הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Alice Lucas (translation) and Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi

Shared on:

14 March 2021 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Motsei Shabbat

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הבדלות havdalot, rhyming translation, נעילה‎ neilah, המבדיל בין קדש לחל Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l'Ḥol, פיוטים piyyutim, 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹֽדֶשׁ לְחוֹל חַטֹּאתֵֽינוּ יִמְחוֹל זַרְעֵֽנוּ וְכַסְפֵּֽנוּ יַרְבֶּה כַּחוֹל וְכַכּוֹכָבִים בַּלָּֽיְלָה.	May He who sets the holy and profane Apart, blot out our sins before His sight, And make our numbers as the sand again, And as the stars of night.
יוֹם פָּנָה כְּצֵל תֹּֽמֶר אֶקְרָא לָאֵל עָלַי גּוֹמֵר יוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַר שׁוֹמֵר אָתָה בֹֽקֶר וְגַם־לָֽיְלָה.	The day declineth like the palm-tree’s shade, I call on God, who leadeth me aright, The morning cometh thus the watchman said- Although it now be night.
צִדְקָתְךָ כְּהַר תָּבוֹר עֲל חֲטָאַי עָבוֹר תַּעֲבוֹר כְּיוֹם אֶתְמוֹל כִּי יַעֲבֹר וְאַשְׁמוּרָה בַּלָּֽיְלָה.	Thy righteousness is like Mount Tabor vast; O let my sins be wholly put to flight, Be they as yesterday, for ever past, And as a watch at night
חָלְפָה עוֹנַת מִנְחָתִי מִי יִתֵּן מְנוּחָתִי יָגַֽעְתִּי בְאַנְחָתִי אַשְׂחֶה בְּכָל לָֽיְלָה.	The peaceful season of my prayers is o’er, Would that again had rest my soul contrite, Weary am I of groaning evermore, I melt in tears each night.
קוֹלִי שִׁמְעָה בַּל יָנְטַל פְּתַח לִי שַֽׁעַר הַמְנֻטָּל שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי נִמְלָא טָל קְוֻצּוֹתַי רְסִֽיסֵי לָֽיְלָה.	Hear Thou my voice: be it not vainly sped, Open to me the gates of lofty height; For with the evening dew is filled my head, My locks with drops of night.
הֵעָתֵר נוֹרָא וְאָיוֹם אֲשַׁוֵּֽעַ תְּנָה פִדְיוֹם בְּנֶֽשֶׁף בְּעֶֽרֶב יוֹם בְּאִישׁוֹן לָֽיְלָה.	O grant me Thy redemption, while I pray, Be Thou entreated, Lord of power and might, In twilight, in the evening of the day, Yea, in the gloom of night.
קְרָאתִֽיךָ יָהּ הוֹשִׁיעֵֽנִי אֹרַח חַיִּים תּוֹדִיעֵֽנִי מִדַּלָּה תְּבַצְּעֵֽנִי מִיּוֹם וְעַד לָֽיְלָה.	Save me, O Lord, my God, I call on Thee! Make me to know the path of life aright, From sore and wasting sickness snatch Thou me, Lead me from day to night.
טַהֵר טִנּוּף מַעֲשַׂי פֶּן יֹאמְרוּ מַכְעִיסַי אַיֵּה אֱלֽוֹהַּ עֹשִׂי נֹּתֵן זְמִירוֹת בַּלָּֽיְלָה.
נַֽחְנוּ בְיָדְךָ כַּחֹמֶר סְלַח נָא עַל קַל וָחֹֽמֶר יוֹם לְיוֹם יַבִּֽיעַ אֹֽמֶר וְלַֽיְלָה לְלָֽיְלָה.	We are like clay within Thy hand, O Lord, Forgive us all our sins both grave and light, And day shall unto day pour forth the word, And night declare to night.
הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹֽדֶשׁ לְחוֹל חַטֹּאתֵֽינוּ יִמְחוֹל זַרְעֵֽנוּ וְכַסְפֵּֽנוּ יַרְבֶּה כַּחוֹל וְכַכּוֹכָבִים בַּלָּֽיְלָה.	May He who sets the holy and profane Apart, blot out our sins before His sight, And make our numbers as the sand again, And as the stars of night.

Alice Lucas’s rhymed paraliturgical translation of the piyyut “Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol” (the separation between the Holy and Mundane) by Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat, was first published in her The Jewish Year (1898), page 169, under the title “Hymn for the Conclusion of the Sabbath.” The piyyut was originally composed for the Yom Kippur neilah service.

Thanks to Nir Krakauer for identifying the piyyut from Lucas’s English verse. For the Hebrew source, I chose the text from Rabbi Simeon Singer’s Authorised Daily Prayer Book (1890), as it seems very close to the girsah Lucas translated from, albeit with a stanza she left untranslated. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Alice Lucas (translation)

Alice Julia Lucas (née Montefiore) (2 August 1851 – 25 March 1935) was a British Jewish poet, translator, and communal worker. Alice Julia Montefiore was born in 1851, the elder daughter of Nathaniel M. Montefiore and Emma Goldsmid. Alongside her brother Claude Montefiore, she studied Judaism under Solomon Schechter at the Hochschule in Berlin. On 24 April 1873 she married barrister Henry Lucas, who later served as treasurer and vice-president of the United Synagogue. In 1900 she helped establish the Jewish Study Society, modelled after the Council of Jewish Women, of which she served as the first president. Lucas also sat on the women's committee of the Westminster Jews' Free School and its preparatory nursery, the Jews' Infant School.

Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi

Yitsḥaq ibn Gayat (1038-1089), spiritual leader of Lucena in the kingdom of Granada, wrote more than 400 liturgical poems with many allusions to the science and philosophy of his day. He also wrote commentaries on tractates of the Talmud and a lengthy commentary on Ecclesiastes.

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hausliche-feier - hamavdil (franz rosenzweig 1921) - cropped

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (German translation by Franz Rosenzweig 1921)

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l’Ḥol (abridged), a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi (ca. 11th c.)

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יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׁרַאֵל | Yom Zeh l’Yisrael, a piyyut by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (abridged rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)

סליחה מר׳ יצחק אבן גיאת | Seliḥah by Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyat (ca. 11th century) translated by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l

סעודה לשבירת הצום, בבית משפחת יצחק מרחיב בהר גריזים. בתמונה, שלושת ילדיו וכלתו

צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)

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בִּרְכָּת הַמַּפִּיל | Birkat haMapil, rhymed translation by Alice Lucas (1898)

הַשְׁכִּיבֵנוּ | Hashkivenu, rhymed translation by Alice Lucas (1898)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17