When the gates of mercy

Judah Ibn ‘Abbās

Mid-12th Century

When the gates of mercy are about to open, on this day, as I spread out my hands to You, I shall say: “Oh, remember in my behalf, on this day of judgement, the one who bound, the one who was bound, and the altar!”

This was the last of Abraham’s ten trials: “The son that was born to you of Sarah—though you love him dearly, now go and ofer him to Me…

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This piyyut recounts the binding of Isaac in elaborate detail. Highlighting in particular the response of the angels, Jacob recalls Abraham and Isaac in order to call God to bring forth the fnal redemption. “When the gates of mercy” entered the prayer rites of many Jewish communities in the Islamic world, particularly in the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgies. Judah signed his name in the acrostic of this poem, here formatted by the translator as prose paragraphs, which reads Abbâs Judah Samuel.

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Creator Bio

Judah Ibn ‘Abbās

12th Century

Judah ben Samuel Ibn ‘Abbâs was born in Fez and migrated to Aleppo, Syria, where he gained great renown. About twenty of his poems survive, and at least one is still recited on Rosh Hashanah in the Sephardic rite. Ibn Abbâs’s son was the famed convert to Islam, Samaw’al al-Maghribï (d. 1175).

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