The Love of the Sabbath
Shalem Shabazi
ca. 1679/80
The love of the Sabbath is the pith of my praise.
“Remember and Keep” provides the rule,
Preparing my way for bridegroom and bride,
For Intellect and Soul, my celestial companions.
To greet the bride, come, my friend.
Give joy to the tribes sheltering in your shade.
In mercy draw your favor over me.
And say to my soul, “Rejoice and be glad.”
My thoughts, my mind are with the Sabbath ever.
The spirit spurns corporeality.
The spirit ascends, while the body is sleeping,
And gazes in Eden on paradise supernal.
My lover is standing amid the myrtles,
Fearsome, exalted, lofty, and lone.
Bear witness, my soul, by night and by day
That the Lord is my portion, my God and my king.
The jewel of the soul is knowledge of mysteries.
On the Sabbath and festivals, it yearns for paradise.
The body is saved from humiliation,
gets no sorrow from the Left Side.
My love makes ready the three Sabbath feasts.
Starting with many evening delights.
An additional soul arrives to give thanks,
Bringing joy and delight to my weakened body.
From man’s creation on the sixth day,
The seal of creation, chief of all creatures—
Mineral, vegetable, and all things that are planted,
Animals and man— ruler of all.
Blessing outpouring abounds on this day.
Do not, friend, take lightly the day’s sanctity.
The body, so weakened all through the week—
Treat it to wine, meat, and all the best food.
The soul first came to reside in matter,
But then longs and yearns to reach the intelligences,
Among the faithful, the perfect folk
With whom the Lord of splendor is pleased.
Here ends my poem. It is my gift.
A poem joining intellect with form,
And with it, I greet the assembly’s great elders,
Residing in Sana‘a, my homeland so dear.
Translated by .
Raymond P.
Scheindlin
Credits
Shalem Shabazi, “The Love of the Sabbath” (poem, Taiz, Yemen, ca. 1679/80) [Hebrew]. Published as: “Poems by R. Shalom Shabazi (Hebrew),” in Pirke shirah = Pirkei shirah: From the Hidden Treasures of Jewish Poetry, ed. Yosef Tobi, vol. 2 (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University; Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1999): 123–124.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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