Early Mystical and Theurgic Hymns

Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic literature include prayers invoking the praise of God by angels or divine beings. Through these prayers, human worshipers associated themselves with the heavenly beings who ministered to God.

Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, presents a series of hymns to be intoned on the Sabbaths of the first thirteen weeks of the year. The hymns are framed as being sung by angels officiating in the heavenly Temple as sacrifices are offered by angelic priests. The liturgy alludes to the visions of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1–3 and 10.

The  rabbinic Kedushah, which is recited as part of the daily Tefillah, is an embellished dramatic recitation of two scriptural verses that represent the angelic praise of God as heard by the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel in their consecration visions: Holy! Holy! Holy! Adonai of hosts! His glory fills all the earth! (Isaiah 6:3) and Blessed be the glory of Adonai from his place! (Ezekiel 3:12). Psalm 146:10, which proclaims God’s eternal reign, is joined to these verses in all versions. In the rite of the land of Israel, the first and last verses of the daily Shema‘ recitation (Deuteronomy 6:4; Numbers 15:41), as well as (usually) Psalm 8:10 and Zechariah 14:9, which also acclaim God’s universal sovereignty, are added before Psalm 146:10.

T. Berakhot 9 and y. Berakhot 5:4, 9c indicate that the Isaiah and Ezekiel verses were already recited responsively in the midst of the Tefillah by the third century CE. No text is given for the linking passages recited by the prayer leader, but the y. Berakhot passage attests that the Kedushah already included a reference to the ’ofanim from Ezekiel’s vision. The Kedushah is also recited after the Torah reading (sidra’).

In the land of Israel, by at least the fifth century, when it was embellished by liturgical poets (paytanim), the Kedushah was recited only in the morning service on Sabbaths and festivals; in Babylonia, it was recited daily in the morning and afternoon services and, on Sabbaths, festivals, and new moons, in the additional (Musaf) service as well. The separate recitation of the Kedushah was outfitted with a brief introduction setting the scene and transitional phrases between the several verses. The prose versions of the introduction and transitions are barely represented in the Cairo Geniza materials, where they are mostly replaced by more elaborate poetic versions.