Lost Yom Kippur Prayers Revealed

IFCJ Canada  |  October 3, 2025

The newly discovered machzor (a prayer book used for Jewish holidays) that dates back to the 14th-century reveals lost Yom Kippur prayers in the form of piyyutim (liturgical poems) for the High Holy Day, The Times of Israel reports. The manuscript was acquired from a private collector and has been digitized by the National Library of Israel.

These poems come from a tradition that originated in the Black Sea port of Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula, where several Jewish communities made their homes. This included the Crimeans, Karaites, Khazarians, Genese, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi Jews. It also gives us a look at a time before the invention of the printing press, which led to the standardization of Jewish prayers.

“We were already familiar with the Kaffa rite, but this machzor seems to have been written down prior to when the tradition was codified,” Neria told The Times of Israel over the phone.

“What truly surprised us is that the machzor contains several piyyutim [liturgical poems] completely unknown from any other source, along with others previously attested only in documents recovered from the Cairo Genizah,” he added, referring to a treasure trove of Jewish communal documents stored in an ancient synagogue in the Egyptian capital over centuries.

Piyyutim form a central element of the prayers recited throughout the holy day.

The machzor includes a lost version of the Yom Kippur prayer for mourners. It reads, “Blessed are You… Who understands every creature… Resuscitator of the dead. May You soon have mercy on Your people and comfort the heart of mourners… Comforter of Zion and the heart of mourners. And may everyone who does kindness to another be recompensed… Who pays goodly reward to doers of kindness. May You withhold Your anger… Who stops pestilence, sword, destruction and plague from us…” The curator of the collection interprets this as a way to ask God to end Israel’s current war, now raging for two years.

During the Day of Atonement this year, nothing is more important than reflecting on our relationship with God. These lost prayers were once several Jewish communities’ way of doing so during this most scared time of year, which is why their discovery and recording is so important.