Take pride, O world, in your era

Eleazar ben Ḥalfon ha-Kohen

Late 12th Century

Take pride, O world, in your era,
in the luminary, the man whose splendor is pleasing to your eyes.
His shadow faces heaven, and he is your master.
On a day of hot wind, hearts are healed through him,
for he is like a spring whose waters are constant.
No tongue can give him sufficient praise.
[He is] the river whose tributaries included Pishon.
The ways of its paths are protected like the apple of an eye.
The small or the great could not overpower his hands.
They [his hands] would blind the eyes of any hostile time.
Souls languish [to hear] his good teachings.
They see that he has new thoughts every moment:
his own and those inherited from his fathers.
He sits deep inside wisdom, and he is like [its] confidant.
He is Moses, engulfed and submerged.
Stand, O acquaintances, at the fork of the road,
and see the pleasing prince among kings.
Be not in error, as you look out and await.
When you see the master, recognize him in truth—
he is Moses son of Maymūn!
Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

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Eleazar ha-Kohen sings the praises of Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), his better-known contemporary, in this Hebrew panegyric. Like the river Pishon, which flows forth from the garden of Eden and is described in Genesis 2:10–11 as being a powerful and ever-flowing tributary, Maimonides’ erudition is like a constant stream. His teachings flow like water from the philosopher’s lips to the ears of his students.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Poetry

9th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Eleazar ben Ḥalfon ha-Kohen

Late 12th Century

Eleazar ben Ḥalfon ha-Kohen was a Hebrew poet whose writings, preserved in the Cairo Geniza, were only discovered and identified in the twentieth century. More than twenty of his poems survive. Some were part of a collection of poetry known as a dīwān (anthology). Collecting the works of a single poet into a dīwān was typically reserved for preserving the compositions of highly regarded poets. Eleazar was influenced by Andalusi Hebrew poetic practices, especially the writings of Judah ha-Levi (ca. 1075–1141). Unusually, he wrote one poem, on a religious theme, in Arabic.

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