A voice comes down from on high
About This Entry
This dense and lovely poem begins with the theme that a single person’s prayer cannot adequately praise God, even if he is a prophet and even if God demands his prayer. Evoking the biblical Moses and his resistance to God’s call, this Moses (Ibn Ezra) dwells on his own mixed feelings about the sufficiency of his words. Intended for recitation as a morning prayer, it captures the experience of waking early and traveling to the synagogue.
Notes
[The verbal form, midaber, in the so-called refexive conjugation, is taken from Numbers 7:89. The sense is that the divine voice is speaking without direct concern to the specific audience, but on its own terms; yet, at the same time, it is addressing the audience.—Trans.]
[I.e., the part of the night that immediately precedes the d aw n .—Tr a ns.]
[To support what God has chosen in this world. The term ḥevel, “portion,” can refer to the Jewish people, as in Deuteronomy 32:9, but it is unlikely to mean so in this context, for in this poem, the poet is focusing on the individual’s relationship to God. Note that the word can also mean “rope,” which is evocative when in the same line as the imagery evoked by “the hem of His coat.”—Trans.]
[I.e., the synagogue, where the narrator goes in the hours before dawn.—Trans.]
[The word means literally “praise,” but, as we see in the next line, the poet is not ready to recite words of praise. The word translated here as “moved” has a connotation of someone being disturbed and panicked.—Trans.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.
