Hasten, my Beloved

Late 10th or Early 11th Century

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Simeon ben Isaac’s “Hasten, my Beloved” is a ge’ulah (redemption) piyyut. This is the last part of his yotser sequence (series of piyyutim in the blessing surrounding the Shema‘) for Passover, recited just before the conclusion of the blessing about redemption. Although it is not clear for which morning of Passover the poet intended this sequence, for at least the past eight hundred years it has been recited specifically on the Sabbath during Passover. Simeon emphasizes God’s role as redeemer of Israel, as is appropriate for the festival that remembers the Exodus from Egypt. The first line is from Song of Songs 8:14, the biblical book read on Passover. Each stanza has its own rhyme and a consistent structure throughout the text; the lines also contain references to Jerusalem and the Temple taken from the book of Isaiah.

Hasten, my Beloved, to the tranquil site.

If we have wearied You by making our way perverse,

Then see, we have been smitten by every painful hurt.

But You, O Lord, are our refuge and our hope.

In You we hope the whole day long

That You will redeem us and make us like a watered garden.

Hasten, my Beloved, to our sanctuary’s place.

If sins have risen far above our head,

Then see, our life by iron chains beset.

But You, O Lord, are our Holy One and Redeemer.

To You we pour forth our whispered plea

That You will redeem us from Your holy habitation, and set us free.

Hasten, my Beloved, to our Righteous City.

If we have not hearkened to the voices bidding us do right,

Then see, those who would crush us have consumed us with an open mouth.

But You, O Lord, are our Judge and Legislator.

Upon You we cast the burden of our fate

That You will redeem us and, with calm and trust, will make us strong.

Hasten, my Beloved, to our meeting’s habitation.

If we have broken Your yoke, unborne,

Then see, we have been smitten with every kind of wound.

But You, O Lord, can make the mourner glad.

In You we hope that You will release the bound,

That You will redeem us and be exalted beyond Israel’s border.

Hasten, my Beloved, to the mountain exalted above the hills.

If we have wilfully sinned by breaking all restraints,

Then see, many and grievous troubles have overtaken us.

But You, O Lord, are the God of salvation.

To You we pour forth our prayerful cries

That You will redeem us and crown us with the helmet of salvation.

Translated by Jakob J. Petuchowski.

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Credits

Simeon Ibn Abun, “Hasten, my Beloved,” trans. Jakob J. Petuchowski, from Jakob J. Petuchowski, Theology and Poetry: Studies in the Medieval Piyyut (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), 60–61. Used with permission of the translator’s estate.

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

Hasten, my Beloved

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Hasten, my Beloved

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