One of the many striking Hebrew prayer poems, the "piyutim," recited on the High Holidays repeats a recurrent biblical theme that the way of G-d is "storm and tempest." This means, of course, that G-d uses the mighty forces of nature to realize His wishes. It is a thought clearly expressed in Psalm 148:8 as quoted in the heading above. This idea was taken up by the great poet, William Shakespeare, in The Tempest, a play that fully merits our attention.

One of the many surprises in this play about sin, judgement, and repentance in which sinful people repent their deeds, is that it is actually an allegory that enacts the period of the Jewish "days of awe" -- the ten days beginning with Rosh Hashonah and ending with Yom Kippur. An analysis of the play's first act is sufficient to prove this point. Here Judaic elements familiar to Jews who say traditional prayers for this holiday emerge with striking impact along with the mighty tempest that lashes a ship in the scene.

With the storm raging, the ship's "master" orders his first mate to get on with the task of combating the winds. With ready obedience, the first mate carries out the wishes of the "master" and barks commands and words of encouragement to the seamen in his charge:

"Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare!"

"Yare," as a biblical word, is always used in connection with being in awe, or in fear, of G-d. The word occurs in the Jewish daily prayers and can be found, among other places, in Ecclesiastes 5:7 where in exactly the same form it takes the imperative case as "fear the L-rd!" Hence the seaman's call, "yare," can be taken on some level as his call to his fellows "to fear the L-rd" -- to regard G-d's hand in the mighty storm. That this is its significance is further demonstrated by what follows.

As the action of the play unfolds it is pointedly shown that it is the ship's "master," the grand pilot of the vessel, who is in authority aboard ship. So when some of the noblemen passengers on the ship attempt to interfere with the chain of the "master's" commands, they are soundly scolded by the first mate who reminds the nobles that, whatever their royal rank, it is the ship's "master" who is in charge. Shortly, the full implication of this lesson in authority is drawn by events. At the impending disaster of the cracking of the ship, there are heard the anguished cries of all on board directed not to anyone on the ship but to Heaven as they cry, "To prayers, to prayers."

The point is that, just as the command of the "master" of the ship overrules the interference of the royal noblemen on board, overruling even the ship's "master" is a Higher Power that truly guides the fate of the ship. It is to Him that prayers are now directed. It becomes evident that Shakespeare has dramatized the image conjured in a piyute, a Hebrew prayer poem -- one of the most famous -- sung only on Yom Kippur of "the days of awe":

Like the helm in the hands of the pilot,
Who at will holds it or sends it forth,
So are we in your hand, O beneficent

and forgiving G-d,...

(key heeney kahegeh be'yad ha'maloch,
bertzotho ocheyz oovertzotho shelach,
kayn anachnu beyadcha keyl tov ve'salach,...)

That it is in fact "heavenly judgement" that is at hand for those aboard ship is further suggested by a number of dramatic sequences, culminating with the one toward the end of the scene: The situation being desperate, Gonzalo, a kindly squire to one of the noblemen, sees salvation in the image of a grim jest. Noting the gross disrespect of the first mate to the royal passengers on the ship -- an insubordination that could on land be punishable by death -- Gonzalo notes that the rebellious nature of this seaman must set a "hanging mark" on him, a "dry" destiny for the gallows. Hence, Gonzalo quips that this seaman's fate cannot be to drown at sea as then appears likely, but sees in this rebel's proper fate "a cable for deliverance" to all on board. "If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable," cries Gonzalo against the storm.

This talk of destiny is a clear link to the image of the "days of awe," which is the time when each man's destiny is determined. In an awesome prayer ("Nessaneh Tokef") recited on the Holy Days, the scene is evoked of mankind passing before the L-rd in judgement, like sheep passing under the shepherd's rod. As the synagogue prayer is intoned, the permutations of man's destiny are reviewed: who it will be that will die that year and by what means, among which, "Who by drowning? Who by hanging?" -- the alternative destinies actually posed for the rebellious seaman aboard Shakespeare's ship. Interestingly, in The Tempest there is a later scene that actually reenacts the Jewish heavenly scene of judgement described in the Hebrew prayer, as all the play's characters are lined up for judgement.

In sum, we find that in Shakespeare's opening scene, barely 67 lines in length, with masterful economy of action and words, the poet has introduced the major themes of his play using the symbolism of "the days of awe." As the allegory of the play runs to completeness, we learn the poet's profound conception of the nature of sin and repentance and how central and deep is the Jewish imagery in the telling of this story. Shakespeare ends his play with a message of worldwide significance, a message whose revelation had awaited the uncovering of its Judaic key.