O helper of the poor and indigent
About This Entry
This fragmentary excerpt is from a Hebrew panegyric in honor of a scholar, praising his kindness and erudition and wishing him a long and productive life. The second half looks forward to the coming of the messiah and imagines the glories that await the scholar and the Jewish people (who are compared to scattered sheep, captives, and sleepers) with the rebuilding of the Temple. Ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.
In honor of a scholar.
O helper of the poor and the indigent,
serve the Lord of Lords, for your merit.
O good provider, keeper of faith,
in heaven and on earth they march to greet you.
To learn from your acumen in [scholarly] matters,
sages and scholars rush to your door.
You melt the two academies1 with your thoughts,
Talmud and commentaries, in ninety-eight ways.
May the scion of Jesse, with . . .
come in your lifetime to [Jerusalem], the mother of children.
For the sheep dispersed to the four corners
may he whistle, to gather them with utmost joyous song,
and bring freedom to the captives and awaken the sleepers.
May you rejoice when those compared to lilies flourish in your lifetime,
and in your lifetime may priests and Levites stand on their platforms.
Your crown will shine over all of them, O our master, with your court.
Amen, may your life be fruitful, and your days be many . . .
Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.
Notes
[I.e., the talmudic academies of Sura and Pumbedita, located at this time in Baghdad.—Ed.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.
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with henna and roses,
and myrrh and aloes,
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and lovely saplings,
and species of trees,
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caused this groom to unite with his bride,
as He brought joy to His servant Adam
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