He calls to freedom

Dunash ben Labraṭ

Mid-10th Century

He calls to freedom every man and woman.
He guards you like the pupil of His eye.
Your lovely name will never be forgotten,
If you sit quietly at rest on the Sabbath day.
O seek the welfare of my Temple, of my palace,
And let me see a sign of my salvation.
Plant a splendid vine within my vineyard,
And hear my cry, when I call out to You.
Trample out the vineyard in Bozrah
And Babylon, the overpowering.
In rage and fury, overturn my foes,
Hear me when I call upon Your name.
O God, put on that hill, now desolate,
Acacia, myrtle, box, and cypress trees.
And both to those who teach and those who heed,
Grant peace abundant as the fowing streams.
Crush all who would attack me, God of rage,
And give them melting hearts and sorrow.
Then we will open wide our mouths to sing,
Filling them with songs of praise to You.
Know the way of wisdom for your soul,
And let it be a crown upon your head:
Obey the bidding of your Holy One:
Observe the Sabbath as a holy day.
Translated by Raymond P. Scheindlin.

Credits

Dunash ben Labraṭ, “Dror Yikra” (He calls to freedom), trans. Raymond P. Scheindlin, from Debra Brand, Kabbalat Shabbat: The Grand Unification (Potomac, Md.: Honeybee in the Garden, LLC, 2016), 236–37. Used with permission of the publisher.

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

Engage with this Source

Dunash ben Labrat’s “He calls to freedom” (deror yi-kra’) is one of the earliest Hebrew poems written in the Arabic-style quantitative meter that shaped most medieval Hebrew poetry in later centuries. The poem suggests that if the Jewish people observe the Sabbath, then God will redeem them from exile, and in gratitude, the Jews will sing songs of praise. This poem remains popular today and is often sung at the Sabbath evening meal. In the Hebrew Bible, Bozrah is an Edomite town. Here it stands in for the Christians, as Babylon stands in for the Muslims.

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Creator Bio

Dunash ben Labraṭ

ca. 920/925–ca. 985

Dunash ben Labraṭ, whose Hebrew name was Adonim, was an itinerant poet and intellectual. Born in Fez, Morocco (the name Dunash is Berber), he traveled to Baghdad to study with Se‘adya Ga’on (882–942) before returning to the Maghreb (the western part of North Africa). As part of an attempt to bolster Andalusi Jewish culture, Ḥasday Ibn Shaprūṭ (ca. 915–ca. 970), an influential adviser at the Islamic court, invited Dunash to Córdoba, where Dunash won his patronage with poetic skill. Dunash’s poetry employed Arabic forms, though somewhat rigidly; he was perhaps the first to use Arabic themes and structures in Hebrew poetry. Dunash was also involved in scholarly debates about the relationship between Hebrew and Arabic and over the nature of linguistic roots in Hebrew grammar.

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