In rage . . . the earth

This poem appears to have been written in Palestine. The manuscript containing this work titles it “a yotser for the seventh earthquake,” but the exact meaning of that statement is unclear, because the first line of the poem is only partially preserved. It is thought that it might refer to a catastrophic earthquake that took place in January 749 in Palestine and Syria and was recorded by various writers at the time. Archeological evidence for a massive earthquake taking place in that year has also been uncovered at Bet Shean, in Israel. A yotser was meant to be recited in the blessings surrounding the Shema‘ in the morning service (here for a weekday), and so the themes of each of its stanzas correspond to those blessings. Integrating historical events into public prayer was one way that premodern Jews remembered their history, infusing events with both theological and communal significance.