B'Rosh Ha-shana yikateivun,
u v'yom tsom kipur yekhateimun.
Kama ya'avrun, v'khama yibareun.
Mi yikhveh, u mi yamut.
Mi v'kitzo u'mi lo v'kitzo.
Mi va esh u mi va mayim.
Mi va kherev u mi va khaya.
Mi va ra'av, u'mi va'tzama.
Mi va'chanika u'mi va'sekila.
Mi yanuach, u'mi yanua.
Mi yishaket, umi yitareif.
Mi yishalev, u'mi yityasar.
Mi yeani, u'mi ye'asher.
Mi yishafel, u'mi yarum.
U'teshuva, u'tefila, u'zedaka ma’ avirin et roa hagzera.
On Rosh Hashanah it is written,
On Yom Kippur it is sealed,
How many shall pass away,
And how many shall be born,
Who shall live and who shall die,
Who shall complete his years,
And who shall not complete his years,
Who shall die by fire and who by water,
Who by the sword and who by a wild beast,
Who by famine and who by thirst,
Who by earthquake and who by pestilence,
Who by strangling and who by stoning,
Who shall be at rest and who shall wander,
Who shall be serene and who shall be disturbed,
Who shall be at ease and who shall be afflicted,
Who shall be poor and who shall be rich,
Who shall be humbled and who shall be exalted.
But penitence, prayer, and deeds of mercy annul the severity of the judgment.
PDF: BRosh_Ha_Shanah-sample.pdf
After many years with the two melodies that my synagogue, Mishkan Torah, used for this prayer from the Rosh Ha-shanah liturgy, I wanted to write a choral version, one with perhaps more musical variety than those melodies heard every year. After getting the green light from Rabbi Grife (of blessed memory) and choir director Becky Silverstein, I set to work, and finished it in time for the High Holy Days in fall 2002. The choir sang it for some years as an adjunct to one of the traditional tunes. I made some tweaks in 2014, after which I finally affixed a copyright.
The piece follows the rondo-like form of the traditional versions, with the refrain sung by the full five-part SSATB chorus. Each verse is sung by three trios of solo voices: S-Mzs-A, Mzs-A-T, T-Bar-B. (In a pinch, one could get away with just six different solo voices.)
Some of the verses venture into into dissonant harmonies and spiky meters, but the choral refrain, based on more or less Aeolian modal progressions, is constant until the coda, when the refrain leads into the final phrase on “ma’ avirin et ro-a hagzera.”