Akdamut: Text & Commentary on a Liturgical Poem for Shavuot

This 8-page long PDF document provides the Aramaic text and English translation of Akdamut, the lengthy Aramaic poem recited during the Torah reading in synagogue on the morning of Shavuot. The document, a Shavuot supplement to Or Hadash: A Commentary on Sim Shalom for Weekdays (Conservative), provides rabbinic commentary and explanation of this text. Akdamut is a prominent liturgical poem recited responsively in almost all Ashkenazi synagogues prior to the reading of the Ten Commandments. It was written in the 11th century by Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak (Nehorai), a cantor in Worms, Germany. The poem consists of praise for God, the Torah and the Jewish people.