Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Kabbalistic Customs: A Series
j i
Tikkun Leil Shavuot1

MORRIS M. FAIERSTEIN
T
he term “tikkun” has three meanings. The first is the most common
meaning—repair of something that has been damaged. The second
and third meanings are mystical. The second meaning is to decorate
or prepare the Shekhinah for her union with the male aspect of the sefirotic
world and also relates to mystical rituals that relate to this event. The third
meaning refers to the editing or preparation of texts that are studied during
these mystical rituals. The texts consist of passages from the Bible, rabbinic
literature and the Zohar. The booklets that were published with the appro-
priate texts to be read during these rituals also came to be called “tikku-
nim.” There are also tikkun rituals for other occasions, like Hoshanah
Rabbah and the seventh night of Passover. These will be discussed else-
where.2
The textual basis for the ritual of “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” is the follow-
ing passage from the Zohar:
“Rabbi Simeon would sit and study Torah all night when the
bride was about to be united with her husband. As we have
learned that the companions of the household in the bride’s
palace are needed on that night when the bride is prepared for
her meeting on the morrow with her husband under the bridal
canopy. They need to be with her all that night and rejoice with
her in the preparations with which she is adorned, studying
Torah, from the Humash to the Prophets, and from the
Prophets to the Writings, and then to the midrashic and mysti-
cal interpretations of the verses, for these are her adornments
and her finery. And she enters with her maidens and stands
above their heads, and she is made ready by them, and rejoices
with them throughout the night. And on the morrow she does
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Conservative Judaism, Vol. 61 No. 3 Copyright © 2009 by the Rabbinical Assembly.

j Kabbalistic Customs / Tikkun Leil Shavuot i
not enter the bridal canopy without them, and they are the ones
called “the sons of the bridal canopy.” When she enters the
bridal canopy the Holy One, blessed be He, inquires after them,
and blesses them, and crowns them with the bridal crowns.
Blessed is their portion.
And Rabbi Simeon with all his companions would sing the
song of the Torah, and they would produce, every one of them,
new interpretations of Torah, and Rabbi Simeon and all his
companions would rejoice.
Rabbi Simeon said to them: My children, blessed is your por-
tion, because tomorrow the bride will not enter the bridal
canopy without you, for all those who concern themselves with
her adornments on this night and rejoice with her will be listed
and inscribed in the Book of Remembrance, and the Holy One,
blessed be He, will bless them with the seventy blessings and
crowns of the supernal world.3”
The kabbalists drew on the midrashic imagery of Shavuot as the “mar-

riage” of God and Israel and in particular, Rabbi Akiva’s assertion that
the Song of Songs was composed at Sinai and speaks of God and Israel.
The union of the Shekhinah with the Kadosh Barukh Hu (Tiferet) is the
sefirotic parallel of these events. Some kabbalists even composed mystical
Tena’im, read on the Shabbat before Shavuot, and Ketubot, read on
Shavuot before taking out the Torah, to solemnize the “marriage” of God
and Israel.4
There is some debate about when the “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” was first
practiced as an actual ritual, as opposed to a literary concept.5 However,
the first universally recognized celebration of a “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” is
mentioned in a letter written by R. Solomon Alkabetz. The purpose of the
letter was to describe how Joseph Karo acquired his Heavenly Maggid.6
This event occurred on the first night of Shavuot, in Adrianople, Turkey, in
1534. Alkabetz begins by describing the “tikkun.” He writes:
“Know that the saint [i.e. Karo] and I, his and your humble servant,
belonging to our company, agreed to stay up all night in order to banish
sleep from our eyes on Shavuot. We succeeded, thank God, so that as you
will hear, we ceased not from study for even a moment. This is the order I
arranged for the night. First we read the Torah with a pleasant melody from
the beginning until “And the Heaven and earth were finished” [Genesis
77
j Morris M. Faierstein i
2:1–3]. Then we read: “In the third month” [Exodus 19:1] to the end of the
section. Then in the section Mishpatim from: “And unto Moses He said”
[Exodus 24:1] to the end of the section. Then in the section Va-Ethanan
from: “And Moses called unto Israel” to the end of the section: “Hear O
Israel” [Deuteronomy 5:1–6:9]. Then in the section Ve-zot ha-berakhah
from: “And Moses went up” to “in the sight of all Israel” [Deuteronomy
34]. Then we read the haftarah: “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year”
[Ezekiel 1] and the haftarah: “A Prayer of Habakkuk” [Habakkuk 3]. Then
the Psalm: “The Heavens declare” [Psalm 19] and the Psalm “Let God
arise” [Psalm 68]. Then we read the alphabetical acrostic without the
songs.7 Then we read the whole of the Song of Songs, the whole of Ruth and
the final verses of Chronicles. All this we did in dread and awe, with
quite unbelievable melody and tunefulness. We studied the whole order of
Zera’im in the Mishnah and we studied in the way of truth [i.e. Kabbalah].
No sooner had we studied two tractates of the Mishnah than our Cre-
ator smote us so that we heard a voice speaking out of the mouth of the
saint [Karo], may his light shine. It was a loud voice with letters clearly
enunciated. All the companions heard the voice but were unable to under-
stand what was said.8” The letter then continues with a description of what
the Maggid told Karo.
Alkabetz provides one order of what was studied on this night. Other
kabbalistic texts offer variants on exactly what texts were studied, though
the general principles remained the same. There is some discussion in the
early sources about whether this was a ritual to be restricted to the kabbal-
istic elite or was it for everyone. Two popular kabbalistic compendia, Isaiah
Horowitz’s Shnei Luhot ha-Berit and Nathan Hannover’s Sha’arei Zion
(Prague, 1662) described the Tikkun Leil Shavuot and did much to popu-
larize this ritual. By the middle of the seventeenth century, separate book-
lets containing the texts for the Tikkun Leil Shavuot began to be published.
By the end of the seventeenth century it had become a widespread and pop-
ular custom in all Jewish communities.9
An interesting sidelight is that Karo does not mention Tikkun Leil
Shavuot in the Shulh.an Arukh, despite his central role in the first recorded
time this ritual was put into practice. It is mentioned positively in
the Shulh.an Arukh commentary of Rabbi Abraham Gumbiner, Magen
Avraham.10
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j Kabbalistic Customs / Tikkun Leil Shavuot i
Another Tikkun Leil Shavuot of historical significance occurred on the

first night of Shavuot, 1665. Nathan of Gaza fell into a prophetic trance,
reminiscent of Karo’s experience and during this state first publicly
announced that Sabbatei Sevi was the awaited Messiah.
NOTES
1. A more comprehensive study is, Moshe Hallamish, “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” in

idem., Kabbalah in Liturgy, Halakhah and Customs [Hebrew]. (Ramat Gan: Bar
Ilan University Press, 2000), pp. 595–612.
2. For an overview of the various “Tikkunim” see, Y. D. Wilhelm, “Sidrei
Tikkunim” in Alei Ayin: Salman Schocken Jubilee Volume (Jerusalem: n.p.
1948–1962), pp. 125–146.
3. Zohar I: 8a; Daniel C. Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2004), vol. 1, pp. 51–3. Another version of this passage is found in
Zohar III: 98a.
4. Some examples can be found in Y. Lewinski, Sefer ha-Moadim, vol. 3
(Shavuot) (Dvir: Tel Aviv, 1973), pp. 97–100.
5. Hallamish, pp. 595–598.
6. On Karo and his Maggid see, R.J.Z. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo—Lawyer and
Mystic (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1977).
7. This reference is unclear. Perhaps it refers to Psalm 119.
8. The letter was first published as the Introduction to Karo’s mystical diary
Maggid Mesharim (Lublin, 1646). It was reprinted and given wide circulation in
Isaiah Horowitz’s Shnei Luhot ha-Berit (Amsterdam, 1648). This translation is
taken from, Louis Jacobs, Jewish Mystical Testimonies (New York: Schocken
Books, 1977), pp. 99–100. Jacobs translates the whole letter and several selections
from the Maggid Mesharim.
9. Hallamish, pp. 605–612 describes the various versions of the ritual and the
texts that were included.
10. Magen Avraham on Oreh Hayyim, 494.
Rabbi Morris M. Faierstein is an independent scholar who has written or edited

seven books and published approximately thirty articles in scholarly journals.
79

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What is the textual basis for the ritual of Tikkun Leil Shavuot according to the passage?

What texts were studied during the first recorded celebration of Tikkun Leil Shavuot according to the letter?

Kabbalistic Customs: A Series

Tikkun Leil Shavuot1

Conservative Judaism, Vol. 61 No. 3 Copyright © 2009 by the Rabbinical Assembly.

The kabbalists drew on the midrashic imagery of Shavuot as the “mar-

Another Tikkun Leil Shavuot of historical significance occurred on the

1. A more comprehensive study is, Moshe Hallamish, “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” in

Rabbi Morris M. Faierstein is an independent scholar who has written or edited

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