I give thanks to You

This piyyut is a yotser, written for insertion near the beginning of the blessing “He who creates (yotser) light” for the Sabbath of Hanukkah. This poem was much beloved and attracted multiple medieval commentaries. The first third of the poem relies on the history found in the Book of Josippon (Sefer Yosippon), itself based on authentic Second Temple sources, such as 1 and 2 Maccabees; the remaining two-thirds draw on legends found in Midrash Hanukkah literature, themselves based loosely on the book of Judith. In the poem here, the author writes of the sufering of the Jewish people leading up to the Hasmonean War.