To You I call out

Gershom ben Judah (Rabbenu Gershom)

Early 11th Century

To You I call out, O formidable and awesome One.

Do not hide Your face, such that You not see our distress,

when cursed people attack us,

when they come together to take foolish counsel.

They decree upon us not to call upon the Lord—

our redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name!

my beloved, the ruddy and red, prominent among a myriad—

to spurn His word and to weary Him,

to accept the vile idol as a god,

to prostrate ourselves to the statue, to worship in front of it;

not to sanctify the One that greatly forgives,

and not to fear the formidable God.

When I hear this, my heart trembles.

I give this response to my foe:

“Far be it from me to forget or abandon

the praise of God, the God of my father!

The impure dead one [i.e., Jesus] is new, a recent arrival.

What is he to me, that I would give him my pledge?

I declare the unity of the Creator of all, who is close to those who call upon Him in truth.

He strengthens the orphan and widow and burns his enemies.” [ . . . ]

With Your strength, You redeemed the children of Jacob and Joseph.

Add a second time—redeem the rest of Your people.

Fight their fght and redeem them from those who hew them apart,

See that their strength is gone, and there is no more money in the wallet.

See that there is no man [to help]! Be appalled, for there is none to pray,

[none] to take up supplication for them, to pray t o You ,

to keep away Your quality of strict justice, to bring near Your quality of mercy,

to assuage and calm You from emotion and rage.

With Your righteousness, save and spare and rescue us,

O You who speak in justice, who are great in rescuing.

Remember to have mercy; do not convict us.

Find us favorable and save us; hasten, O rescuer!

Then all who come through the world will recognize and know.

Together they will say, in response:

“Behold, there is no god in the whole universe,

other than the God of Israel—their Redeemer is strong!”

And we thank You and recount Your praise!

It is a rule that we must bless You for Your acts of rescue—

This is written in the Book of Your Praise:

Rescue belongs to the Lord; blessing You belongs to Yo u r p e o p l e (Psalms 3:9).

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

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

Many historians understand this poem to be a lament for the anti-Jewish persecutions that aficted communities in the Rhineland in the early eleventh century. The poem refers to demands that Jews convert to Christianity (“to prostrate ourselves to the statue”). Gershom’s son, in fact, did just that, though the details of his conversion remain unclear. The poem contains many other references to Christianity, calling on God to redeem the Jews from their troubles. Gershom composed this poem with a double alphabetic acrostic (aabb) and signs his name in an acrostic in the closing stanzas. This piyyut, a penitential selihah, continues to be recited by some communities.

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To You I call out

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