אֶתֵּן לְפוֹעֲלִי צֶֽדֶק | Ètén l’Fōali Tsedeq (“My Maker’s Justice”), a piyyut by Rabbi Shimon bar Yitsḥaq of Mainz (rhyming English translation by Elsie Davis, 1907)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation) and Shimon bar Yitsḥaq of Mainz

Shared on:

25 February 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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Tags:

10th century C.E., 48th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Alphabetic Acrostic, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
אֶתֵּן לְפוֹעֲלִי צֶֽדֶק בַּיּוֹם הַנִּבְחַר מַֽעַשׂ לְהִבָּדֵק׃ גַּאֲוָתוֹ מְאֹד גָּדְלָה דֶּֽרֶךְ עֲנָוָתוֹ לְפִי הַגְּדֻלָּה׃	My Maker‘s justice I will praise this day, Ordained of yore, each human deed to weigh. Supreme in strength, enthroned upon His height; Yet mild is He according to His might.
הוּא אֲדוֹן הָעוֹלָם וּמִי הִקְשָׁה אֵלָיו וַיִּשְׁלָם׃ זוֹכֵר הוֹלֵךְ בַּתֹּם חוֹנֵן וְעוֹשֶׂה דִּין יָתוֹם׃	The Lord, all worlds were formed at his behest: Lo! who resisteth him and findeth rest? The pious ones are ever in His thought; The orphan’s judgment by His grace is wrought.
טָהוֹר מָרוֹם וְנִשָּׂא יָפֶה בְעִתּוֹ הַכֹּל עָשָׂה׃ כַּבִּיר לֹא יִמְאַס לְנִבְזֶה בְעֵינָיו נִמְאָס׃	He that is pure, enthroned on heights sublime, Made all things beautiful in their due time. Though He be mighty, He will not despise The lowly spirit, vile in its own eyes.
מְפֹאָר רוֹכֵב עֲרָבוֹת נֹֽגַהּ נֶגְדּוֹ וְאֵשׁ לֶהָבוֹת׃ סוֹעֵף בַּחֲרָבוֹת שְׁנוּנוֹת עֲבוּר יְתוֹמִים וְאַלְמָנוֹת׃	He rides the heav’ns, His glory we acclaim: Light is before Him, fire and flash of flame. With whetted blade He carveth out redress, The widowed righting and the fatherless.
פֹּֽעַל אָדָם יְשַׁלֵּם צָר פֶּה וּמֵשִׂים אִלֵּם׃ קוֹנֵה הַכֹּל בְּרַחֲמִים רָם וּמַשְׁפִּיל רָמִים׃	He rendereth according to the deed; He formed the mouth, the dumb His will decreed. He in compassion doth the All possess: The high God brings the high to lowliness.
שׁוֹפֵט יְצוּרָיו בַּחֲנִינָה תְּמִים פֹּֽעַל אֵל אֱמוּנָה׃ שֽׁוֹפְטֵי אֶֽרֶץ כַּתֹּֽהוּ מִפַּחְדּוֹ יִבָּהֲלוּ וְיִתְמָֽהוּ׃	A gracious Judge to creatures of the sod, His work is perfect: lo! the faithful God. The earthly judges are as nought; with dread Of Him they are amazed, discomfited.
עוֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפַּט עַמּוֹ וּתְחִלָּה מְקַדְּמָם מִפְּנֵי זַעְמוֹ׃ נְדִיבִים בְּדִקְדּוּקָם יָחִֽילוּ בַּאֲשֶׁר מִשְׁפָּטוֹ פָּעָֽלוּ׃	He is His people’s Judge: O may it be That o’er His anger, grace gain mastery. The rulers, they that weigh with deepest thought, Are sore afraid, though they His judgment wrought.
רוֹאֶה כׇּל תַּעֲלוּמוֹת יוֹשֵׁב בְּגָבְהֵי מְרוֹמוֹת׃ צוֹפֶה כׇּל נוֹלָדוֹת חוֹפֵשׂ כׇּל הָעֲתִידוֹת׃	No secret thing is hidden from the sight Of Him that dwelleth o’er the loftiest height. Watchful of all things brought to birth is He; He probes the issues of futurity.
קוֹרֵא הַדּוֹרוֹת מֵרֹאשׁ חִקְרֵי לֵב לָתוּר וְלִדְרוֹשׁ׃ זוֹכֵר בְּרִית רִאשׁוֹנִים קַיֵּם שְׁבוּעָה לָאַחֲרוֹנִים׃	He called the generations forth of old To search the inmost thoughts each heart did hold. The first Sires’ covenant remembering still,^[1] Referring to the covenant with the patriarch, Abraham, concerning his descendants. Unto their seed His oath will He fulfil.

This is the alphabetic acrostic piyyut “Etén l’Foali Tsedeq” by Shimon bar Yitsḥaq (b. Abun of Mainz, identified via his acrostic signature), as translated into rhymed English verse by Elsie Davis, and published in Herbert Adler and Arthur Davis’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haZikaron (1907), p. 104 (also, p. 200). (The piyyut is accidentally attributed to Kalir in the credits located in the backmatter of the maḥzor.)

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	Referring to the covenant with the patriarch, Abraham, concerning his descendants.

Aharon N. Varady (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.)

Elsie Davis (translation)

Elsie Naomi Davis Schryver (1876-1933), born in Derby, England, was a Jewish translator of liturgy and a mother. She was born at Friarfield House, Derby, the oldest of two children of Louisa (née Jonas) and Arthur Davis. Her father's family were secular Jewish precision instrument makers, who had immigrated to England from Bavaria in the early nineteenth century. A civil engineer by trade, Arthur Davis became religiously observant and mastered the Hebrew language, becoming an accomplished Hebraist noted for his study of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. The family moved to Kilburn, London when Nina was six weeks old, later settling in Bayswater. There, Davis gave his daughters an intensive scholarly education in Hebrew and Jewish studies, teaching them himself each morning before breakfast from the age of four, and taking them regularly to the synagogue. The Davis's moved in learned Jewish circles, and friends of Nina's parents included the families of Nathan Adler, Simeon Singer, Claude Montefiore, Solomon Schechter, Herbert Bentwich, and Elkan Adler. Arthur Davis was one of the "Kilburn Wanderers"—a group of Anglo-Jewish intellectuals that formed around Solomon Schechter in the 1880s—members of which took an interest in Nina's work and helped her find publication for her writings. Eleven of Elsie's translations of piyyutim are credited in the maḥzorim of Herbert Adler and her father Arthur Davis. With her husband, Samuel Barnett Schryver, she was the parent of two daughters, Rosalind Leah Schryver and Priscilla Naomi Schryver. Elsie was the older sister of Nina Salaman Davis (1877-1925), who also translated medieval piyyutim.

Shimon bar Yitsḥaq of Mainz

Shimon bar Yitsḥaq (also, Simeon bar Isac; ca. 950-ca. 1020), born in Mainz, Germany, was a scholar of his time. As a paytan he composed yotserot, qerovot, seliḥot, hymns, and rashuyyot le-ḥatanim. It is probable that he sang his piyutim himself. His piyutim bare traces of the language found in early piyutim, and they are marked by the pain of the persecutions of the Jews in bar Isaac's lifetime.

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