Avodah: An Anthology of Ancient Poetry for Yom Kippur - Paperback

by Michael D. Swartz (Author), Joseph Yahalom (Author)

Avodah is the first major translation of one of the most important genres of the lost literature of the ancient synagogue. Piyyut literature can teach us much about how ancient Jews understood sacrifice, sacred space, and sin. The poems are also a rich source for retrieving myths and symbols not found in the conventional Rabbinic sources.

Author Biography

Michael D. Swartz is Professor of Hebrew and Religious Studies at the Ohio State University. He is the author of Mystical Prayer in Ancient Judaism: An Analysis of Ma'aseh Merkavah (1992) and Scholastic Magic: Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism (1996).

Joseph Yahalom is Professor of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is regarded as one of the foremost experts on Hebrew liturgical poetry and has written several books on the subject, including Palestinian Vocalised Piyyut Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (1997).