Omnam Ken

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OMNAM KEN

OMNAM KEN (Heb. אָמְנָם כֵּן; "Yes, it is true"), initial words and name of a penitential piyyut for the *Kol Nidrei service on the eve of the Day of Atonement, known only in the Ashkenazi (German and Polish) ritual. This piyyut, of an alphabetical acrostic pattern, was composed by R. *Yom Tov of Joigny, who died as a martyr in the York massacre in 1190. The piyyut emphasizes the sinfulness of man who fails because of his evil inclinations, and pleads for God's forgiveness and mercy. Each of its 11 stanzas ends with salaḥti ("I have pardoned"), derived from Numbers 14:20.

Text and English translation printed in High Holiday Prayerbook, ed. by Morris Silverman (19542), 233; Service of the Synagogue, Day of Atonement, 1 (1955), 38.

bibliography:

Davidson, Oẓar, 1 (1924), 263, no. 5764.