Happy the eye

This poem is one of a series of poems, written by different poets but with the same title, mourning the destruction of the Temple and evoking the sensory experience of the sacrificial service when it was performed by the priests on Yom Kippur. In the liturgy, these poems are recited after the Avodah service, in which the Temple service is described in detail. At the time of the Temple, the Jewish people thronged there to revel in God’s presence, but since the Temple was destroyed, our soul grieves when we hear about the glory that we can no longer experience. Ibn Gabirol’s poem focuses on one particular aspect of the service: God’s visible presence (called here kavod, literally “glory”). In the last stanza, the poet mentions the red thread, half of which was in the sanctuary and half tied to the horn of the scapegoat during Yom Kippur; when it would miraculously turn white, it was a sign that God had forgiven the people.