Days of awe: Being a treasury of traditions, legends and learned commentaries concerning Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur and the days between, culled from three hundred volumes, ancient and new
by Samuel Joseph Agnon, Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Category: Bible

Some years ago an Englishwoman, a relative of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, asked S.Y. Agon whether there exists in traditional Judaism anything corresponding in its high drama and inntense power to the old Easter rituals. In response to this challenge - and to his own unceasing quest for style and structure - Agon composed this literary tone poem on the Days of Awe. Taking his materials from the vast storehouse of Hebrew literature of all ages, he ilustrated the procession of the High Holy Days from the period of preparation for the Day of Judgment to the "Closing of the Gates" : profound religious mediation, moving homily, travelers' reports, conversation and memoir, drama and pathos at once simple and majestic.