Unettaneh Tokef

Unetanneh Tokef, Unethanneh Toqeph, Un'taneh Tokef, or Unesanneh Tokef   (ונתנה   תוקף) ("Let us speak of the awesomeness ") is a piyyut that has been a part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy in some traditions of rabbinical Judaism for centuries. It introduces the Kedusha of Musaf for these days. It is chanted while the Torah ark is open and the congregants are standing. The ArtScroll machzor calls it "one of the most stirring compositions in the entire liturgy of the Days of Awe."

Recorded in the 13th century commentary Or Zarua, by Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (died ca. 1270), who attributes the writing to Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn (a compiler of Jewish martyrologies, died ca. 1200).

Ben Moses was traditionally interpreted to have claimed that Unetanneh Tokef was composed by an 11th-century sage named Rabbi Amnon of Mainz (or Mayence, in Germany) – who, apart from this one story, is utterly unknown to history. As a friend of the (otherwise unnamed) Archbishop of Mainz (or, perhaps, the otherwise unnamed Governor), Rabbi Amnon was pressured to convert to Catholicism. As a delaying tactic, he requested three days to consider the offer; immediately he regretted intensely giving even the pretense that he could possibly accept a foreign religion. After spending the three days in prayer, he refused to come to the archbishop as promised, and, when he was forcibly brought to the archbishop's palace, he begged that his tongue be cut out to atone for his sin. Instead, the archbishop ordered his hands and legs amputated — limb by limb — as punishment for not obeying his word to return after three days and for refusing to convert. At each amputation, Rabbi Amnon was again given the opportunity to convert, which he refused. He was sent home, with his severed extremities, on a knight's shield.

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