I uttered a vow to God

1101

About This Entry

This Hebrew poem, which Nathan ben Yeḥiel of Rome placed at the end of his talmudic dictionary, the ‘Arukh, recounts the repeated tragedies that befell him and his family. It replaces a traditional colophon and, like some earlier poetic models from the Italian poet Shabbetai Donnolo, was written in a monorhyme without a quantitative meter. The acrostic in the first half of the poem spells out Nathan’s name. Nathan begins by alluding to a vow to write a Torah scroll, which he seems to have fulfilled by commissioning it from a scribe named Samuel, with its cover made by a woman named Rachel. Nathan then writes about the death of four of his five sons. Finally, he closes with his promise to build a mikveh (ritual bath).

Illustration of a bearded, crying man in a robe and turban, his head surrounded by a gold halo, crouching beside a shrouded figure, also haloed, lying on a wooden bed.

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I uttered a vow to God [to write a Torah scroll], which I have repaid fairly and properly.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when to You I sing praises and songs,

for You have fashioned me with the strength to guard the fruit of my lips.

It included the tags and crowns,¹ which are for the splendor of a Torah scroll, as is taught,

and the full and lacking words;² the open and closed sections,³ without reversing them,

and the beginning of an “ordered” line; the half appearing with precision,⁴

as wrought by the hand of Samuel, the scribe from Taranto [or: Otranto].

The beauty of its cover and mantle was produced by the hand of the young Rachel.

My sorrows multiplied through the four with whom I was graced by the One girded with might.

The signs were hewn that I should be a father of many children, and they should grow mighty.

The children were given signs: [Yeḥiel:] Let Reuben live [yeḥi] (Deuteronomy 33:6).⁵ [Benjamin:] and let him live more (Psalms 49:10) and be spared.⁶

He [Shabbetai] was marked with a child is born (Isaiah 9:5).⁷

[The fourth son:] oh how abundant [is Your goodness, which You have stored up] (Psalms 31:20) to store him away.

These signs were for naught—none were fulfilled in full.

I was bereaved of them, and my spirit was battered and shaken over them.

The first died after thirty days; he was called Yeḥiel.

The second, Benjamin, was placed in the crevice of the grave at the age of eight.

The third, Shabbetai, I interred when he was three.

The fourth I did not merit to circumcise, and my soul is broken.

I trust in the Judge regarding all that befell me.

I found trouble and sorrow, but I called upon the name of the Lord (Psalms 116:3–4).

This was my comfort in my misery: as He instructed me in fearing Him, His purity,

the awe of Him was always before my face, in holiness and purity.

My hope is the reek [of the grave], yet I will lay down and awaken to my judgment,

as I yearn after the commandments of my Creator, in the manner of

the father of the seers [Moses] and the teacher for all those who erect fences,

for he established a commandment for future generations, a place of residence for those who err.⁸

He who examines the inner parts and counts to find the tally of all steps—

I, His servant, in His mercies He enthused me to perform the digging

in order to fashion a fixed ritual bath, in a suitable place for its preparation,

so that every modest and worthy woman can immerse there in privacy:

a fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13), in the year 4848 from the creation [1087/8].

In no manner should the fountain’s waters dry up and its flow stop.

If it is thrown open in the evening, it will be restored to its full strength in the morning [see Exodus 14:27],

so that the bath should not contain less than forty se’ah, as explained by the riders of white donkeys [i.e., the sages].⁹

Translated by Avi Steinhart.

Notes

[Various “crowns” have to be added on top of specific letters in the writing of Torah scrolls. See b. Menaḥot 29b.—Trans.]

[Generally, certain words can be written in more than one way, sometimes with letters that indicate vowels and sometimes without them. However, in a Torah scroll, they must be written in exactly the prescribed manner.—Trans.]

[This refers to the different spacing between sections in a Torah scroll.—Trans.]

[An “ordered line” refers to a tradition that a specific passage in a Torah scroll must end in the middle of a line, with the next section starting beneath the spot where the previous line ended.—Trans.]

[The biblical verses contain predictions for life, and allude to the names of his sons.—Trans.]

[See Psalms 49:10: “That he should live more, forever; that he should not see the pit.” Psalms 49:8 reads: “No man can by any means redeem his brother”; Benjamin was redeemed and spared by the efforts of his brother Judah.—Trans.]

[The rest of the verse reads: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom.” This verse is often interpreted as referring to the messiah and hints here at the name of his third son, Shabbetai, a name traditionally associated with the messiah.—Trans.]

[See b. Makkot 10a: “Although Moses our teacher knew that accidental murderers would not be admitted to the three cities of refuge in the east bank of the Jordan until the three cities in the land of Canaan were designated, he nevertheless said: ‘A mitzvah has come my way; I will fulfill it.’” On Moses’ designation of three cities of refuge on the eastern side of the Jordan, see Deuteronomy 4:41–43.—Trans.]

[See b. Eruvin 54b: What is the meaning of the verse: “You who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich cloths, and you who walk by the way, tell of it?” (Judges 5:10) “You who ride on white donkeys”; these are Torah scholars who go from one city to another and from one country to another to study Torah. They are called white (tseḥorot) because they render the Torah as clear as noon (tsahorayim).—Trans.]