יְקָרָא חֲסַרְנָא | Y’qara Ḥasarna — an original “piyyuṭ Meturgeman” as a reshut for the Targum of the Haftarah by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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12 October 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Aramaic, הפטרות haftarot, פיוטים piyyuṭim, רשויות reshuyot, תרגום targum

A new introductory piyyut-meturgeman serving as a reshut for the targum of the haftarah. This genre used to be very popular, especially among the old French paytanim, but nowadays the only one still recited is Yetsiv Pitgam, said in some communities on the second day of Shavuot — although the targum is no longer. I think that’s a shame, so I wrote a new one. I’m probably one of the first people to write one of these since the expulsion of 1394. So of course, it’s meta as all get-out, being a reshut not just for the targum of the haftarah but for the custom of reading the targum of the haftarah with a reshut at all.

Source (Hebrew)

Translation (English)

יְקָרָא חֲסַרְנָא לְמִפְתַּרְנָא מִילָּתָא קַדִּישָׁתָא דִּנְבִיאֵי׃
צְלוּתִי עֲמִיקְתָּא מִילְּתָא פְּסִיקְתָּא וּמִדְרְשַׁי דַּמְיָן כִּבְדִיאֵי׃
חוּכְמָא בָּעֲיָנָא בִּרְשׁוּתָא דְּרַחֲמָנָא לְאַחֲיָא מִנְהָגָא דְּאַנְשְׁיוּ׃
קָרִיתִי בְּסִפְרֵי דְּפוּלְחָן מִן־דָּרֵי קַדְמָאִין דְּלֵית בְּהוֹן תַּשְׁיוּ׃
חִיבְּתָא וּרְחִימוּ לְלִישָּׁנָא דְּתַרְגִּימוּ חַכִּימַיָּא וּבַר־עוּזִּיאֵל רֵישְׁהוֹן׃
זְקוֹף תּוּרְגְּמָנָא קֳדָם אַפְטַרְתָּנָא לְמִפְשַׁר נְבִיאֵי וְרָזֵיהוֹן׃

I lack the honor to explain the holy words of the prophets.
Shapeless is my prayer, brief are my words, and my interpretations seem like fictions.
Asking for wisdom, with the Merciful One’s permission, I would revive a custom forgotten,
After I read it in books of worship from generations prior that lacked weakness.
Cherishing and love for the language the sages translated, Uzziel’s son their chief.
Stand right up, o translator, now before the haftarah; give elucidation of the prophets and their secrets!

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also translates and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic texts, adding niqqud and t'amim as needed.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=63916

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“Ptolemy II Philadelphus talking with some of the 72 Jewish translators of the Torah for the great library of Alexandria” by Jean Baptiste de Champaigne (1672) in the collection of the Palace of Versailles

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