In the language You reminded

Eleazar be-Rabbi Qillir

7th Century

In the language You reminded Your rememberers [Israel], “Remember!”
In that very language they remind You, “Please, You remember!”
And if they, being human, have violated the covenant, and not remembered–
well, You are God, not a person–why shouldn’t You remember?!
From this [the Torah], I know that You are supposed to remember,
but my soul is depressed, until You remember!
What strength do I have, to wait until the end time of zakhor,
and when is my end-time, that I should keep living until You remember?!
If You will not remember for my sake, [at least] remember for Your sake and for Jerusalem’s sake!
Remember the rule that the [Torah’s] testimony will not be forgotten.
And now, remember [the verse] If I forget [Jerusalem . . . ]
And take account and remember
to ruin the enemy with pain,
to close their mouth,
so that they will tremble like a drunkard.
And may You no longer sell of
[the Jewish people], called “My firstborn,”
who have been acquired with a letekh and a kor.1
And I will remember Your glory,
and I will appease You, [by following Your commandment to me] to remember,
in Parashat Zakhor–

O living and enduring One, awesome and lofty and holy!

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[As Hosea acquired his wife; see Hosea 3:2.–Ed.]

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

Engage with this Source

This excerpt from a kedushta (a series of poems ornamenting the first three blessings of the Amidah on a Sabbath or festival morning) was written for the Sabbath before Purim, when the Haftarah reading features the command: “Remember (zakhor) what Amalek did to you!” It invokes a midrash from Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, in which R. Berekhiah retorts, in response to God’s command, “You tell us to remember!? You remember!” The root of the verb “to remember” is repeated three times in the first line and twice in the second line, and it ends each of the first twelve lines.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut)

7th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Eleazar be-Rabbi Qillir

Eleazar be-Rabbi Qillir, who may have lived in Tiberias, was probably the most consequential and prolific early paytan (liturgical poet). The details of Qillir’s life are shrouded in mystery, though he was apparently a student of another prominent paytan, Yannai, whose many poems were–unlike Qillir’s–lost for centuries until they were unearthed in the Cairo Geniza. Qillir’s poetry incorporated midrashic allusions and dense language. In the twelfth century, Abraham Ibn Ezra sharply criticized Qillir’s poetry as overly complex, difficult to follow, and containing too many neologisms (see Abraham Ibn Ezra, Commentary: On Ecclesias-tes). Nevertheless, many later medieval poets sought to imitate Qillir’s style, and his infuence and importance continued for centuries. Some of his piyyutim remain a central part of the Jewish liturgy.

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