Before You spread Your tent

Unknown

6th or 7th Century

About This Entry

This piyyut, preserved in a manuscript from the Cairo Geniza, is an example of the seder beriyot (order of creation) genre, popular in the Byzantine period. Recited during the Musaf prayer on Yom Kippur, before the account of the Temple sacrifices known as the ‘avodah section, piyyutim of this type focus–as does this one–on the time before the creation of the world.

Before You spread Your tent

Before You donned light

Your throne was established of old.

Before You conceived in Your secret counsel

Before You built with graciousness

Your throne was established of old.

Before You erected boundaries

Before You hewed out fiery coals

Your throne was established of old.

Before You ascended the veil

Before You suspended the dust

Your throne was established of old.

Before You walked the [heavenly] orbit

Before You were exalted and became King

Your throne was established of old.

Before You fixed the hooks

Before and You stretched out the curtains¹

Your throne was established of old.

Before You dwelt in Your high habitation

Before You settled the one flowing [=land of Israel]

Your throne was established of old.

Before You intended to make

Before [the world] was inscribed for the making

Your throne was established of old.

Before You banished the darkness

Before the light and luminary [=sun and moon] flew in tandem

Your throne was established of old.

Before You indicated, “Let them be gathered” (Genesis 1:9)

Before You exposed the dry ground

Your throne was established of old.

Before You spread out [the heavens] like tents

Before You planted the base [=Israel]

Your throne was established of old.

Before You instructed, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3)

Before the paths were illumined with light

Your throne was established of old.

Source: New York JTSA MS 8190, fols. 2r–2v.

Translated by Michael Rand.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

1

The a-grammatical use of “and” is necessitated by the acrostic structure.

Credits

Unknown, “Before You spread Your tent,” trans. Michael Rand, in Michael Rand, “More on the Seder Beriyot,” Jewish Studies Quarterly, vol. 16 (2009): 183–209 (205). Published with the approval of Jewish Studies Quarterly, and with permission of the translator.

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

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About This Entry

This piyyut, preserved in a manuscript from the Cairo Geniza, is an example of the seder beriyot (order of creation) genre, popular in the Byzantine period. Recited during the Musaf prayer on Yom Kippur, before the account of the Temple sacrifices known as the ‘avodah section, piyyutim of this type focus–as does this one–on the time before the creation of the world.

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