Where are the shepherds and where are the flocks?

Joseph al-Baradānī

Late 10th Century

Where are the shepherds and where are the flocks,
   that received the upright statutes at Sinai?
Amram’s son1 taught both light and weighty [commandments].
   He explained the details, teaching them to the crowned people.2
The mighty [God] revealed Himself with utmost glory.
   [He revealed] . . . the Ten Commandments.
We have rejected all these, and loved falsehood,
   perverted our ways, young and old.
Therefore, we have been pushed away, to Edomites and Hagarites,
   shoved and prodded, and stepped over by foreigners.
Here we are today, lowly and broken,
   and our eyes constantly look forward to Your rescue.
The humble man’s merit, out of all men,
   remember it for those who remember his Torah—and gather in our dispersed [exiles].

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[Moses, also alluded to as “the humble man” in this prayer.—Trans.]

[See b. Shabbat 88a.—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

Engage with this Source

Written as part of a yotser sequence adorning the blessings of the Shema‘ on the festival of Shavuot, this piyyut recounts how the sins of the Jews, after the divine revelation at Mount Sinai, which Shavuot commemorates, led to the current exile, in which the Jews are ruled by Edom and Hagar (Christians and Muslims). A yotser is meant to be recited inside the blessing before the Shema‘ that begins “He who creates (yotser) light,” and this one concludes with a plea for deliverance. The first letter of each line makes up a double alphabetic acrostic (each one doubled). The ellipsis indicates a lacuna in the manuscript.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut)

7th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Joseph al-Baradānī

10th Century

Active in Baghdad, the poet Joseph ben Ḥayim al-Baradānī wrote numerous piyyutim (liturgical poems), most of which were preserved in the Cairo Geniza. Joseph, like several of his contemporaries, wrote poems for each weekly Torah reading and for many other occasions, probably reciting them himself in his role as a synagogue cantor. In form, Joseph’s poetry displays the influence of Se‘adya Ga’on (882–942). Both Hayya Ga’on (939–1038) and Samuel ben Ḥofni Ga’on (d. 1013) mentioned Joseph and members of his family as prominent members of the Jewish community in Baghdad.

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