יָרֵאתִי | Yaréti (“Trembling”), a piyyut by Yequtiel bar Mosheh of Speyer (rhyming English translation by Elsie Davis, 1907)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation) and Yequtiel bar Mosheh of Speyer

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

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Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, פיוטים piyyuṭim, רשויות reshuyot, rhyming translation

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יָרֵֽאתִי בִּפְצוֹתִי שִֽׂיחַ לְהַשְׁחִיל קוּמִי לְחַלּוֹת פְּנֵי נוֹרָא וְדָחִיל וְקָטֹֽנְתִּי מַֽעַשׂ לָכֵן אַזְחִיל תְּבוּנָה חָסַֽרְתִּי וְאֵיךְ אוֹחִיל	Trembling, I now pour forth my prayerful plea, And, suppliant, seek Thee shrined in awe supreme. I fear that worthless Thou my deeds must deem; Wisdom I lack, and hope forsaketh me.
יוֹצְרִי הֲבִינֵֽנִי מוֹרָשָׁה לְהַנְחִיל אַיְּלֵֽנִי וְאַמְּצֵֽנִי מֵרִפְיוֹן וָחִיל לַחֲשִׁי יֵרָצֶה כְּמַנְטִיף וּמַשְׁחִיל בִּטּוּיִי יֻמְתַּק כְּצוּף נָחִיל	Teach me my sacred portion to possess; Strengthen, uphold me, weak, in terror’s snare. Account my whispered plaint as incense rare, Sweeter than honey voice of my distress.
רָצוּי בְּיֹֽשֶׁר וְלֹא כְּמַכְחִיל מְשַׁלְּחַי לְהַמְצִיא כֹּֽפֶר וּמְחִיל שַׁאֲגִי יֶעֱרַב וְלֹא כְּמַשְׁחִיל הֵעָתֵר לְנִגָּשִׂים וְנֶחֱשָׁבִים כְּזָחִיל	Its guileless utterance through Thy grace confirm, And pardon’s ransom to my people speed. Melodious let my supplication plead For these Thy suitors, humbled as the worm.
חַנּוּן כְּהַבְטִיחֲךָ לִבְנִקְרַת מְחִיל זַעֲקִי קְשׁוֹב בְּעֵת אַתְחִיל קְרָבַי יֶחְמְרוּ בְּחָקְרָךְ חֲלוֹחִיל וּמֵאֵימַת הַדִּין נַפְשִׁי תַּבְחִיל	Thy promise, from the sheltering covert heard, Renew, and hearken to the prayer I frame. When Thou dost search my heart, mine inwards flame; With dread of doom my stricken soul is stirred.
אִם כִּגְמוּל הַלֵּב יָחִיל מְקוֹרֵי עַפְעַפַּי אַזִּיל כְּמַזְחִיל צְדָקָה אֲקַוֶּה מִמְּךָ וְאוֹחִיל יֹשֶׁר הוֹרַי זָכְרָה לְהַאֲחִיל	Lest sin be paid full due each heart, doth quake: As streams, the fountains of mine eyelids flow. Craving Thy charity, I wait; bestow Thy pardon, for the righteous fathers’ sake.
חַם לִבִּי בַּהֲגִיגִי יַגְחִיל יִסְתָּעַר בְּקִרְבִּי בְּעֵת אָת חִיל׃ [אָת חִיל יוֹם פְּקֻדָּה בְּאֵימָיו כׇּל לְחֻם לְשָׂקְדָה…]^[1] These lines in brackets are not part of Yequtiel’s piyyut but rather part of a liturgical response read by the congregation.	My heart grows hot the while I muse and pray, ’Tis kindled as a fiery glowing coal; Doubts, like a tempest, agitate my soul; For terror hath invaded us this day.

This is the reshut “Yareti” by Yequtiel bar Mosheh (known from the 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), pp. 95-96. This reshut is offered by the shaliaḥ tsibbur at the outset of their repetition of the Amidah for shaḥarit on Rosh haShanah in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ, minhag Polin.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	These lines in brackets are not part of Yequtiel’s piyyut but rather part of a liturgical response read by the congregation.

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.

Yequtiel bar Mosheh of Speyer

Yekutiel bar Mosheh of Speyer (also, Jekuthiel bar Moses; fl. 11th century) was a paytan best known for his reshut at the outset of the Rosh haShanah shaḥarit amidah. If you have any more information on his life and career, please contact us.

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Cymatic patterns on Chladni plates (Ernst Chladni 1787)

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