Azharot

Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Mid-11th Century

From the Introduction to the Positive Commandments

0 my heart, keep your response [that you would observe the commandments]; be very humble.
Fear God and count His righteous utterances. He forgives misdoings and He increases [people’s] strength,
and He gives wisdom, so that the impetuous will have understanding [see Isaiah 32:4].
1 will speak words of sagacity, sweet to the taste,
and I will set up turrets to make passers-by walk straightly.
I will mention the positive commandments [that appear in] the law of [God, who is our] fortress and refuge,
and may He cover up my sins, He who reveals hidden secrets:
Two-hundred and forty-eight, frmly implanted, like nails tightly fxed, corresponding to the number of limbs.1
They were made known at Sinai and announced from heaven,
and together they were embedded inside the Ten Commandments.2 [ . . . ]

Excerpt from the Positive Commandments

To declare the unity of the formidable God twice a day [with the Shema‘],
and pray each and every day, evenings and mornings.
To serve Him, to love Him in one’s heart, to cling to Him,
and keep one’s feet, one’s steps, supported in His paths.
To sanctify His might, to fear His rage,
and swear by His name, with no vanity or falsehood.
To afrm the justice of His decrees, and pursue His righteousness,
and keep His law and fulfll [His] words.
Place His words as healing upon your heart and your mouth,
and write them on the posts of your doors and your gates.
Repeat them constantly to your children and disciples,
and put together one hundred blessings, as is taught. [ . . . ]

From the Introduction to the Negative Commandments

I take refuge in the shadow of God, and I will not conceal His righteousness
in [giving us] the negative commandments. I will speak upright matters.
They are written in faith, as faithful testimony,
and they correspond in number to the days of the yea r. 3 [ . . . ]
And I am the Lord; I called out to you at Sinai,
and you shall have no other gods before Me.
And you shall make no graven image, wickedly and s t u p id ly,
and you shall set up no graven image, to provoke Him to jealousy with foreign gods.
And be afraid of [His jealous] fame, if you introduce an abomination,
or if you build an [idolatrous] pillar or plant an asherah.4
And keep away from vain rumors, and from believing in anything vain,
and do not take My precious names in vain.
And keep the commandment “You shall not commit adultery,” lest His anger rage,
and do not aspire to steal, and do not covet from your friends. [ . . . ]
Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[This alludes to the 248 positive commandments that corresponded to the number of limbs in the human body, according to medieval scientific thought.—Trans.]

[According to Jewish tradition, all 613 commandments of the Torah can be subsumed within the Decalogue.—Trans.]

[According to Jewish tradition, there are 365 negative command ments, equivalent to the number of the days of the solar yea r.—Tr a n s.]

[An asherah is a tree or a similar object devoted to idolatry.—Trans.]

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

Engage with this Source

Azharot (warnings) are poetic enumerations of the 613 commandments. They are recited on the festival of Shavuot when, according to rabbinic tradition, Moses and the Israelites received the Torah. Ibn Gabi-rol’s rendition proved popular, particularly among Jewish communities in the Islamic East, and is still recited in many Sephardic communities today. This piyyut also accreted numerous learned commentaries, which often sought to understand the halakhic content.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut)

7th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Solomon Ibn Gabirol

1021–1070

Solomon ben Judah Ibn Gabirol was one of the greatest Hebrew poets of the so-called golden age of Andalusi Jewish life. Born in Córdoba in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), Ibn Gabirol fled with his family during the political upheavals of the early eleventh century. Solomon alludes to his own suffering from sickness, poverty, and other challenges. His first poems date to his teenage years in Saragossa, but he was driven out of that city, apparently for disagreements with leading Jews, including Jonah Ibn Janāḥ (b. before 980, d. after 1038). Ibn Gabirol also wrote treatises in Judeo-Arabic on ethics and Neoplatonic philosophy, the first of which was translated into Hebrew and the second into Latin, ensuring his long-standing popularity and influence. Many of his poems are part of the liturgy of Sephardic communities, and a very small number of his poems are recited in Ashkenazic communities, to this day.

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