God, You commanded Your beloved chosen one

Ephraim of Bonn

Late 12th Century

God, You commanded your beloved chosen one [Abraham]:

You shall keep My covenant impressed in your fesh—an eternal covenant.

You shall cut it, for the sake of Your creator,

for the Holy One of Israel, for He has given you glory.

Glory¹ you revealed to [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre,

when he had performed your commandment on Yom Kippur, in awe of you—an eternal

covenant.

You said, “I will heal you from your wound,

For I, the Lord, am your healer.”

Healer, when you removed one of your limbs, the blood was an indicator.²

He inscribed: Walk before me and be unblemished (Genesis 17:1)—an eternal covenant.

I see your wound like the blood of burnt oferings and peace oferings,

in order that things be good for you, and you live long days.

Days when the father [Moses] of the wise was lax about the covenant,

his wife then said: “Bridegroom of blood!”³—an eternal covenant.

Yah, remember the treasured people.

Show your marvelous kindness, O You who save those who trust You from attackers.

From attackers I will gather in your dispersed, and collect them,

from the time when I see you wallowing [in blood],⁴ when I pass over you—an eternal covenant.

I will break the poles of your yokes,

and I, because of your circumcision blood, have sent your captives out of the pit.

Out of the pit and the furnace, when the Father of a Multitude went out,⁵

He was helped by Your glory, and You cut his covenant together with him⁶—an eternal covenant.

It overrides the Sabbath, and cutting of a leprous sore:⁷

on the eighth day, the fesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. [ . . . ]

I will circumcise you, your hearts, through your foreskins,

and I will place my spirit inside you—an eternal covenant.

Eat and be satisfed and give praise for your land, which the Lord gave to you.

As it is said: When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

1. [I.e., the visible manifestation of God’s presence. According to Genesis 18:1, God revealed Himself to Abraham in the plains of Mamré; according to rabbinic tradition, this was a divine visit three days after Abraham’s circumcision. According to one rabbinic tradition, this circumcision took place on Yo m Kippur. —Tr a n s .]

2. [A pun on a rabbinic expression “the money [damim] is an indicator” that a transaction has taken place; the words blood and money are homophones.—Trans.]

3. [As expressed in the previous line, Moses waited some days, and did not circumcise his son on time. According to Exodus 4:24–26, God wanted to kill Moses (or possibly the baby) for this infraction; Moses’ wife Zipporah then circumcised the baby and cried out (probably to the baby): “You are a bridegroom of blood!”—Trans.]

4. [See Ezekiel 16:6. Rabbinic tradition understands this verse as referring to the blood of circumcision, in whose merit God redeemed the Israelites from Egypt. Similarly, God says in this poem that He will redeem the Jews from the current exile in the merit of the blood of circumcision.—Trans.]

5. [I.e., Abraham. See Genesis 17:4: You will be a father of a multitude of nations. According to rabbinic tradition, Abraham sufered in his youth by living in a cave and being cast into a fery furnace.—Trans.]

6. [According to Genesis Rabbah 49:2, Abraham was scared to perform the circumcision on himself, so God held the knife together with him, and helped him make the c u t .—Tr a n s .]

7. [In general, it is forbidden to perform surgery on the Sabbath, but if the eighth day of a boy’s life falls on the Sabbath, the demand for circumcision overrides this. Similarly, it is forbidden to cut of a leprous sore (Leviticus 13), but if there is one on the penis of a baby boy, circumcision overrides this as wel l.—Tra n s.]

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