Sunday Sentence

Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.” And another Sunday in which I cannot adhere to the instructions of “out of context and without commentary.” In fact, this week, I simply MUST provide some context and commentary. Because on this Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the “best” sentences I’ve read lately come from the Holy Day prayerbook, from the Unetaneh Tokef poem/prayer.

A full-text translation can be found here. Leonard Cohen’s famous interpretation (also preceded by context & commentary!) is below. Some writing of mine inspired by the prayer’s lines has appeared on this site in the past. And as we approach the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, another powerful version, led by the Chief Cantor of the Israel Defense Forces, can be found here.

2 thoughts on “Sunday Sentence

  1. Judith Pfeffer says:

    A tiny by-the-way type note about “Who By Fire”

    the song was played at the conclusion of a particularly harrowing episode of the television show Criminal Minds.

    It was my first time hearing it, and I explained to my younger, Gentile housemates (who had introduced me to the show) what the song was about and what its origins were.

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      Thanks for sharing, Judith.

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