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Nowadays, the only Jewish community with a custom to recite the Aramiac targum translation of the Torah portion is the Yemenites. But this was not always the case. For a very long time, Ashkenazim, Italkim, and some other related communities preserved a custom to read the targum on two specific days — the seventh day of Pesaḥ and the first day of Shavuot (Maḥzor Vitry, Hilkhot Pesaḥ 106:7). On those two days, mass communal miracles happened to the Jewish people — the spliting of the sea on the former, the revelation at Sinai on the latter — and the targum, the translation designed for the purpose of making the story accessible, was preserved for the sake of pirsumei nissa.
Since the use of targum became a special rare occasion, Jews did what we do for special rare occasions — we write piyyutim. An extensive series of Aramaic piyyutim were written, to be inserted into the recitation of the targum (or the ‘seder meturgeman’) itself. On Shavuot, a massive series of piyyutim, one for every one of the ten commandments and then some, were written. On Pesaḥ, a similar number of piyyutim were composed for important moments.
Since the mass acceptance of the Shulḥan Arukh, the custom of the recitation of the targum on these special days has been lost from Ashkenazi practice, and as a consequence the vast majority of the seder meturgeman piyyutim themselves have been abandoned. A small number of Shavuot seder meturgeman piyyutim are still in use (specifically, Aḳdamut Milin and Yetsiv Pitgam), but taken out of their original context. (As an example, why do we read Yetsiv Pitgam after the first verse of the haftarah? Because it’s meant to introduce the targum!)
I personally love Aramaic, piyyutim, and liturgy, so I’ve taken it upon myself to translate a selection of seder meturgeman piyyutim. This piyyut, Ilu Pume Nima (If Our Mouths Were Thread), the first in a series of Aramaic piyyutim from the seventh day of Pesaḥ, is meant to be recited after the first verse of the first aliyah, as an introduction or ‘reshut’ to the seder meturgeman as a whole.
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| Source (Armaic) | Source (English) |
|---|---|
אִילּוּ פּוּמֵּי נִימֵי בְּנֵי נָשָׁא רָשְׁמֵי גְּוִילֵי שְׁמַיָּא וּשְׁמֵי דְּיוֹתָא כָל־יַמֵּי הֲדַר מָרֵא עָלְמֵי וְשַׁלִּיט בְּכָל־תְּחוּמֵי זְעֵיר סָפְקֵי סָכְמֵי חֲדָא לְרִבְבָן קַמֵּי |
If our mouths were thread, people were scribes, the utmost heavens parchment, quills all the seas, for the glory of the Master of Universe and ruler of all boundaries it would be scarcely enough to recount one of the Divine’s myriads. |
טְפֵי טָבְוָן וְרַחֲמֵי יִתּוּר חַסְדִין דְּאֶחֱמֵי כְּדִי פְרַק מֵעֲנָמֵי לְעַם חַבִּיב כְּנַמֵּי |
A plethora of goodness and compassion, a multitude of mercies that I see, when from the Egyptians God saved the treasured people, as written. |
מַטּוּל אֱסָר וְאַיְמֵי נְהַר לְאֵיתָן קְיָמֵי סְעַר לַוָּה לִשְׁלָמֵי עֲדַי בְּנוֹי לְשַׁלּוֹמֵי פְּרַע לְהוֹן בְּאַלָּמֵי צְלַב שַׁבָּיֵי רָמֵי |
Because of the bond and oaths God remembered the covenant of Abraham, ordaining upon the emissary to reward the spoils to the Children to repay them, avenging them in Divine strength on account of the prideful ones coming. |
פְּטַר שַׁלַּח לְאַשְׁלוֹמֵי צְבִי פֶּרְנִין שַׁלִּי־מֵי קְבֵיל וַי כַּד־חֲמֵי רִבְוַתְהוֹן עַל־יַמֵּי שְׁפַר טַכְסִיס קוּמֵּי תְּחִימִין בְּכָל־דּוּגְמֵי |
The firstborn (Egyptians), God sent to death, being reconciled as complete gifts. “Wai!” he (Pharoah) cried when he saw their myriads upon the seas in a beautiful order before him, the camps with all their signage. |
מְתַל מִילְּתָא דָּמֵי אָחָד עַטְלָא דְּאִיתְרְמֵי יְרוּתָּא קֶרֶת יַמֵּי רַטְשָׁא בְּצִבְחַד דְּמֵי בְּדִי זַבְנָא בְּטִימֵי רְפֵיק וְאַשְׁכַּח סֵימֵי בְּהֵת מְזַבֵּן כִּסְמֵי יְהֵא חֲנִיק וְעָמֵי |
A parable: the matter is akin to a lazy man to whom fell an inheritance in the far-off isles. He abandoned for a trifle what he bought at price. He dug and found treasure. And the seller was ashamed for being blind, that he would be choked up and snuffed out. |
יְקוּם רַעֲוָה מִשְּׁמֵי צָדוּ עֲנָם וּשְׁמָמֵי חֲשִּׁיכָא קֶרֶת רוֹמֵי קְבֵיל הָכֵין יִתְרְמֵי |
May it be the will of Heaven that the destruction and desolation of Ḳemet will similarly fall upon the dark kingdom of Rome. |
חֲבַל לְעַבְרָא מִדַּמֵי זְבַן נוּנָא דָּמֵי קְנִיטָא לֵיה בְּלוּגְמֵי וְתוּ לְקָה בְּגַמְגּוֹמֵי אֲרַא לֵיהּ בְּאַלּוּמֵי מְשַׁלֵּם לֵיהּ בְּלוּמֵי צְנַע הַפְרַע וְשִׁיעֲמֵּיהּ צְבִי וְשַׁלַּח לְעַמֵּיהּ |
The matter is akin to a spoiled servant, who purchased a dead fish, sickening himself by swallowing it, and then was struck with aphasia, grasping hold of him, so he paid treasures for it. Defeated, he repented and feared them, relenting and letting go the people. |
“אִילּוּ פּוּמֵּי נִימֵי | Ilu Pume Nima (If Our Mouths Were Thread) — an introductory a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of the 7th Day of Pesaḥ by Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
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Cropped page image from the Worms Mahzor with the Aramaic piyyut Ilu Pume Nime.
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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
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