I recall and recount the bitterness of this day
About This Entry
Abraham ha-Kohen composed this poem, which its manuscript dates to the year 1024, to commemorate his imprisonment on the fifteenth of Kislev (though possibly in a previous year). In one line, Abraham seems to indicate that his persecutors were other Jews. Unfortunately, he offers very little background about what led to these events. The poem is structured around the blessings of the weekday Amidah prayer and was intended to be inserted in the public recitation of that prayer in synagogue. Every stanza contains five lines with a single rhyme that is thematically connected to each blessing. Although the remembrance of communal salvation is a frequent theme in Jewish prayer, the mention of individual deliverance is much less common. Unbracketed ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.
Notes
[The Hebrew syntax here is very difficult. Another reading may be: “And is he copiously given of the fat of the fesh of his foes?”—Trans.]
[The Hebrew text reads mar eleh, “these are bitter,” but no biblical character is said to have said these words. A slight emendation yields mi eleh, “Who are these?,” which was uttered by Esau to Jacob in Genesis 33:5. The first two stanzas dealt with Abraham and Isaac, so a reference to Jacob is expected here; the poet seems to have confused Esau with Laban, another of Jacob’s adversaries.—Trans.]
[This line seems to mean that if Joseph’s persecutors had been enemies, rather than relatives or friends or coreligionists, he would not have considered their deed so bad.—Trans.]
[Perhaps a reference to David.—Trans.]
[Probably meaning that Jews, descendants of Sarah, are plundered by Arabs, descendants of her maidservant Hagar. Our author’s primary enemies are other Jews, but perhaps they have brought Arab allies.—Trans.]
[I.e., may the people who hurt the author not live to see the rebuilding of the Temple. See the refusal of the Samaritans to participate in the building of the Second Temple, in Ezra 4 . —Trans.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.
