Where is the place of understanding?

Late 11th or Early 12th Century

About This Entry

Versified enumerations of the 613 commandments, recited on the festival of Shavuot and known as azharot (lit., “warnings”), conveyed the commandments in an accessible way, offering readers a sense of having completed the entire Torah on the anniversary of the time Israel received it. After the opening stanza, these excerpts present some of the positive commandments. Many of the formulations of the law here depend on rabbinic literature. The poem is written in an alphabetic acrostic; the first three lines of every stanza are composed in alphabetical order (i.e., aaax-bbby).

Where is the place of understanding? Whence is it? Where is it?

[It is] the treasury of wisdom and knowledge, the beginning of [God’s] creation.

When I come today [on Shavuot] to ask with whom He took counsel, who gave Him understanding,¹

would that I could know and find it! [ . . . ]

Who desires life, never to be bereaved?

Hear the assurance of my commandments—to live—O all that know knowledge and intelligence.

I shall call out the exhortation [azharah], and specify the positive commandments in the synagogue, in your ears,

and you shall surely fulfill them, for you are surely able.

Take care, my son, to declare the unity of the great Name, in the unity-[prayer], the Shema‘; you should unify Him twice a day,

and if someone asks about your well-being between the chapters [of the Shema‘], respond to them; and if they deserve honor, also initiate such a question.

But when you stand up to pray [the Amidah]—even if the king asks about your well-being, you must be careful not to respond.

If you find a man, do not bless him; if a man blesses you, do not answer him (2 Kings 4:29).

O careful people, declare praise to the great Name at the hour when you lie down and when you arise; do not delay the time of day.

And lest you delay the songs that laud me,² you should awake every morning and walk to the Minor Temple.³

When the morning glows with the first light, go seek my presence and declare the kingship of my Name—

Get up early in the morning; when it becomes light for you, you should head out (1 Samuel 29:10).

By the hand of the prophet [Moses], I gave you the Five Books, and mezuzahs on doorways,

and I added to my love for you and am honored [through you]—do not spurn my commandments.

When one enters one’s house through the door, one will see the Hanukkah lamp together with [the mezuzah], as a bundle—

and Israel will be in the middle, with one on one side and one on the other (Joshua 8:22).

Your glorious clothing is purified by tzitzit, which are rooted in its four corners,

and the garment should bear a thread of tekhelet [dyed blue], for you to be wrapped in it.

These signs that I have given you are set up, [so that] you will remember your Creator when you look at the treasures hidden in the sand (Deuteronomy 33:19),⁴ which are suspended [from your garment].

Recognize whose sign, whose strings, these are! (Genesis 38:25)⁵

The beautiful days of youth are like arrows in a hero’s hand.

When a newborn is eight days old, the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised, to purify and cleanse him.

My covenant of friendship is to circumcise and perform peri‘a,⁶ for in its merit I raised you up from the pit (Zechariah 9:11).

Perform peri‘a on it; do not transgress it, turn from it, and pass away.⁷

I have determined the amount of silver for one’s firstborn; one should not feel regret when redeeming him [with five silver coins to the priest].

It was when I smote every firstborn in Egypt; their maker waged His sword.

The ransom for the firstborn is the [priest] who serves at my altar; his redemption is [from] his Rock, his stronghold.

The Lord redeems the life of His servants, and all that trust in Him will not be ashamed (Psalms 34:23).

Treat yourself [to fulfill] the teachings of firstborns, and first fruits, and to fulfill being fruitful and multiplying,

and to revere and honor your father and mother, unless they tempt you to abandon my Name and worship a foreign [deity].

Be careful to honor and revere me, and respond to them [that you will not worship idols], lest you utterly perish:

“I said that I would show total honor to you, but lo, the Lord has prevented honor from you!” (Numbers 24:11) [ . . . ]

My soul recites justly the commandment of the holiness of the land,

to keep the three times, to separate them from grain, olives, and grapes:

The first tithe, to give to the Levite, as commanded by my Holy One, who lifts up my head.

He commanded also the second one [in Jerusalem], and also the third [for the poor] (Genesis 32:20).

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[When God created the universe, He consulted with Wisdom, identified with the Torah.—Trans.]

[Before the Shema‘ and the surrounding liturgy, there are introductory Psalms, known today as Pesuke de-zimra or zemirot. The poet is exhorting the listeners not to extend this introductory liturgy too late, lest one miss the hour for reciting the Shema‘. In order to avoid this, he says, one should wake up early and go straight to the synagogue to begin one’s prayers.—Trans.]

[I.e., the synagogue. Ezekiel 11:16 writes that God says that He will be a “Minor Temple” for the Israelites in exile. Jewish tradition understands this as referring to the synagogues throughout the world, where God’s presence dwells, though not to the same extent as in the Temple in Jerusalem.—Trans.]

[Jewish tradition understands this biblical expression as referring to the snail that is the source of the tekhelet dye; here, the poet is using it as a metonymy for the string itself.—Trans.]

[They are God’s, for they mark the wearer as belonging to God.—Trans.]

[The second step of a Jewish circumcision, exposing the glans.—Trans.]

[The full biblical verse reads “Avoid it [pera‘ehu], pass not by it; turn from it, and pass on.” Our poet cleverly turns the word pera‘ehu to mean “perform peri‘a on it”; and he changes “pass not by it,” to mean “do not transgress it.”—Trans.]

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