Which 11th-century rabbi is traditionally credited with composing the Unetanneh Tokef prayer?

Rabbi Amnon of Mainz is traditionally credited with composing the Unetanneh Tokef prayer.

The prayer is a dramatic liturgical passage about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as days of judgment. It describes God reviewing humanity and determining who will live, who will die, and what the coming year may bring, before emphasizing repentance, prayer, and charity as forces that can avert a harsh decree.

The traditional story says that Amnon, a prominent Jewish leader in Mainz, was pressured by a bishop to convert. After refusing, he composed the prayer in response to his suffering and recited it in synagogue before dying. Three days later, the story continues, he appeared in a dream to Rabbi Kalonymus and instructed him to spread the text.

This attribution is traditional rather than historically certain. The account was recorded in medieval sources, and Rabbi Amnon is otherwise difficult to document. Some scholars have suggested that Kalonymus or another liturgical poet may have written the prayer. The question’s wording—“traditionally credited”—therefore makes Rabbi Amnon the canonical answer.