הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין־כִּפּוּר לְפוּרִים | HaMavdil bein Kippur l-Furim — a Purim parody of the Havdalah and Yom Kippur piyyuṭ “HaMavdil” (ca. 16th c.)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Israel Davidson and Unknown

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5 January 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Tags:

Acrostic signature, English Translation, humor, parody, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Purim parody, purimspiel

A parody of the Havdalah (and Yom Kippur) piyyuṭ HaMavdil for Purim from the 16th century, found in Israel Davidson’s classic work Parody in Jewish Literature (1907). Despite the acrostic signature, I didn’t write it I swear!

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)	Rhyming Translation (English, Davidson 1907)
הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין־כִּפּוּר לְפוּרִים שֶׁשּׂוֹנֵא אֶת־הַנְּזִירִים וְאוֹהֵב אֶת־הַשִּׁכּוֹרִים הַצּוֹעֲקִים בַּלָּֽיְלָה׃	May the One who distinguishes between Yom Kippur and Purim, who hates the nazirites^[1] Who are required to abstain from wine and loves the drunkards shouting all night…	Here’s to him who flings aside The cup of penitence at Purim tide, And fees the hermits with drunkards to bide Howling through the night.
יַֽׄיִן אָדֹם אָהַֽבְתִּי וְגַם עִם־לָבָן גַּֽרְתִּי וְשׁוֹתֶה מַֽיִם שָׂנֵֽאתִי כָּאֲפֵלָה וּכְאִשּׁוֹן לָֽיְלָה׃	Red wine I love, but I can live with white.^[2] A pun on Jacob’s statement (in Gen. 32:4) upon returning home, “I have lived with Lavan” — whose name literally means “white.” And drinking water I hate, like gloom and like the black of night.	Red wine I prize as meed, White wine is good in time of need, But the water-drinker I hate, indeed, As the dense darkness of the night;
צְׄעָקָה וּדְמָעוֹת אוֹרִֽידָה^[3] Printed: ירדה — emendation Davidson’s. בִּרְאוֹתִי מַֽיִם בִּסְעוּדָה הָבִֽיאוּ לִי עֶשְׂרִים מִדָּה אוּלַי יַסְפִּיקוּן לִי הַלָּֽיְלָה׃	Shouting, tears I shed when I see water at a feast. Bring me twenty measures! Perhaps that will be enough for me tonight.	I cry, and tears I shed If on water I am fed; O, for twenty measures of sparkling red To quench my thirst to-night.
חֵׄן וָחֶֽסֶד יֻתַּן לָרָעִים^[4] Printed: להם — emendation Davidson’s. אִם־תּוֹסִֽיפוּ יַֽיִן בַּגְּבִיעִים עִם־כּוֹסוֹת שֵׁכָר מְלֵאִים אוּלַי נִשְׁכְּרָה זֶה הַלָּֽיְלָה׃	Grace and mercy will be given to the wicked if you increase wine in goblets along with full cups of liquor — perhaps we will get drunk this very night.	Your praise, my friends, aloud I’ll cry If ne’er the wine in my cup go dry. With brimful jugs of beer we’ll try To get drunk to-night.
קְׄדֻשָּׁה אֲלַמֶּדְכֶם חֲכָמִים הַטּוּ אׇזְנְכֶם בַּעֲרוּ מַֽיִם מִבָּתֵּיכֶם כִּי הֵם חֲשׁוּבִים כַּלָּֽיְלָה׃	Holiness I will teach you; sages, incline your ears — remove water from your homes, for it is considered like night!	A holy deed I teach you, hear! Men of wisdom incline your ear! Keep your houses of water clear, ‘Tis as bad as the night.
חִׄזְׄקׄוּ נְבוֹנִים וַחֲכָמִים בִּזְכוּת נֹחַ אִישׁ תָּמִים אֲשֶׁר נָטַע כְּרָמִים לְשִׁכְרוּת בַּיּוֹם וּבַלָּיְלָה׃׃	Be strong, scholars and sages, in the merit of Noaḥ the upright man, who planted vineyards to get drunk by day and by night.	Summon courage men of lore For Noaḥ’s sake, the Righteous of yore, Who planted vineyards, unknown before, To drink by day and night.

By a 16th century paytan named Yitsḥaq, this is a Purim parody of the Havdalah (and Yom Kippur) piyyuṭ “HaMavdil,” found in Israel Davidson’s Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), pp. 36-37.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	Who are required to abstain from wine
2	A pun on Jacob’s statement (in Gen. 32:4) upon returning home, “I have lived with Lavan” — whose name literally means “white.”
3	Printed: ירדה — emendation Davidson’s.
4	Printed: להם — emendation Davidson’s.

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.

Israel Davidson

Israel Davidson (1870–1939), born in Jonava, Lithuania, was a Jewish American scholar and publisher. He has been recognized as one of the leading American Hebrew writers in his era. His magnum opus was the four volume Otsar ha-shirah veha-piyut (Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry; New York: 1924–1933). Davidson studied in yeshivas in Jonava, Volozhin, and Slobodka. In 1898, he immigrated to New York, worked at a few occupations before earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Unknown

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Rabbi in a kosher wine shop in the New York’s Jewish section. His job is to inspect wines to see that they are made in the kosher manner. He also sells his services as an after-dinner speaker at Jewish functions all over the country; he speaks practically no English, only Yiddish (credit: Marjory Collins, license: PD) – very slightly cropped

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