Prologue: The Voice of the Herald

Kol mevaser mevaser veomer...

The voice of the herald[259] brings good tidings and proclaims:

Your mighty salvation comes![260] My Beloved is coming![261] - the voice heralds.

He comes with myriads of regiments of angels to stand on the Mount of Olives![262] - the voice heralds.

He approaches to sound the Shofar,[263] beneath Him the mountain shall split,[264] - the voice heralds.

He knocks,[265] peers [through the lattice],[266] and shines forth,[267] and half the mountain moves from the east,[268] - the voice heralds.

He has fulfilled the words of His promise, and He has come with all His holy ones,[269] - the voice heralds.

A heavenly voice is heard by all the inhabitants of the earth, - the voice heralds.

Israel, His people, tended by Him from the womb,[270] has been newly born as a babe born from its mother's loins, - the voice heralds.

She has travailed and given birth[271] to a people that shines forth as the dawn;[272] who has heard of anything like this?[273] - the voice heralds.

The Pure One has wrought all this; who has seen such wonders?273 - the voice heralds.

The means and time of Redemption have been appointed; can a land be born in one day?273 - the voice heralds.

Without the help of the One who is omnipotent in celestial and terrestrial domains, could an entire nation be born at once?273 - the voice heralds.

When the resplendent G-d redeems His people, then the evening shall be light,[274] - the voice heralds.

Deliverers will go up to Mount Zion,[275] for Zion has travailed and given birth,[276] - the voice heralds.

A voice resounds throughout your boundaries: Enlarge the place of your encampment,[277] - it heralds.

Extend your habitations as far as Damascus;[278] receive your sons and your daughters, - the voice heralds.

Rose of Sharon,[279] exult, for those who sleep in Hebron[280] have arisen, - the voice heralds.

Turn to Me and be saved even this very day, if you hear My voice,[281] - the voice heralds.

There has appeared a man: his name is Tzemach,[282] it is David himself![283] - the voice heralds.

Arise, those who are buried in the earth; awake and jubilate, those who dwell in the dust![284] - the voice heralds.

When [Mashiach] will be established as king in Jerusalem, the populous city,[285] G-d will be a tower of salvation to him,[286] - the voice heralds.

The name of the wicked will be annihilated, but lovingkindness will be shown to David his anointed,[286] - the voice heralds.

Grant salvation to the eternal people, to David and his descendants forever,[286] - the voice heralds.

From the prayers of Hoshana Rabbah, Siddur Tehillat HaShem (trans. Rabbi Nissen Mangel), p. 334

   

Notes:

259. (Back to text) I.e., Eliyahu the Prophet, who will herald the coming of Mashiach, and proclaim the good tidings enumerated below.

     In the original of this poetic passage, each stanza consists of a rhyming couplet - typically two related promises of Redemption borrowed or concisely paraphrased from the prophetic Books of the Tanach. Apart from the first stanza, each one begins with the word kol ("the voice"), and the initial letters of the next word in each case follow the order of the alphabet.

260. (Back to text) Cf. Yeshayahu 62:11.

261. (Back to text) Shir HaShirim 2:8.

262. (Back to text) Cf. Zechariah 14:4.

263. (Back to text) Cf. ibid. 9:14; Yeshayahu 27:13.

264. (Back to text) Cf. Zechariah 14:4.

265. (Back to text) Shir HaShirim 5:2.

266. (Back to text) Ibid. 2:9.

267. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 60:2.

268. (Back to text) Zechariah 14:4.

269. (Back to text) Ibid. 14:5.

270. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 46:3.

271. (Back to text) Ibid. 66:8.

272. (Back to text) Shir HaShirim 6:10.

273. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 66:8.

274. (Back to text) Zechariah 14:7.

275. (Back to text) Ovadiah 1:21.

276. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 66:8.

277. (Back to text) Ibid. 54:2.

278. (Back to text) Cf. Midrash Rabbah on Shir HaShirim 7:4; Yalkut Shimoni on Zechariah, sec. 575, and on Yeshayahu, sec. 472; Rashi and Radak on Zechariah 9:1.

279. (Back to text) I.e., the Jewish people; see Shir HaShirim 2:1.

280. (Back to text) I.e., the Patriarchs, who are interred in Hebron.

281. (Back to text) Cf. Sanhedrin 98a.

282. (Back to text) Cf. Zechariah 3:8, 6:12-13, and Targum there; Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachos 4:4.

283. (Back to text) See: R. Yeshayahu Horowitz (Shelah), Commentary on the Siddur, and R. Yaakov Emden, Commentary on the Siddur; cf. Yirmeyahu 33:15; Zohar I, 82b, and II, 332b.

284. (Back to text) Cf. Yeshayahu 26:19.

285. (Back to text) Eichah 1:1.

286. (Back to text) Cf. II Shmuel 22:51.