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Akdamut, or Akdamut Milin or Akdamus Milin (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ?????? ?????, "In Introduction to the Words") is a prominent piyyut
Piyyut

A piyyut is a Judaism liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during Jewish services. Piyyutim have been written since Jewish Temple times....
 (Jewish liturgical poem) recited annually on the Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday

A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history....
 of Shavuot
Shavuot

is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan . Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day Names of God in Judaism#In English gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai....
 by Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish ethnic divisions of the Rhineland in the west of Germany....
. It was penned by Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak of Worms
Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, who lived in the 11th century. Akdamut consists entirely of praise for God and is written in Aramaic.

Akdamut is read on the first day of Shavuot during the Torah
Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
 service.






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Akdamut, or Akdamut Milin or Akdamus Milin (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ?????? ?????, "In Introduction to the Words") is a prominent piyyut
Piyyut

A piyyut is a Judaism liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during Jewish services. Piyyutim have been written since Jewish Temple times....
 (Jewish liturgical poem) recited annually on the Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday

A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history....
 of Shavuot
Shavuot

is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan . Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day Names of God in Judaism#In English gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai....
 by Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish ethnic divisions of the Rhineland in the west of Germany....
. It was penned by Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak of Worms
Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, who lived in the 11th century. Akdamut consists entirely of praise for God and is written in Aramaic.

Akdamut is read on the first day of Shavuot during the Torah
Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
 service. The original practice was for it to be recited after the reading of the first verse of the lection (Exodus 19:1), but in the past few centuries, the practice has developed in many congregations (mainly Eastern European ones) that the poem is read after the kohen
Kohen

A kohen is a Jew who is a direct male descendant of the Bible Aaron, brother of Moses, with a separate status in Judaism. Another term for the descendants of Aaron are the Aaronites or Aaronids....
 has been called to the Torah reading
Torah reading

Torah reading is a Judaism religion ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Sefer Torah. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark , chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to the ark....
, but before he has made the blessing. In most synagogues it is read responsively: the ba'al korei singing two verses, and the congregation responding with the next two verses. There are some synagogues where it is not recited.

Structure

The 45 two-line verses of Akdamut are arranged as a double alphabetic acrostic
Acrostic

An acrostic is a poem or other writing in an alphabetic writing system, in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out another message....
 followed by the initial letters spelling out the words, "Meir, son of Rabbi Isaac, may he grow in Torah and in good deeds. Amen. Be strong and have courage."

The language of Akdamut is terse and complicated, and is replete with references to Torah
Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
 and Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
. Each line concludes with the syllable "ta", which is spelled with the last letter (tav
Taw (letter)

Taw or Tav is the twenty-second and last letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician language, Aramaic language, Hebrew language Tav and Arabic alphabet ....
) and first letter (aleph) of the Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. Five of these letters have a different form when appearing as the last letter in a word....
. The encoded message from the author is that a Jew never stops learning Torah — when one finishes, one must start anew again. This message was appropriately chosen for Shavuot, since this holiday commemorates the Jews accepting the Torah on Mount Sinai
Biblical Mount Sinai

The Biblical Mount Sinai is an ambiguously located mountain at which the Hebrew Bible states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by Tetragrammaton....
.