Happy is the man

Abraham Ibn Ezra

Mid-12th Century

Happy is the man who fears
the voice calling out,
   while he still breathes:
“What is a man worth?
He’ll go and not return,
   when he returns to the ground.”
His spirit is lofty in him,
his heart is proud,
   while he still breathes.
When he goes to the grave,
he is immediately broken,
   when he returns to the ground.
He walks around with high steps,
like an angel of God,
   while he still breathes.
When he dies, he is like an animal,
likened to a mere breath,
   when he returns to the ground.
He washes his face
and is pure in his eyes,
   while he still breathes.
Who will approach him
when his ritual impurity is upon him,
   when he returns to the ground?
Yesterday, he raised his voice
in joy and song,
   while he still breathed.
His acquaintances will cry out
laments and wailing,
   when he returns to the ground.
He pursues fne aromas
and perfumer’s oil,
   while he still breathes.
His torn clothes are tattered and
maggots worm through him,
   when he returns to the ground.
As long as his plagued [life] is drawn out,
he accumulates glory for his house,
   while he still breathes.
But when those disturbing days are over,
he has nothing in his hands,
   when he returns to the ground.
His arm is glorious,
and his tongue speaks,
   while he still breathes.
When he descends into the deep pit,
his tongue rots away,
   when he returns to the ground.
He sees splendor and beauty with his eyes,
in front of him,
   while he still breathes.
But he falls into desolation
and his vision goes dark,
   when he returns to the ground.
He covets his neighbors’ camaraderie
and wayward deeds,
   while he still breathes.
But what could he want from the world?
For all is a mere breath,
   when he returns to the ground.
Your word surrounds him,
and he speaks Your praises,
   while he still breathes.
But when You fnish his body,
may You yet keep his soul,
   when he returns to the ground.
Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

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

Engage with this Source

This penitential selihah is built on a series of contrasts between a person’s state when they are alive (“while he still breathes”) and when they have died (“when he returns to the ground”), which also brilliantly work out various dichotomies between the nature of the soul and the nature of the body.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut)

7th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Abraham Ibn Ezra

1092–1167

Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was a remarkably productive itinerant intellectual who contributed to an astonishing array of fields, including biblical exegesis, science, mathematics, grammar, astronomy, astrology, piyyut (liturgical poetry), and philosophy. Born in Toledo, in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), in the first part of his life Ibn Ezra moved in elite circles, for the most part writing poetry, and enjoyed a close relationship with the poet and theologian Judah ha-Levi. Around the age of fifty, Ibn Ezra fled Almohad persecutions in his homeland and traveled to Italy, northern France, and England. Most of his scientific writings date to this period, including numerous works on astrology, number theory, and grammar. His biblical commentaries, which were concerned with the straightforward meaning of scripture but also incorporated philosophical and scientific insights, were enormously popular. In later centuries, they attracted many supercommentaries , namely, commentaries on his commentary

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