# Yaaleh V'Yavo

Yaaleh V'Yavo (יעלה ויבוא; trans: "May [our remembrance] arise and come ... before Thee") is a Jewish prayer that is added to the liturgy on the festivals and Rosh Chodesh; it is inserted into both the Amidah and Birkat HaMazon. It requests that God "remember" His people for merit by granting them blessing, deliverance, and mercy on that auspicious day.

## Placement

Yaaleh V'Yavo is recited on all major festivals and intermediate days, but it is not recited on minor festivals such as Chanuka or Purim. As a rule, any day where a Mussaf sacrifice was brought in the Temple calls for its recitation.
On major holidays, it is recited within the middle blessing of the Amidah, "Atah Bechartanu". On lesser holidays (Rosh Chodesh and Chol HaMoed) it is recited in the middle of the "Ritzeh" (or "Avodah") blessing of the Amidah. In Birkat HaMazon it is recited within the "Boneh Yerushalayim" blessing. Some of the themes within Yaaleh V'Yavo correspond with the themes of these blessings, namely, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the temple. In regards to its placement within Ritzeh specifically, the Talmud frames this blessing as the correct place to include prayers for the future. Later scholars explain this to include Yaaleh V'Yavo.
Yaaleh V'Yavo is omitted from every Mussaf Amidah, with the exception of Mussaf of Rosh Hashana in the Sephardic rite. It is not recited on any fast day besides Yom Kippur.

## History

The Tosefta (Berachot 3:14) is the earliest source for the insertion of an additional prayer for special days. There, it is alternatively referred to as a "Sanctification of the Day" (קדושת היום) or a "Reference to the Occasion" (מעין המאורע). By Talmudic times, the Amoraim settled upon locations in the liturgy to include an additional prayer for special days.
These early Rabbinic sources do not provide us with a sample of the prayer which was used as a "Reference to the Occasion". Though the archaic language of Yaaleh V'Yavo led some scholars to declare it an ancient liturgy composed by the Council of Yavne under the auspices of Rabban Gamliel in the first century CE, this attribution was met with skepticism, since a "Reference to the Occasion" beginning with the words "Yaaleh V'Yavo" does not appear in any Jewish texts until the 7th century.
Yaaleh V'Yavo is first mentioned by name in the context of festival prayers in Tractate Soferim (c. 6$^{7h}$ – 8th century). It then appears in various Geonic responsa, most importantly in a responsum by R' Paltoi ben Abaye (c. 850). R' Paltoi writes that some communities in his time used Yaaleh V'Yavo for all festivals, while others used it only in Mussaf of Rosh Hashana, and used some unnamed alternatives for other festivals. He states that this variation is a matter of local custom, and that the exact prayer which is used does not affect the validity of fulfilling the obligation to include a "Reference to the Occasion".
This responsum led other scholars to believe that Yaaleh V'Yavo was originally composed for the Mussaf of Rosh Hashana, specifically for the Zichronot ("Remembrances") section of the poetic Amidah known as "Tekiata D'Vei Rav" (תקיעתא דבי רב: trans. "The Mussaf Shofar-Amidah of Rav's Yeshiva"), still used to this day. From there, the prayer was borrowed for use on other festivals. The theme of remembrance in Yaaleh V'Yavo supports this theory.
J. Heinemann, while in the early stages of developing his form-critical approach to liturgical study, realized that another perspective of this prayer's history was possible. In his view, Jewish prayers and liturgical practices emerged naturally among the people in various social settings (synagogue, study hall, etc.) before being systematized and standardized by the rabbis. Therefore, it isn't productive to search for an Urtext (original text) that represents a singular, original version. In this vein, multiple versions of prayer were developed concurrently in different circles and used interchangeably. Due to the similarities between Yaaleh V'Yavo and the Boneh Yerushalayim prayer in Birkat HaMazon, Heinemann suggests that the former was originally composed as a version of the latter, meant for use specifically on Rosh Hashana, the Day of Remembrance. This theory also explains why Yaaleh V'Yavo incorporates both of those themes: Remembrance and Jerusalem.
A. Kellerman studied an early version of Yaaleh V'Yavo from post-Talmudic Israel and argues that it is an early Jewish liturgical hymn from the pre-Classical era of Piyyut composition (pre-6th century). It is important to note that other scholars (even Piyyut specialists) who studied the same version did not agree; rather, they assume that it follows a style typical of archaic liturgical prose.

## Nusach

As with many early Jewish prayers, we find two recensions of Yaaleh V'Yavo in medieval times: the "Babylonian" rite and the "Palestinian" rite. Both rites are quite similar and are recognizably the same prayer. With the decline of the Geonic centers in Israel (ca. 11th century), the Palestinian rite slowly fell into disuse as the majority of Jewish communities adopted the laws and practices of the Babylonian centers. The Babylonian rite appears in Geonic Siddurim and has remained considerably stable since then, with minor variations arising in different communities.
One clear distinction between the modern Sephardic and Ashkenazic Nuschaot of Yaaleh V'Yavo is seen in the inclusion (Sephardic) or exclusion (Ashkenazic) of the words "מקרא קודש" on the holidays. Even within Ashkenazic siddurim, there are discrepancies which words are prefaced with a vav (and).