My soul, why are you so disquieted?

Zeraḥiah ha-Levi of Girona

Late 12th Century

A rebuke to his grieving soul, and yearnings for his brother R. Berekhiah

My soul, why are you so disquieted, so downcast over me,

with so much crying and tears on my cheek?

Why do you tremble like a woman in birth, from your travails,

and why are you balding like an eagle?

Why do you cry so bitterly from those shooting arrows and sparks,

and from the scoffers that so frighten you and embitter you?

O living soul, put your hope in God,

do not fear mortal men, and do not sigh

because of the blades of the swords of fortune, which swirl around,

and do not be glad when fortune’s circumstances are smiling!

Behold, you are hewn from supernal glory,

and you shine with bright light over all luminaries—

How can you go down or descend

into the dark places of the low, accursed earth?

Fly back like a dove to its cote,

ascend all the way to the throne of kingship,

Draw waters of salvation for yourself, from [God], the source of life,

and do not muddy His water with your foot!

Sanctify yourself; purify yourself from the contamination

of the world and spurn its food and wine.

Awake, from your slumber in the bosom of the world’s follies,

awake for the final day and open your eye,

The rod and whip of rebuke have befallen your back,

from the hands of fortune. Be rebuked! Be chastened!

Break the poles of hidden sins, to enter the house of the free,

and be freed of the chains of haughtiness.

Return to the rock, your creator, O pure [soul],

and be cleansed and purified for the day when you are taken,

When you leave the prison of your body,

when you stretch out your tent in God’s camp.

He sent me to perform his statutes and commandments.

Know and see what words to respond to the One who sent me.

To Him, pay the bullock offerings of your lips,

and sacrifice your heart as a thank-offering, to be favorable for you.

Remember and mention His praises and His kindness to you

and do not forget all the good things He has done.

He has brought you up from the soil below

and rescued your eye from crying and your leg from faltering.

Come, take refuge in His mercy and kindness,

and put no trust in princes.

Serve your Lord as a maidservant,

and prostrate yourself to His holy mountain and praise His name.

Knock on the doors of His teaching,

and open their lock using the hand of knowledge and understanding.

Your youthful sins will be like a wick of thread,

when they catch a whiff of the fire of repentance that you will burn.

Your heart and hand, together with your tongue,

will make you a reputation as good as good oil, and you will be anointed with it,

Since old age has anointed your head with the dew of light.

See that tomorrow you will be shaved!

To what extent, for how long, O you poor, storm-tossed one,

will you jump between two opinions?

If you settle [with sin], you will be disquieted like a stormy sea,

but if you say to return to your people, you will be spared.

During your sojourns [in the world], you yearned to leave

the foes who said to you: “Humiliate yourself until we leave.”

You chose, rather, the day when you go back and unite yourself with your brother,

uniting with the house of Levi,¹ rejoining it.

The day when you kiss him with your mouth’s kisses,

the day when you see the beauty of his face and you flower like a rose,

And you collect precious gems from his mouth,

and you make perfume of myrrh and aloes from his deeds.

Put your hope in your Rock, your rescue and your rescuer,

and look forward to His miracles and speak of His wonders.

He will make vile those that treat you as vile,

and He will make as filth those that made your soil and stones filth.

He will wipe tears off your cheek,

on the day when He gives a blow to their walls and towers.

He will mete out [a penalty for] their deeds, to their bosom,

and they will wail from destruction—and you will burst into joyous song.

He will tell the spirit, which blows according to His will,

“Come, blow into the dead corpses,”

So that I get my strength back, through the Rock, who caused my birth,

and who promises me that when my spirit sees my brother, it will live.

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[The poet and his brother were Levites.—Trans.]

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

My soul, why are you so disquieted?

A rebuke to his grieving soul, and yearnings for his brother R. Berekhiah

Notes

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My soul, why are you so disquieted?

A rebuke to his grieving soul, and yearnings for his brother R. Berekhiah

Notes

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