You planted a choice vine

Moses Ben Asher

Mid-9th Century

This is a song of the glory of Israel and the history of its prophets, with Israel compared to a vine: its tendrils are the prophets, its roots the patriarchs, and its shoots the sages who turn the masses to righteousness.

You planted a choice vine that was finer than all other vines.
It was planted in the Tower of David, and there was a cedar of Lebanon within it.
The vine of God is the tribes of Jacob, and the men of Judah the plant of His delight.
The tendrils of the vine are the prophets, and the Tower of David, which is Mount Zion,
was planted by many waters, and her stature was greatly exalted among the thick branches,
and that vine bent its roots and sent out its branches upon many waters.
The branches of the grapevine are the pious ones of the world: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The wise ones of the grapevine are the prophets of the world: Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam.
The sprouts of the grapevine are Joshua and Caleb and the seventy elders, and Eldad and Medad.
The winery of the grapevine are the two altars and the sanctuary and the innermost sanctum.
Like the appearance of a groom and the image of a bride so the congregation of Jeshurun approached Horeb.
The grapevine shoots were Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
The springs of the vine were Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, and also Obadiah.
The visionary prophets, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and also Zephaniah.
The grape-buds of the vine were Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and also the beloved man [Daniel].
The grapes of the vine are the sons of Aaron, the holy ones of God, who minister to our Lord.
The flowers of the vine are the sons of Levi, who all sing to the pleasant sounds of their lyres.
The growths of the vine are the little ones, newborns who have never tasted the taste of sin.
There was a support near the vine, which is David, king of Israel.
David smote many evil ones of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines.
The roots of the vine are Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, who all acted in their might.
The pure ones of the vine are the elders of Betera, the heirs of the prophets, who have understanding of the times.
Deep waters that spring forth mystery, their hearts are wise like a flowing stream.
The delightful ones established the cantillations of scripture, giving the sense and clear expression.
They surrounded the Torah of our Lord with a fence, with ordered traditions to make the simple wise.
In their faith they founded the explanations of scripture, encompassed by commandments, without turning aside from the path.
They gave their lives for the Torah of our Lord, to justify the many, to make the Torah great.
They were surrounded by troubles from the Greek kings, who exiled and scattered them to No [i.e., Alexandria] and its towns.
The holy tribes were roused over them and established the Hanukkah of lamps over their fall.
. . .
Bring near the salvation, crown the vine, and eradicate the root of all the kingdoms.
Translated by Avi Steinhart.

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

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This Hebrew poem, praising the patriarchs and depicting them as the roots of a tree from which the prophets sprouted, is extant in three versions, one of which appears in the colophon of Moses Ben Asher’s famous copy of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Leningrad Codex. This fascinating and seemingly nonrabbinic poem, which presents a genealogy or history of the transmission of scripture and its interpretation, has been taken to represent the ideology of Moses Ben Asher and, perhaps, of the Masoretes in Tiberias as a whole. It makes no references to the midrashic corpus that heavily influenced other early medieval Palestinian poems. The poem is written as an alphabetic acrostic followed by an acrostic of the author’s name, although the second-to-last line is missing.

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Creator Bio

Moses Ben Asher

9th Century

Moses Ben Asher was the scion of a family of leading Masoretes in Tiberias. Little is known about his life. His manuscript copy of the books of Prophets and Writings is extant and is a magnificent example of an early medieval biblical text. Not all of Moses’ readings were accepted by other Masoretes. The possibility of the author’s Karaite affiliations is a matter of ongoing dispute. His son Aaron was also a prominent Masorete.

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