The Lord, who revealed the end

Amittai ben Shefatiah composed this yotser—a poem written for the part of the synagogue service that begins: “He who creates (yotser) light”—on the occasion of the marriage of his sister Cassia to their cousin. The blessing is about creation, so Amittai walks us through the days of creation, showing how the world lacked human inhabitants to enjoy it until Adam and Eve were created and, in their wedding, enjoyed the world. Unfortunately, sin in the garden of Eden caused humanity’s downfall, so Amittai closes his poem with a request for the restoration of the Temple and humanity’s exalted state. The poem is here rendered as a prose translation.