Proclaim liberty, tarry not

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About This Entry

“Proclaim liberty” focuses on the Jews’ situation among the Muslim majority. Addressing God, the poet laments the exile and suffering of the Jewish people and begs God to bring an end to the exile and restore the Temple. The “handmaid’s children” are Muslims, who are traditionally understood to be descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and his handmaid Hagar.

Proclaim liberty, tarry not,

for the people who are in the creditor’s hand.

Remember Moses’ merit for them,

and Aaron’s too, and Miriam’s.

Take vengeance for their humiliation,

and wage their fights.

May they be the captors of their captors,

and of the people who take their fruits.

Then may they run, full of praise,

to Your holy city, like deer,

Raised up, uplifted,

with their supplication, their tearful cry.

Their mighty sanctum, which lies desolate,

build it for them, and their Temple.

Bind glorious ornaments to their head,

as for a bride, and bedeck them with decoration.

Your multitudes are dispersed,

their heads bent down, in the hand of foes,

their backs beaten and lacerated,

their hearts melt in fear, in their great sickness.

They are thrust away in their exile,

butchered up like an ox or sheep,

seethed up like a pot on the stove,¹

and the foe’s bridle is on their cheeks.

Scorned amidst the handmaid’s children,

who is a perpetual miscreant,

And every nation and clan—

may You dominate them, for they greatly rebel.

They [the Jews] have rebelled against You, transgressed against You,

Your faithful ones have betrayed You.

Therefore have they wandered and been scattered,

and their splendid, glorious beauty has become hideous. [ . . . ]

There were songs and hymns and praises,

when there were burnt-offerings and meal offerings [in the Temple]—

Remember these, O creator of all that breathe.

Rescue them from their utter captivity.

May their community then see

Your holiness, when it calls out.

May You hear their cry,

and redeem the people, with their progeny.

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[Literally “like a pot on the thorns,” this is an allusion to a pun in Ecclesiastes 7:6 that reads: “As the crackling of thorns under a pot.” The words for “thorn” and “pot” are homonyms in Hebrew. The implication is that the thorns serve as fuel for the pot.—Trans.]

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