Days of Awe: A Treasury of Jewish Wisdom for Reflection, Repentance, and Renewal on the High Holy Days

by S.Y. Agnon

Compiled by S.Y. Agnon, one of the greatest Hebrew writers of the twentieth century and winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature, Days of Awe is the long-acknowledged classic companion to the High Holy Days prayerbook. Here in one volume are readings from the meditations from the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, and the Zohar, to deepen the spiritual experience of the holiest days of the Jewish year. More than three hundred texts. selected from the vast storehouse of Jewish literature from ancient to modern times, are arranged to follow the order of the synagogue service for the High Holy Days. "From the moment of its appearance," writes Judah Goldin in the Introduction, "[this] volume seemed as though it had always been here, as though it had always been the companion of the holiday prayerbook."

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Religion, Judaica, Theology, Spirituality, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

also known as Shai Agnon

Dramatic novels in Hebrew of Polish-born Israeli writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon include A Guest for the Night (1939); he shared the Nobel Prize of 1966 for literature.

"For his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people," he shared this award with Nelly Sachs. He died in Jerusalem, Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_...

Reviews

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern classic. Nobel Prize for Literature author S.Y.Agnon pulls from over 300 texts to create this compilation of stories, traditions, and teachings regarding Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the days in between. I actually learned a lot from this. Agnon has a way of combining teachings to spin a few things in ways I hadn't put together before. Worth the technical and dated language to get the full effect.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This didn't fully blow my mind, but fully kept my attention during the Yom Kippur gaps and Cantoric torture.

I would have wanted more parables and tales from the masters, but absent that, at least the book is incredibly thorough, front to back, missing exposition on nothing.

And it was inspiring too, in both the Return sense, and in realizing what kind of dedication it took to put this together.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich compendium of traditions, anecdotes, and lore. Perfect to stick in your tallit bag and peruse when you have a few quiet minutes to reflect on the swirl of High Holy Day activities.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Days of Awe is one of those books you recognize from the shelves of synagogue and day school libraries. Until this High Holiday season, I never pulled it down. Now I know why it’s ubiquitous. Agnon, Israel’s greatest writer, fuses together passages from 300 books to form a meditation on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the Ten Days of Repentance between them, exploring their grand meaning and loveliest intricacies. It is a poem in prose, a polyphonic sonata. Days of Awe gathers the wisdom of the tradition concerning these most holy days and makes it instantly, majestically accessible.

[rivka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read from the beginning to page 38; and from page 183 to 193. Maybe we'll go back to it next year.

[Alex]

This is an incredible sourcebook for Jewish texts relating to the high holidays in English; it KILLS me that there isn't an index.

[Bill Dauster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A splendid anthology collecting the most illuminating sources on the High Holidays.

[Yeedle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book, coming from Agnon. You would expect to find some extraordinary insight into the Days of Awe, but all it is is a collection of laws, customs and stories.

[Mills College Library]

296.431 Y199 1995