Keter: the Kedushah of Musaf

Here, "keter" means praise

Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Seville, around 1340) says the praise we give God is called by the word keter, crown. He points to a line in Pirkei Heichalot (a mystical book about the heavenly palaces): "Your servants crown You with crowns, and sing You a new song." The same words are in Heichalot Rabbati 25:4.

Why Musaf, and why Rosh Chodesh

Musaf means "additional." One view in the Gemara is that the prayers match the daily offerings, so Musaf can be said all day because its offering was brought all day (Berakhot 26b). On Rosh Chodesh the Torah calls for two young bulls, a ram, seven lambs and a goat (Bamidbar 28:11-15). The Tikkunei Zohar (a Kabbalah book that goes with the Zohar, the central book of Kabbalah) says Keter is said in the Musaf prayer, and lists Shabbat, holidays and new moons.

Rosh Chodesh gets the short version

On Shabbat, many Sefard siddurim add lines to this Kedushah: "His glory fills the world... Where is the place of His glory?" and, later, "From His place may He turn in mercy." Rosh Chodesh skips them. Rabbi Chaim Vital (the main student of the Arizal, the Kabbalist of Tzfat in the 1500s) recorded the Arizal's reason, from Kabbalah: on Shabbat everything rises all the way up, so we ask where His glory is and pray that God not forget us from that height. Rosh Chodesh lifts only part of the way.

Not every shul says Keter

The Magen Avraham (a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law; Poland, 1600s) calls Keter the custom of the Sephardim. HaAgur (a law book printed in Naples in the late 1400s) says that outside Ashkenaz people say Keter in the Kedushah, and he is amazed that Ashkenaz does not. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code from around 1900) says Ashkenazim hold that outside the Land of Israel is not fit for it.

Your prayers are the thread of the crown

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) describes an angel named Sandalfon who stands behind God's curtain and weaves crowns out of the requests in Israel's prayers. When the crown reaches the head of the Holy King, God receives Israel's prayers. Then all the heavenly armies tremble and say a form of the verse "Blessed is the glory of Hashem from His place." You say that same verse a few lines later in this prayer. Now read the first line again and ask what the crown is made of.

וקשר ליה כתרין, מבעותהון דצלותא דישראל. ובשעתא דמטי האי כתר לרישיה דמלכא קדישא, הוא מקבל צלותהון דישראל

Even angels can only crown God with Israel

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseczner Rebbe, a Chassidic rebbe in Poland who was murdered in the Holocaust in 1943) says that Israel is called a crown of glory. His reason: Israel crowns God with the holiness it brings out of itself through its service. So, he writes, even the angels can crown God only together with Israel. He then quotes this prayer: "with Your people Israel, the groups below." Now read the word "with" again.

שהם מעטרים ומפארים אותו ית' בקדושה שהם מגלים מקרבם בעבודתם עד שגם המלאכים יכולים לעטרו רק עם ישראל

Why the crown waits until Musaf

Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla (a Kabbalist in Spain in the 1200s) explains why this line is said in Musaf and not in the morning prayer, which he calls Yotzer, after its first blessing before the Shema. His answer is that prayers rise. By Musaf, the morning prayers are finished and have already gone all the way up to the crown (keter). During the morning prayer they had not gotten there yet. Now think about everything you have said so far today.

בתפילת יוצר עדייז לא הגיעו התפילות עד הכתר, אבל בתפילת מוסף כבר הגיעו התפילות עד הכתר

One extra soul, shared by everyone

In a part of the Zohar called the Faithful Shepherd, the extra soul of Shabbat (an added measure of spirit for the day) is one soul shared by all Israel, yet for each person it goes by his or her own deeds. When all Israel return to God together, they are accepted, because the Name of Hashem is crowned upon them. That crown, the passage says, is the extra soul of Shabbat and holidays. So "A crown they will give You" was set into Shabbat Musaf.

נפש יתירה בשבת לכל ישראל כחדא, חד איהי. אבל לכל ב"נ, איהו כפום עובדוי

A holiness that belongs above this world

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) is explaining the Nusach Ashkenaz Musaf Kedushah, which opens "We will revere You" instead of "A crown." He points to the siddur of the Vilna Gaon (a leading rabbi in Lithuania in the 1700s): the Kedushah of "A crown" belongs above this world, which cannot reveal that inner secret directly. Those who say "We will revere You" sanctify God only "like" the angels' secret talk, and that stirs "A crown" above. In the future, he adds, its holiness will be revealed.

ועי' בסידור הגר"א, שכתב שם דקדושת כתר היא למעלה מעוה"ז

Does the custom hold even in the silent Amidah?

Yes. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, around 1900) says that where the Musaf Kedushah begins with Keter, "crown," it is not fitting to wear the crown of tefillin, even during the silent Amidah. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from the same era) says no clear reason is known for taking them off at Musaf, but that is the custom.

When do they come off, and what if someone forgot?

During Uva LeTzion, before Yehi Ratzon (see the Uva LeTzion prayer). The Mishnah Berurah, quoting the Pri Megadim (a 1700s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch), adds that some only unwind the straps from the finger then. Someone who forgot and began the silent Amidah in them should not take them off in the middle, since this is only a custom.

Do girls daven Musaf on Rosh Chodesh?

Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) rules that women are exempt from Musaf on Shabbat, holidays and Rosh Chodesh, but a woman who wants to pray it may, and it counts in her favor. It adds that some say women are obligated, and that ideally it is proper to take that view into account. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) records the same argument and says the custom is that women pray Musaf the way they pray Shacharit.

Do I go up on my toes during Kedushah?

Yes, by custom. The Kedushah prayer tells where rising on your toes at Kadosh comes from, and how far to take it. One detail it does not give: the Mishnah Berurah quotes the Shelah (Rabbi Yeshayahu Horowitz, a Kabbalist who died in 1630), who had a tradition to lift the body and heels at Baruch and at Yimloch too, just as at Kadosh.

Do I say Keter along with the leader?

The Kedushah prayer covers the Shulchan Aruch's rule for the opening line: the congregation stays quiet until Kadosh. In Musaf, the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great mystic of Tzfat in the 1500s) says to open with Keter, as Sephardim do. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) says what the congregation says along was argued over, so we follow the Arizal: say the whole Kedushah with the leader word for word, mostly quietly, and say Kadosh aloud.

On Shabbat the Kedushah has extra lines. Do I say them today?

No. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) says that on Rosh Chodesh Sephardim say Keter, but the extra lines of Shabbat and Yom Tov are not said. You can see them in the Sefard siddur's Shabbat Musaf. There the leader adds lines of his own after each response, and the congregation also answers with Shema Yisrael. On a weekday Rosh Chodesh, the Kedushah is just what this page shows.