יְוָנִים צוּר בְּאַף | Yevanim Tsur b-Af — a piyyuṭ before Qaddish (after the Amidah) on Shabbat Ḥanukkah by Yaaqov ibn Tsur

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Yaaqov ibn Tsur

Shared on:

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

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18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Acrostic signature, Maghrebi Jewry, Meknes, Morocco, פיוטים piyyuṭim, זמירות zemirot

Yevanim Tsur B-Af — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Qaddish (after the Amidah) in the Shaḥarit of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria. It may be sung according to the following instructions: “One yated and two tnu’ot, one yated and two tnu’ot, one yated and one tnua’, the meter of Agadelkha.”

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יְוָנִים צוּר בְּאַף נָגַף וְהִכָּה וְצִוָּֽנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה׃	Jealously, the Rock attacked and struck the Greeks and commanded us to light the Ḥanukkah lamp.
עָרִיצֵיהֶם תְּהוֹם יָרְדוּ וְאָבָדוּ וְנִלְכְּדוּ בְּפַח גַּם חָח וְחַכָּה׃	Abyss-bound, their tyrants were lost, and were conquered, hook, line, and sinker.^[2] Literally:” trap and nose-ring and fishing-hook” — all ways to catch a fish.
קְרוּאִים נַחֲלַת שַׁדַּי בְּחַסְדּוֹ עֲלֵיהֶם חָס וְהִצְדִּיקָם וְזִכָּה׃	Called was the inheritance of the Delimiter^[3] Shaddai, based on the midrash that it means “the one who said enough” in Their kindness; They had mercy on them and justified them and credited them.
וּמַתִּתְיָה עָנָהוּ יָהּ וְשָׁמַע תִּפְלָתוֹ נְקִיָּה הִיא וְזַכָּה׃	On that, Mattathias responded, “Yah!” who heard his prayer, which was pure and merited.
בְּחֶמְלָתוֹ יְחוֹנֵן עוֹד עֲדָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁעוֹ מְצַפָּה גַּם מְחַכָּה׃	By Their compassion They will yet have mercy on Their congregation, which waits and hopes for Their salvation.
וְיִתְגַּדֵּל שְׁמוֹ אֵל רָם וְנִשָּׂא וְשׁוֹכֵן אֶת־שְׁפַל רֽוּחַ וְדַכָּא׃	And may the name of the high and exalted Deity be magnified, and dwell with the low-of spirit and crushed.

Source(s)

Sefer Et l-Kol Ḥefets (Yaaqov ibn Tsur) page 33b

Notes

Notes
1	According to José Martínez Delgado’s The Prosodic Models of Andalusi Hebrew Metrics (2020) this is equivalent to the very common Arabic wāfir meter, known in Hebrew usages as ha-merubeh.
2	Literally:” trap and nose-ring and fishing-hook” — all ways to catch a fish.
3	Shaddai, based on the midrash that it means “the one who said enough”

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)

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 authors his own original works.) 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.

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

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 authors his own original works and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic text, 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.

Yaaqov ibn Tsur

Yaaqov ben Reuven ibn Tsur, or Jacob Abensur (1673–1753), born in Fez, Morocco, was a poet, scholar and leading Moroccan rabbi of the 18th century. He studied under the rabbis Vidal Serfaty and Menahem Serero. In 1693, he was appointed as registrar at the bet din (rabbinical court) of Fez, and then as a rabbi and head of the bet din in 1704, a post which he held for another thirty years. Thereafter, oppressive taxation induced him to move to Meknès, where he became a member of the bet din for eleven years, and after that he moved to Tétouan to serve in its bet din for another seven years. Ibn Tsur authored Mishpat u-Tsedeqah be-Ya’aqov, a published collection of some of his responsa, as well as Et le-khol Ḥefeẓ, a collection of piyyutim.

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