TEKI'ATA

TEKI'ATA (Teki'to ; Heb. תְּקִיעָתָא ,תְּקִיעוֹת), three series of scriptural verses included in the *Musaf service of Rosh Ha-Shanah, designated *malkhuyyot, *zikhronot, and *shofarot, and concerned respectively with the Kingdom of Heaven, the remembrance of the Covenant, and the sounding of the horn of Redemption. Each series of verses concludes with an appropriate benediction: "Blessed art Thou … King of the whole earth…," "… Who remembers the Covenant," and "… Who hears the sound of the horn of his people Israel."

The teki'ata are first mentioned in the Mishnah of Rosh Ha-Shanah (4:5–6). According to the first opinion of the Mishnah, each of the series comprises ten verses – three from the Pentateuch, three from the Prophets, three from the Hagiographa, and a final verse from the Prophets. Another view expressed in the Mishnah, that of *Yose b. Ḥalafta, is that the final verse may also be from the Pentateuch. R. *Johanan b. Nuri maintained that each teki'ata should contain only three verses – one from the Pentateuch, one from the Prophets, and one from the Hagiographa. Halakhic practice conforms to Yose b. Halafta's opinion; and each teki'ata contains ten verses, the final one being from the Pentateuch. The Ashkenazi and French custom differs, however, in that the hagiographic verses in each series precede those from the Prophets. In the course of time, introductory piyyutim were added to the teki'ata: Aleinu le-Shabbe'aḥ and Ve-Al Ken Nekavveh before the malkhuyyot, Attah Zokher before the zikhronot, and Attah Nigleita before the shofarot. These introductions are attributed to *Rav (second and third centuries c.e.) and are therefore called Teki'ata de-Rav or Teki'ata de-Vei Rav.

In the age of the paytanim more piyyutim were added, corresponding to the theme of each teki'ata. It may be assumed that these piyyutim were first used as alternatives to those of Rav, but eventually both old and new were incorporated jointly into the liturgy. The oldest piyyutim are those of *Yose b. Yose (Ahallelah … Davidson, Oẓar, 1 (1924), 69 no. 1494). Saadiah b. Joseph Gaon praised them in his siddur (ed. by I. Davidson et al. (1941), 225), stating that he chose them in preference to all others. They have been adopted into the Ashkenazi and French rites; and so also have the piyyutim of Eleazar *Kallir. Teki'ata by Solomon ibn Gabirol beginning Ansikhah malki (Davidson, ibid., 310 no. 6823) are also well known. Several teki'ata were discovered in the Cairo Genizah, outstanding among them being those composed by a Palestinian paytan, Mishael, who lived after Kallir; and still other teki'ata exist in manuscript.

bibliography:

Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 142, 216, 264; D. Goldschmidt (ed.), Maḥzor le-Rosh Ha-Shanah (1970), introd. 44–48.

[Abraham Meir Habermann]