ZIKHRONOT

ZIKHRONOT (Heb. זִכְרוֹנוֹת; "remembrance" verses), name of one of the benedictions in the Musaf prayer of rosh ha-shanah . This section begins with Attah zokher ("Thou rememberest") and contains ten biblical verses (four from the Pentateuch, three from Psalms, and three from the Prophets) praising God who remembered, among other things, noah during the flood, the Israelites in Egyptian slavery, and His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The prayer closes with a plea that God remember the binding of Isaac (see akedah ), and, through Abraham's merit, bestow mercy upon his descendants. These Zikhronot verses express the most characteristic significance of Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, as a "Day of Remembrance" (Yom ha-Zikkaron). At the end of their recital (as with the malkhuyyot and shofarot verses) the shofar is sounded. The reciting of the Zikhronot on Rosh Ha-Shanah is mentioned already in the Mishnah (RH 4:5–6) and is believed to have been part of the Rosh Ha-Shanah liturgy in the Temple. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 141–4; E. Munk, The World of Prayer, 2 (1963), 202–4; Abrahams, Companion, cxcviii f.; Eisenstein, Dinim, 232f.