The Sacrifice of Isaac
The title of this small manuscript, Akedat Yizhak, refers to the Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22: 1–9), a central theme in the liturgy of Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year. It contains prayers, supplications, and liturgical poems in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, the latter the local spoken language of the Jews in Baghdad, where they were recited on the eve of the second day of Rosh ha-Shanah. Similar collections for this and other Jewish holidays, with variations in the choice of texts and use of the local vernacular, were popular among Jewish communities the world over.
The title of this small manuscript, <em>Akedat Yizhak</em>, refers to the Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22: 1–9), a central theme in the liturgy of Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year. It contains prayers, supplications, and liturgical poems in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, the latter the local spoken language of the Jews in Baghdad, where they were recited on the eve of the second day of Rosh ha-Shanah. Similar collections for this and other Jewish holidays, with variations in the choice of texts and use of the local vernacular, were popular among Jewish communities the world over.