Warning of the Secret of Intercalation

Mid- to Late 10th Century

About This Entry

This piyyut (liturgical poem) was written for a Sabbath that coincides with the eve of a new moon. It would have been recited in the morning in synagogue, perhaps by the author himself. Each stanza except the last ends with a verse from the haftarah for such Sabbaths (1 Samuel 20:18–42), interpreted so that it casts light on the laws of the Jewish calendar. Samuel asserts, in keeping with Rabbanite claims, that the Jewish calendar follows an ancient tradition already known in biblical times. Recited between the Shema‘ and the Amidah, the piyyut concludes with a reference to the Song at the Sea (Exodus 15), mentioned during this part of the morning service.

The warning of the secret of intercalation, to clarify, calculate, intercalate, and sanctify,

through a tradition handed down by the patriarchs as to when the months are renewed.

The holy people learned that the New Moon is two days, from this account:

And Jonathan said to him: Tomorrow is the new moon (1 Samuel 20:18).

From here it is known how to establish the new month before its date is fixed.

For this mention that the new moon is tomorrow is proof that a calculation must be wrought.

He gave a sign, like the call to the player¹ not to deviate from the route:

And on the third day you shall hide yourself well, and come to the place (1 Samuel 20:19).

The dates and arrangements of the festivals are transmitted orally from teachers.

They remember whether the months are full or lacking, and rebuff all who rebel against them.

The reason will be made known by an advocate who is acceptable [melits yosher] for all creation:

And as for me, I will shoot three arrows to the side (1 Samuel 20:20).

The interpreters [melitsim] start counting the month from the second day of the New Moon.

Thus in tradition it is explained by those who understand the ends of poetic words [nimlatsim].

The faithful of spirit expressed this to the one who was good to look upon,² to intensify the love of heaven:

And behold, I will send the lad: Go, find the arrows (1 Samuel 20:21).

The instructing sages taught that it is a commandment to sanctify the sighting of the new moon.

There are full and deficient months, but the sages did not deem it fit that there should be more than eight.³

Thus spoke a man whose love was dependent on nothing:⁴

But if I say thus to the boy: Behold, the arrows are beyond you (1 Samuel 20:22).

The response that he did not come to the meal, neither yesterday nor today,⁵

indicates that these days apply to a single month; they do not mark two months.

He instructed him to hide so that he could warn him, per the covenant enacted between them:⁶

And the matter about which you and I have spoken (1 Samuel 20:23).

The officers of the circle⁷ are three;⁸ the month is sanctified in accordance with the will of the king.

The secrets are in the mouths of transmitters over the generations, following the winding path.

Nearby he hid the seedling of Jesse, as the emissary, when he walked away⁹ and departed:

So David hid himself in the field; and when the New Moon arrived, the king sat down (1 Samuel 20:24).

The verse was distorted by sixteen letters, rather than formulated as a crude expression.¹⁰

He would receive reproof about the modest hours, that his modesty spared him.¹¹

A blaze of man’s envy of his neighbor (Ecclesiastes 4:4), enflamed by the enmity of the kingdom:

Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought: Something has befallen him (1 Samuel 20:26).

At the New Moon feast, one who eats a fine portion is praiseworthy.

This was the custom of our ancestors, to give a good gift.

He will never suffer the righteous to be moved (Psalms 55:23), to be captured, destroyed, or annihilated:

And it came to pass on the morrow after the New Moon, the second day, that David’s place was empty (1 Samuel 20:27).

David exceeded (1 Samuel 20:41); he will remember his kindnesses, the march of his footsteps in a straight line.

He will establish his root as a banner for nations, to him peoples will come to thicken it.

To prepare a throne from kindness, to restore the exultant kingdom:

The beloved ones will chant a noble song, to sing it as [they did] on the sea [see Exodus 15:1–21].

Translated by Avi Steinhart.

Notes

[David, who played music before King Saul; see 1 Samuel 16:23.—Trans.]

[David; see 1 Samuel 16:12: “He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and good to look upon.”—Trans.]

[See m. Arakhin 2:2: “There may be no fewer than four full months during a year, and it did not seem fit to establish more than eight.”—Trans.]

[See m. Avot 5:16: “[What is a love] that is not dependent on anything? The love of David and Jonathan.”—Trans.]

[See 1 Samuel 20:27: “And Saul said to Jonathan his son: Why doesn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, neither yesterday, nor today?”—Trans.]

[As David said to Jonathan, see 1 Samuel 20:8: “for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you.”—Trans.]

[I.e., the members of the court. See m. Sanhedrin 4:3: “The Sanhedrin was shaped like half a circular threshing floor.”—Trans.]

[See m. Sanhedrin 1:2: “The intercalation of the month is performed by three judges.”—Trans.]

[The Hebrew word used here, be-ozlo, alludes to the name of the place where David hid, the “Ezel stone” (1 Samuel 20:19), which is generally explained as referring to a stone that served as a signpost for wayfarers.—Trans.]

.[See b. Pesaḥim 3a, which refers to a verse from the chapter at hand: “R. Yehoshua ben Levi said: A person should never express a crude notion, as a verse was distorted through the formulation of eight letters rather than express a crude notion. . . . R. Aha bar Jacob said: Sixteen letters, as it is stated: ‘for he said, something has happened to him, he is not ritually pure; surely he is not ritually pure’ (1 Samuel 20:26).” This verse avoids saying “impure” at the cost of adding many extra letters.—Trans.]

[David said to Saul: “Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and some told me to kill you, but my eye spared you” (1 Samuel 24:11). On account of the unusual form of the expression “but my eye spared you,” the sages explained that David was moved to spare Saul on account of the king’s great modesty when he went to relieve himself (see y. Sukkah 5:4).—Trans.]

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