Thursday, 18 August 2016

authorship - Who is the author of Gott Fun Avrohom?


Gott Fun Avrohom (Yiddish: גאט פון אברהם) is a prayer written primarily in Yiddish and in some Ashkenazi communities it is recited by women before Havdalah. (Sometimes it is also recited by men as well.)



The Complete ArtScroll Siddur and Siddur Kol Yaakov HaChadash both attribute the prayer to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.



Today, many women maintain the custom of reciting Gott fun Avrohom before Havdalah. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, traditionally recognized as the author of this prayer, however, wrote that it should be recited three times by men, women, and children, and that this recitation would help assure success in the ensuing week. - Siddur Eitz Chaim, The Complete ArtScroll Siddur, Nusach Sefard, First Edition page 653.


נמצא בכתבי קודש של הרב הקדוש רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב זצ''ל, בעל המחבד ספר קדושת לוי - סידור קול יעקב החדש, הוצאת הספר אדיר, עמוד 350



Despite all this, I read somewhere online that it was not authored by Rabbi Levi, because Gott fun Avrohom appears in siddurim from before his time! So who is the real author, and who should I believe?


http://judaicaused.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-origin-of-mis-attribution-of-got.html



Answer



While Isaac lays out the common claim of Levi Yitzchok Berditschever (as well as the fallacy thereof) he doesn't go farther back. Per the author of the Treasures of Ashkenaz blog, the authorship question for Gott von Avrohom goes further back than the birth of Chassidus, being rishonic in nature. While the individual who first composed a vernacular techinah in this form will likely never be identified, we can safely dismiss R' Levi Yitzchok as a contender – since print versions appear prior to his lifetime (c. 1740-1809)


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