will zoom in on a few representative examples of Yiddish translations that appear in the literature of Yiddish chapbooks. In the Yiddish adaptation of lekha dodi—a hymn that is recited at the beginning of the erev Shabbat service—the Hebrew version consists of nine stanzas. The initials of the first eight of these stanzas form the name of the author, a Safedian mystic, Salomon ha-Levi (Alkabets):^[7]

לכה גיא מיין פֿריינט די (כלה) אנטקיגן. דז איז דער (שבת קודש) וועלן מיר אנטפֿנגן מיט ליבשפֿט און פֿרייד און שיני גזנגין : שמור מן זאל שבת היטן און גדענקן. די גוטי (מתנה) הוט אונז דער איינגיר גאט טאן שענקן ער איז איינציג און זיין נאמן אך : צו אכֿפרן אין און צו לובן ער איז גנץ הוך : (לכה) גיא : לקראת קיגן שבת וועלן מיר גין. עז ווערט אונש וואולֿ פֿר די מיט שטין . דר ווייש פון קיין ביז ווער דו שבת היט פון דריי ארלייא איז ער בהיט פֿון (חבלי).

[Translation: Come my friend to greet the bride/ it is the Holy Shabbat we are going to start with love and joy and nice songs/ we must keep Shabbat and think of the good present that God the One has offered us/ He is the One and also His Name [is One]/ He is very high to venerate and praise/ Come to receive Shabbat/ Those who respect it will be happy/ protected from all kinds of bad/ and from sufferings.^[8]]

In the Yiddish translation, there appear a few small changes in comparison to the Hebrew original. The word dodi is translated as fraynd (friend); in addition, the translator added the words: [to welcome shabbes] with love, joy and nice songs. Shabbes is considered a present (Yid. matone); the Hebrew phrase tiferet et tehila is rendered to tsu akhpern un tsu lobn, that is, »to venerate and praise«. The important expression to define Shabat, mekor ha-berakhah (»the source of blessing«) is lacking, while the last verse is inspired by the Psalm »God ignores bad and evil and protects from sufferings.« The Yiddish term khevle, which does not appear in the original source, suggests in accordance with the kabbalistic tradition the period of suffering preceding the coming of the Messiah (khevle-meshiekh).

In Tefilot Yom Kippur Katan, printed in Sulzbach in 1711 (fol. 2a), the translator introduced tefilah le-o’ni (Ps. 102: 1–3) with the words: »The people who fast eve Rosh Hodesh, put the talit and the tefilin for minhah, and after they start the tefilah le-oni. Mizmor one hundred and two,« followed by the text of the prayer:^[9]

תפילה  איין גבעט צו איינן ארמין מאן דער זיך טוט אום ווינדן^[10] מיט תפלה מיט  און מכטן זיין הרץ און צו פר גאט טוט ער פר גיסן זייני ריד דארך תפלה : י י דוא דער ברמיגר גאט הער דוא מיין גבעט דז גשרייא זאל צו דיר קומן : אל ניט דוא זאלשט פר ברגין דיין הייליגי שכינה פון צו פר מיר אן איין זעלכן טאג דז מיר לייד איז דרום נייג צו מיר דיין ארין אן זעלביגן טאג דא :   כי  דען עז ווערן צו גענצט מייני יאר אין גלות אז דאז וויישי פר דרבוט אין רויך פון ברנד אלזו אויך מיין ביין זיינן פר דארט אז איין היישי ערד שטאט דז וואז דרויף שטיט דז דארט איין : 

[Translation: A poor man’s prayer who reverses [i. e., changes his mood] with prayer to give strength to his heart and he pours his words to God with the prayer/ God of mercy, hear my pray, may my cry come to you/ you must not hide your divine presence/ in such a day of suffering, lower your ear to me/ I call you, answer me soon/ because my years in exile (goles) were numerous.^[11]]

As it appears, the translator added to the translated text brief references to the divine presence (shekhine) and to the exile (goles), lacking in the original text, in order to highlight the abandonment of God’s presence in exile and to beg the divine protection and mercy.

The collections of Tikkunim can be divided into several main categories corresponding to mystical rituals connected to feasts, such as the night of Shavuot, and to individual pious readings centered on the purification of sins. Interestingly, we do not find Yiddish manuscripts of Tikkunim. With the introduction of the printing press technology, many Hebrew collections of Tikkunim started to be published in print, some of which were translated and adapted into Old Yiddish.^[12] Printing contributed to textualization, that is, to the transformative process of converting oral or handwriting discourses into structured written text. This process involved translating, ordering, organizing, and printing a text to make it understandable and accessible, especially to less educated Jewish readers. This is evident in the creation of compilations of Tikkunim that did not exist before the seventeenth century. These compilations comprised many prayers (pizmonim, bakashot, tehinot, zmirot, mizmorim), excerpts from biblical, rabbinical and kabbalistic texts, edifying advice from the ethical literature (ha-sifrut ha-musar), especially focused on repentance (teshuvah), good behavior and norms of conduct (ma’asim tovim), as well as stories (mayses, sippurim). They combined the three main uses of the book: reading (leyenen), praying (betn, oren), and study (lernen).

Among the Old Yiddish collections of Tikkunim, we could first mention the Seder Kriyat ve-Tikkun Leyl Shavu’ot (Layla de-kala) (Frankfurt am Main, 1728).^[13] According to the Zohar narrative, Shimon bar Yohai and his mystical circle of disciples stayed up late to learn Torah during this night.^[14] The night of the festival of Shavuot refers to a spiritual »marriage,« symbolized by the union of Shekhinah (the lower and female aspect of the divine, designated as sefirah Malkhut) with Ha-Shem (the central male divine aspect, sefirah Tiferet). Hayim Vital reported the custom of staying awake and reading the beginning and end of every section of the Tanakh, Mishnayot, Gemara and parts from the Zohar (razei de-hakhma) during the night of Shavu’ot.^[15] He added that those who stay up on Shavuot night and spend the time learning would be protected during the year. Some kabbalists even composed mystical wedding agreements (tena’im, in yiddish tnoim tsvishn khosn un kale), also connected to the ritual of badeken (the veiling of the bride), and marriage contracts (ketubot) to be read on Shavu’ot before taking out the Torah, to solemnize the »marriage« of God and Israel.^[16] In the Sefardi communities, Jews also recited the poem by Israel ben Moshe Najara, Ketubah le-Hag ha-Shavu’ot or Ketubat Yisrael,^[17]while in the Ashkenazi communities, the religious poem in Aramaic by Meir ben Itshak Nehorai, Akdamut Milin (»Introduction«) dominated.^[18]

Another compilation of Tikkunim, Tikkun Leyl Shavu’ot, often features printed together with the Tikkun Leyl Hoshana Rabbah.^[19] We could mention two bilingual editions of this compilation, printed in Amsterdam (1708) and Frankfurt am Main (1725).^[20] The customs related to the night of Hoshana Rabbah included two main performances: the ritual of studying in the synagogue and the popular checking of the shadow. In popular belief, when one stood in front of the moon, their shade would reflect their life story for the coming year.^[21] According to the traditions recorded in the chapbook, it was Isaac Luria who explained that on Hoshana Rabbah the moon reflected the verdicts of all of humanity.

Another compilation of Tikkunim, which was intended to accompany the celebrations of the new month festival, Tikkun le-‘Erev Rosh Hodesh, also known as Tikkun Yom Kippur Katan (the minor Yom Kippur), was first found in the sixteenth-century Safed. Its objective was to mold the day preceding Rosh Hodesh into a day of fasting, prayer, and penance against the temptation and faults, similar in many ways to Yom Kippur.^[22] During the festival, it was customary to read Selihot based on the theme of exile.^[23] Many kabbalists considered the waning of the moon as a symbol of the exile of the Shekhinah and the diminution of the power of holiness after the exile; its renewal was thus a sign of the future return to perfection in the time of redemption.^[24] This tradition was discussed in various ethical treatises, including Shenei Luhot ha-Berit and the popular collection of prayers, Sha‘arei Tsiyon by Nathan Nata Hannover.^[25]

Alongside festival chapbooks of Tikkunim, popularly printed were also Yiddish manuals of penitential prayers aimed to repair transgressions or sins (refue tsu di neshome), such as Tikkunei Teshuvah (Amsterdam, 1690),^[26] as well as Tikkun Shabbat (Prague, circa 1650 and 1660),^[27] a manual which consisted of spiritual and physical preparations for the entry of Shabbat. Some of the Shabbat manuals, such as Tikkunei Shabbat printed in Frankfurt am Main in 1713, were clearly based on Lurianic traditions, enlisting their rules and customs (dinim, hanhagot, and minhagim).^[28] Additionally, chapbook manuals for purification after niddah, keri and for immersion on the day before Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, such as Tikkun Seder ha-Tevilah (Prague, circa 1600), consisted of bilingual prayers, mainly in Hebrew, with some interlinear translation and explanations in Yiddish, and reflected popular kabbalistic customs.^[29]

Amongst the most popular chapbooks there appear those to be read before sleeping (kriyat shema ‘al ha-mitah), comprising a confession (viduy) to repent, praise God and ask protection against evil inclinations, bad dreams and demons, to have a good awakening and to hope that the Temple will be rebuilt, such as Ovn Zegn (Amsterdam, 1676), Nakht Leynen (n. d. and n. pl.),^[30] Seder Kriyat shel Layla (Frankfurt, 1710),^[31] Taytsh Nakht Krishme [Kriyat Shema] (Prague,1719).^[32] These type of chapbooks appeared alongside booklets related to the ritual of tikkun hatsot,^[33] a ritual performed at midnight to mourn the destruction of the Temple and pray for the coming of the Messiah (bilingual, n. p., 1790).^[34] Additionally, there were prayers recited upon waking, such as Seder shomerim la-boker (»watchers of the dawn« or »morning watchers«). This ritual was practiced in the havurot, the Sefardi and Ashkenazi confraternities, especially in Italy, like Mezamerei barukh she-amar (»singers of barukh she-amar«).^[35] However, the Yiddish Tikkunim—not directly connected to these circles—were only collections of prayers recited by men and women upon waking. The Tikkun Shalosh Mishmarot (Frankfurt an der Oder (?), 1692), for instance, contains prayers for the Three Night Vigils.^[36] This booklet was written by a learned woman and translator Laza of Frankfurt from the Hebrew edition compiled in 1691 by her husband, Yaakov ben Mordekhai of Schwerin.

Some collections of Tikkunim were related to Nathan of Gaza and Sabbatai Tsevi’s penitential prayers and practices, such as Tikkun Kriyah le-Yom ve-Layla [Hebrew], (Amsterdam, 1666).^[37] We find a similar edition in Yiddish, under the title Tikkunei Teshuvah Erets Tsevi. Its two versions were printed in Kraków (1666) and three in Amsterdam: (1) [circa 1680]; (2) [17th century]; (3) [1687–1701].^[38] This booklet contains a list of sins and transgressions with the corrections and punishments preceding the messianic redemption. These individual collections of prayers were compiled in various works, among which the most popular was Sha’arei Tsiyon by Nathan Hannover.^[39] Many compilations of similar penitential character were printed in Ashkenaz at the end of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century, for instance, Seder Tefilah Derekh Yesharah by Yekhiel Mikhoel Epstein (Frankfurt am Main, 1697),^[40] the devotional handbook by Solomon Zalman ben Moshe Raphael London, Kohelet Shelomoh (Amsterdam, 1722), or Tikkun Shelomoh (1712, 1733), which included Tikkun Shabbat attributed to Isaac Luria.^[41]

Aryeh Seligman’s Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim: Transmitting Kabbalistic Fragments in a Yiddish Chapbook

In order to present a typical structure of a Yiddish chapbook of Tikkunim, I will focus on Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim (in two volumes, printed in Fürth in 1725 and 1729) by Aryeh ben Yehuda Seligman of Binswangen. The first noteworthy aspect of this ethical and mystical compilation concerns the cultural agents involved in this book production. Printers, aware of the opening of a new book market, collaborated with many cultural intermediaries—authors, translators, editors, and peddlers (rokhelim, hoyzirers, pakntregers, dorfsgeyers, seforim-tregers)—to create, print and disseminate a library of popular books for less educated men and women.^[42] It is difficult to define Aryeh ben Yehuda Seligman of Binswangen, the »creator« of Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim, as an author. He was more, as he defines himself in the book, a mediator, adviser (yo’ets), interpreter (melits), a middleman (in Hebrew, sarsur, in Yiddish sarser), and cultural bridge-builder between the rabbinical elite and the »ordinary« Jews. As a teacher and school instructor (makre dardeke),^[43] at heder and beit ha-midrash, he taught men, women, children, young boys, and girls how to pray (oren), read (leynen), repent (teshuve ton) and study (lernen) Yiddish books (taytshe seforim) and morality books (sifre musr), combining canonical, rabbinical, kabbalistic texts and prayers, to repair, correct, and improve (mesakn zayn) body and soul. He stated that (fol. 3b and 99b): »Any person who says words of the Torah at the right moment will merit the Gan Eden and bring redemption (ge’ule) in the world.« He compared his religious task to the covenant between God and the people of Israel as well as to the bond between a bride and groom or an engagement meal (farknasung or knas mol). In his introduction (fol. 2b, 6b and 9a), Seligman explained that he gave lessons in many communities when he was a teacher and preacher (maggid). He noticed that many people desired to study, but after the lessons, they still felt ignorant and were not able to understand or study Gemara and Tosafot, since they lacked sufficient Hebrew knowledge and were unfamiliar with the customs and their meaning (fol. 37a): »A person in his youth has only studied Khumesh and small, light things (kleyne un leykhte zakhn), but not the secrets of the Torah, which are the keystone of our Holy service. When he heard them from a learned person (lomdn), he takes great pleasure. It is the reason why I decided for the benefit of all to transmit and translate words of the Zohar.«

Seligman legitimized the adaptation and recitation of blessings in the vernacular (fol. 37b): »So that everyone could be helped, the learned in Hebrew and the simple reader in Yiddish […] so that each person knows what he or she prays because a prayer is more accepted by the Holy One, blessed be He, when the person knows what the prayer says«. In the following pages (fol. 38a), he mentioned King Hezekiah’s time, when »the servant (dinst mayd) knew the secrets of the Torah and the ma’aseh merkavah […].^[44] When Hezekiah was studying, he let the people of his house sit with him and spoke in the vernacular so that everybody could understand.« As he added further: »Hezekiah did not study Gemore with the people of his house (hoyz layt), because the sages forbade women to study the Gemore. But in vernacular all study is permitted, including women and even more to men, so that everyone may rejoice and therefore we will merit to return to Jerusalem«.^[45] In the same chapter (fol. 38b), Seligman stated that the dissemination of the Zohar could foster the coming of the redeemer: »Eliyohu ha-novi, peace be upon him, explained to Shimen bar Yohai that the Messiah will not come until in the generation when the Zohar is deeply studied by everyone, by simple people (ale laytn di gemeyne) who are not great scholars (groyse lomdim), but who have in themselves the treasure of the fear of God (oytser fun yires-shomaim)«.

Another distinctive feature that characterizes many Yiddish chapbooks, especially the Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim, concerns their content, form and structure: such books could be defined as abridgments (kitsur), collections, or miscellanies (likkutim).^[46] This mode of gathering and linking biblical, rabbinical and kabbalistic sources corresponds to the purpose of Old Yiddish literature: generally printed in a handy, transportable format, Yiddish compilations were often characterized by a simple structure, in which a maximum of sources was gathered together into a minimal amount of typographic space. As such, Yiddish chapbooks could be compared to a small portable library of Jewish sources. To define Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim, its compiler borrowed an Aramaic expression from the Talmud (Megila 28b): »like a basket full of books« (tsanna dimelei sifrei), which could be carried around in a pocket or a bag and easily consulted at any moment of the day, without requiring the reader to go to the beit ha-midrash for a shi’ur, or consult a rabbi to ascertain the meaning of a verse, the correct way to conduct a ritual, or the proper order of prayers. In terms of the materiality of the book, the printer adopted a simple layout common to many popular books: Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim is a bilingual treatise, with the upper part of the page in Hebrew, presented in square Hebrew characters suitable for more educated readers, and the lower part in Yiddish, printed in a typeface modelled on Ashkenazi semi-cursive and intended mainly for less educated readers.^[47] This typographic presentation multiplied the practices of reading of the book and increased the chances for its dissemination among different types of readers.

But what did the compiler select from the kabbalistic corpus of texts? The popular mystical texts did not address theosophical, cosmological, metaphysical, speculative, and philosophical issues (kabbalah ‘iyunit). They lacked discussions on the process of creation (ma’aseh bereshit), the essence of divinity, the relationship between the creatures and the Creator, the circulation of divine influx (shefa‘) from higher spiritual planes to lower ones, meditative mystical techniques (kavvanot, yihudim, and concentration on the letters of the prayers) or the secrets of the divine emanations (sefirot). Rather, the mystical references were grounded in practical kabbalah (kabbalah ma‘asit), particularly concerning the impact of any good or bad human action on the divine world and fostering the messianic process. Old Yiddish authors and translators always maintained certain boundaries and restrictions to prevent the transmission of the deepest secrets of kabbalah to the Jewish masses, keeping the most concealed and hidden knowledge within the highly educated circles.^[48] Thus, Aryeh Seligman kept a strict separation between the uncommunicable secrets and those which could be shared with the Jewish masses (fol. 13a): »My dear people, the great secrets could not be revealed to anybody because they raised great questions which could not be explained to everybody, but only to those [talmidei ḥakhamim, ḥasidim, tsaddikim] who have studied the Zohar«. Nevertheless, he believed that the kabbalistic tradition, as words of God, must be transmitted to everyone. Disclosure or revelation of divine secrets contributed to individual purification and collective redemption, and so could bring messianic liberation (fol. 13a): »Dear people, know that when a man has finished studying the entire Gemara and the Tosafot without any knowledge of the secrets and wisdom of the kabbalah, he is, in comparison to those who do have such knowledge, like a child who has only begun to study […] Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai wrote the Zohar so that everyone could be satisfied and take pleasure in it, and so that, thanks to that splendid instruction, one might attain the world to come.«

Translating Mystical Treatises into the Jewish Vernacular

The originality of the type of Jewish chapbook that Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim represent lied in its condensing a large number of kabbalistic prayers and commentaries in Old Yiddish. This was not entirely new at the time, as mystical fragments in Jewish vernacular date back to sixteenth century.^[49] However, the increase in mystical references in Tikkunim demonstrates that by the seventeenth and eighteenth century, kabbalah had become an essential part of popular Jewish literature.

As it appears, Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim contain the most diverse and extensive collection of kabbalistic excerpts in Old Yiddish literature, as may be gleaned from even a short overview of its first volume (Fürth, 1725). After the writer’s justification (hitnatslut, in Yiddish far rid), the volume features commentaries on Ex. 12:17 for Pesah (u-shemartem: celebrate the festival of unleavened bread), as well as fragments and commentaries taken from the zoharic literature that Aryeh Seligman simplified and adapted to Yiddish. For instance (fol. 30a–31a): »In Egypt, Israel was impure, as a woman during her period of impurity (ishe nide) and separated from the Shekhine. During the night of Shvues, the impurity is eliminated; this is why the pious Jews (anshe khsidim) stay awake during the night to study Toyre, Mishne, Gemore and, for those who could, Zoyer«. Afterwards, Seligman added: »My dear people, as the Zohar is good and nice to study, the person who just listens to it will have pleasure. And so, for the honor of ha-Shem, I have included in the book [some references from the Zohar], half for the learned (lomedim) who know, and a half for those who do not know Hebrew [and Aramaic] and could nevertheless study for their benefit […] During these two nights, each good pious Jew must study Torah according to his possibility [capacity and ability] (vas zayn meglekh keyt ist).«

The most important part of the chapbook included prayers connected to specific rituals: Sefirat ha-Omer (25b); Seder Tevilah (38b); Seder Leyl Shavu’ot (40b); Seder Teshuvah le-Rosh ha-Shanah (60a); Tikkun Teshuvah (62b); Seder Teshuvah le-Yom Kippur (66b); Tikkun le-Sukkot (68a); Seder Tikkun le-Hoshana Rabbah (82a), and Leyl Hoshana Rabbah (91a). For instance, Berikh shemeh demare alma (»Blessed is the Name of the Master of the universe«), taken from the Zohar (II, 206a), was intended to be recited when the Torah would be removed from the Holy Ark.^[50] The text was included in many collections of prayers, such as tehinot and bakashot (Basel 1609, fol. 2a–3a), as well as in many printed Siddurim published in the seventeenth century. Its beginning, translated in Old Yiddish, reads:^[51]

גלובט      זאל זיין דער נאמן פון דען הערן פון דער גאנצי וועלט דער ווילן זאל זיין מיט דיינם פאלק ישראל צו איביג און צו אנטפאנגן אונזר תפלה מיט דערברמונ : עש זאל זיין דער ווילן פון צו פאר דיר גאט דוא זאלשט דער לאנגן אונזר לעבן אין אייטל גוטן און איך זאל גיצילט ווער אונשר צדיקים  (צדקניות) אונטר ישראל דו זאלשט דיך דער בארמן איבר מיר און זאלשט מיך היטן  און אלי דיא מייניגן און דיין פאלק ישראל. דוא בישט גאט דער דא אלז שפייזט.  דוא בישט גאט דער דא גיוועלטיגט איבר אלש.  דוא בישט גאט דער דא גיוועלטיגט איבר אלי קיניגרייך און דאז קיניגרייך איז דיין איך בין דיין קנעכט.

[Translation: Blessed be the Name of the Master of the whole world; may it be for eternity with your people Israel and to receive our prayer with mercy. May it be Your will God you must give our lives some good to give it to the just, men and women of Israel. You must have mercy of me and protect me and all mines and the Jewish people. You are God who nourishes all. You are God who rules over all, who governs all the kingdoms and the kingdom is Yours and I am your servant.^[52]]

Thus, in Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim, the study of the Zohar compared to a remedy that cures the body and soul of impurity and sin. As opposed to the exile of the Shekhinah, called goles kale, the night of Shvues is the night of the bride (layla de-kala) during which the groom offers a present to his bride.^[53] In comparison, the night of Hoshana Rabbah is the night of the sealing (leil ha-hotam), whence ha-Shem sanctifies Israel, as a groom his bride, while the Torah is compared to a ketubah.^[54] He inscribes the mitsve—to stay awake to pray as study—in the book of remembrance (be-safra de-dikhirna) for the day of judgment (yom ha-din).

Another interesting aspect of the Tikkunei ha-Mo’adim concerns the translation of »classical« Hebrew and Aramaic mystical texts into the Jewish vernacular. Let us focus on one example, the adaptation of the Idra Rabba (fol. 57a–58b) and Idra Zutta (fol. 96b–98a) from the Zohar, which demonstrates how kabbalistic textual traditions were embedded into a popular text.^[55] In the Idrot, before leaving earth and going into the other world (ab sheydn fun der velt un geyn tsu yene velt), Shimon bar Yohai revealed holy words and the deepest secrets hidden in his heart (megale zayn heylige red un soydes far borgen in mayne hertzn) to the ten sages of his khavruse (Aramaic havraya). Earlier translations of the Idrot had appeared in Old Yiddish before, such as Mayse ha-Shem (Frankfurt, 1691), a collection of mystical narrations taken mostly from the Zohar and Shivhei ha-Ari, in which we find [fol. 59a–61b] »a marvelous story from the Zohar, parashat ha’azinu, how the holy and divine man, R. Shimon, left [departed from] the world.«^[56] Naḥalat Tsevi, or Taytsh-Zoyer (1711), was another Yiddish translation, close to the Aramaic version, with small explanations and commentaries on the ethical and narratives parts of the Zohar. It was created by Tsevi Hirsh Yerahmiel Chotsch and printed in Frankfurt in 1711. The partial adaptation of Idra de-ha’azinu (III, 287b–296b) is preceded there by the following presentation (fol. 59a): »This is an abstract in the revealed way (be-deyrekh nigle) about the holy chamber in which R. Shimen went before his death to reveal great secrets which are also in Idra rabba parashat naso to know the great praise of the Torah and R. Shimon bar Yohai.« The reading of the Idrot appears connected to liturgical readings and prayers recited and studied during Leyl Shavu’ot, as was the ostensible practice among Isaac Luria’s mystical circle in Safed. This reading is preceded by a Yiddish translation of the Sefer Yetsirah, with brief explanations (fol. 51a–b):

בשלושה ספרים מיט דרייא ספרים האט הק’’בה דען עולם בישאפן. איין ספר הייזט  ספר דאז  איזט אונזר תורה כפשוטה. דאז אנדר היישט וספר דאז איז טייטש וויא איטליכר זאל פר זיך לערנן. דאז דריט הייזט וסיפור דאז איזט טייטש פר צילן דהיינו איטליכר דער וואז לערנן קאן פאר זיך  דער איז מחויב ווייטר צו לערנן.

[Translation: Be-shloyshe seforim, Ha-Shem has created the world with three seforim: One is Sefer, our plain, literal Torah; the second is sapar which means that each person must study for himself; the third is sippur which means narrate. Each person who could study is obliged to study further.^[57]]

What follows is a long comparison between Ha-Shem and a blacksmith »who prepares his tools, and does his work, one step after another. God, in contrast, created the world all at once.« Afterwards, there appears a testimony about the origin of the minhag to stay awake for studying and praying during the night. Such mystical narrations (mayses, sippurim and shvokhim), especially from Shimon bar Yohai and Isaac Luria, become in these texts an essential channel for transmitting kabbalistic doctrines and their moral lessons. These wandering stories migrated from the Zohar and hagiographical stories to popular literature. For instance, the chapbook includes a story (fol. 45a), Mayse godl ve-nore oyf taytsh, which was taken from the Iggeret Alkabetz—a letter by Shlomo Alkabets transcribed in Joseph Karo,^[58] later disseminated in many texts.^[59] This letter appears also the Hebrew edition of the Tikkun leyl Shavu’ot ve-leyl Hoshana Rabbah (Frankfurt am Main, 1725).^[60] At its end (fol. 92b), we find a Yiddish version of the story, called »a wonderful story that happens on the night of Shavuot« (eyn vunderlekh mayse das geshehn iz an di nakht fun shvues). The story describes how one day in Adrianople in 1534, Shlomo Alkabetz and Yosef Caro were seated in their circle as they decided to stay awake the whole night to study. At midnight, a heavenly voice, maggid, was heard from the throat of Yosef Caro, saying that they must gather a minyan to pray and study Torah and Mishna (fol. 56b–57a):

תניא      מיר האבן אך גילערנט ער האט גיזאגט רבי שמעון צו זיינר חברותה דיא דא זיינן בייא אים אויף גיוועזן דיזי נאכט פון שבועות ביז ווי לאנג ווערן מיר נאך זיצן און זיך אן איינר זייל אן לייאנין ׃    כלומר מיר לייט זיינן נאר גיגליכן צו איין זייל דיא אורבליצלינג אב ברעכט.       אזו אך דער מענש.    קומט הער מיר וועלן מפורש זיין דען פסוק   (עת לעשות) עש קומט איין צייט  מן זאל טאן דען וויל פון הקבה ווען שון עז איז ווידר דער תורה.

[Translation: We have learned that R. Shimon [bar Yohai] say to his companions who were with him this night of Shavuot: How long we will be seated leaning on a single pillar. That is to say, we people are compared to a pillar which inevitably breaks. The same with us human beings. Come, we are going to interpret the verse Time to Act (Ps. 119, 126). A time comes when a person must do the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, when the Torah is violated.^[61] Days are few. As it is written in the Gemore: The Day is short. The days of the human beings are short, the human life is very brief. And the creditor is pressing. It means: Ha-Shem is the master of the house (balebos) who rewards humans for their sins and puts pressure on people to be pious and respect the commandments. A herald proclaims every day: this means a heavenly voice (baskol) calls out every day: Repent people, do repentance (teshuve) and turn away from your bad deeds.]

Additionally, preceded by a Yiddish translation of Sifra de-Rav Hamnuna Sabba, the chapbook translates other excerpts of the Idra Zutta (fol. 96b):

תאנא       מיר האבן גילערנט דיזם זעלביגן טאג דאז די חברים האבן זיך איין גיזאמלט צו רבי שמעון בן יוחאי דאז ער גיזאלט שטערבין  האט ער פאר צו דיא תלמידי חכמים איין צוואה  גימאכט. והוה קמיה   אזו זיינן פאר אים גיוועזין זיין זון רבי אליעזר און רבי אבא און דיא אנדרי חברים אזו איז דאז הויז גאנץ  פול גיוועזין מיט דער הייליגי שכינה.

[Translation: We learnt: the day when Shimen bar Yohai’s disciples gathered was the day of his death and wrote his last will for the sages. Rabbi Eleazar his son, Rabbi Abba and the rest of the companions appeared before him, and the house was full with the Holy Shekhine […] This time is a time of goodwill, I will be separated from the world and I will go in the world to come without shame. I will reveal saintly words, that is to say, secrets that were hidden in my heart […] I will tell you who shall transcribe the secrets. Rabbi Abba shall write the secrets, Rabbi Eleazar my son shall study them, and the other companions shall repeat slowly the words in their hearts, but not with their mouth […].^[62] Rabbi Shimon wrapped himself in his tales, tsitses and tfiln and said (Ps. 115, 17): The dead cannot praise Yah, nor can any who go down into silence. The verse means: not all the dead can praise God and bow down to the ground. R. Shimon said that the word dead doesn’t refer to those who are dead but to the sinners (reshoim) who were already during their life called dead […] For the Holy One, blessed be He, is called life, who lives always and for eternity, and dwells among those that are called living, even after their death, they are the righteous (Tsaddikim). We find the proof at the end of the verse: Nor can any who go down into silence (dumah), that is the bad angel called dumah who dwells in hell.«^[63]]

Concluding Remarks

The gradual evolution of the printing, study, and dissemination of the kabbalistic traditions during the early modern period reflects a major religious and cultural shift specific to the Ashkenazi society. The translation of collections of Tikkunim could be considered as one of the many signs of this cultural transformation. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, a new readership, consisting of both less educated men and women, gained access to a tiny part of the Jewish mystical tradition. It became a system of thought, beliefs, esoteric notions and practices that deeply permeated religious life, which helped to understand the links between the divine and earthly realms, the omnipresence of evil, the social sufferings and conflicts with the Christian society. Moreover, the transmission of the mystical literature intensified the desire for the end of exile and the coming of the redemption. In this lengthy process, it is essential to highlight the leading role of the cultural agents and entrepreneurs who participated in this cultural change: authors, editors, translators, printers, booksellers-publishers, and peddlers. The popularization and vernacularizing of the kabbalistic tradition contributed to another major cultural shift: the birth of Hasidism in the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. Both the elite and less educated readers became more familiar with the esoteric knowledge that permeated the religious life of the Ashkenazi society. The phenomenon of the ba‘alei shem and the tsaddikim would not have resonated so deeply had the intellectual and religious groundwork not been laid by the dissemination of kabbalistic traditions.

The multiplication of Tikkunim in the popular Jewish literature should be understood as part of a long process that began in the 16th century, exemplifying the transformations in the traditional Jewish life. The Old Yiddish literature shows that Kabbalah began to be shared with »simple« readers (hediot, hamon ‘am, gemeyne layt, proste yidn), although very partially, in the early modern Ashkenazi society. Scholarship of kabbalah have often privileged the dissemination of Jewish mysticism among the rabbinic and learned elite but neglected popular literary sources. Although these sources form a minor and limited corpus, they broaden our understanding of the transmission and circulation of kabbalistic traditions. As demonstrated by the examples of translations explored in this article, Yiddish chapbooks of Tikkunim, alongside similar publications in the Jewish vernacular, help us study the dynamics of text dissemination between Aramaic (loshn targem), Hebrew (loshn koydesh), and Old Yiddish (loshn ashkenaz), as well as learned versus popular culture. Lastly, they allow us to explore some overlooked aspects of the piety, spirituality, and mystical practices of the Jewish people in Central and Eastern Europe. Understanding the various aspects of the evolution of the Ashkenazi culture during the early modern period requires a greater consideration of the popular literature in the Jewish vernacular.