עקבות של קדושת יוצר ופסוקי דזמרה במגילות קומראן ובספר בן סירא

This article comes to demonstrate that basic formulations of the Kedushah liturgy are indeed attested in the Qumran Psalmo-liturgic literature as indicated in Beth Mikra, LVII (1974), pp. 138f. The opening sentence of the so called 'Hymn to the Creator' (11 Q Ps a, xxvi : 9–15), גדול וקדוש ה' קדוש קדושים לדור ודור, contains the basic elements of the Benediction of Kedushat ha-Shem to which the Kedushah is attached, cf. especially לדור ודור נגיד גדלך ולנצח נצחים קדשתך נקדיש Furthermore, like in the conventional Jewish Morning Prayer, the Kedushah in the Qumran Hymn is appended to a passage in which the angels praise the Creator of the lights. The main motifs in this hymn are identical with the motifs of the alphabetic-acrostic hymns incorporated in the Yoẕer Benediction. The basic formula of the Qumranic Hymn, שחר הכין בדעת לבו, occurs in the various forms of the Yoẕer Hymns, as for example: גדול דעה הכין ופעל זהרי חמה; מאורות... יצרם בדעת; ברוב חכמה... הכין... זיו חמתו. The common idea in these formulae is that the creation of the lights which involves changing of seasons is due to the great knowledge of the Lord which has been exposed to the heavenly host. Following this exposition the angels burst in song and praise. An identic liturgical pattern is encountered in Ben-Sira xlii : 16–20. Not less significant is the fact that the Hymn in the Psalm scroll of Qumran comes right after the last Psalm of the Psalter (Ps. cl), which accords with the Jewish Prayer. Traces of the same liturgical order may be discerned in Ben-Sira li : 12–14; cf. also xlvii : 10.