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In older Sephardic practice, there are cycles of reshuyot (permission-poems) recited on the three sabbaths of rebuke. These reshuyot, inserted before important prayers, date back to medieval Andalusian poets. They are largely mournful in tone, and accordingly the Ḥida opposed their recitation as unbefitting the joy of sabbaths, but due to their antiquity and cherishedness some communities (for instance those of Morocco) preserved them, reciting them all prior to Maariv on the ninth of Av instead. In any case, they are very clearly designed for the Shabbatot to which they are assigned, and to serve as reshuyot for the prayers to which they are assigned. These six reshuyot are meant to be recited on the second sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Shim’u. Many of their authors are, to the translator’s knowledge, otherwise unknown — any further information about them would be greatly appreciated!
Shabbat Shim’u is, in most years, the sabbath before Rosh Ḥodesh Av. In years where Shabbat Shim’u falls on Rosh Ḥodesh Av itself, this reshut would be recited on Shabbat Divrei instead, because the Shabbat blessing of the new moon happens before the new moon and not on it.
Note: This translation uses the plural pronouns They/Their/Them to refer to God as a pluralis majestatis, and to avoid the implications of God being assigned a gender. (Find Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Genesis 1:1 for a discussion of the pluralis majestatis when referring to God.) All divine referents (pronouns, epithets, names) are rendered in unicase.
| Source (Hebrew) | Translation (English) |
|---|---|
אֲשַׁחֵר עֲדָתִי וְלִמְאֹד עֲנִיָּה וְאֶפְקֹד נְוָתִי וְרַבָּה שְׁאִיָּה׃ גְּדֵרוֹת דְּחוּיוֹת וְקִירוֹת נְטוּיוֹת וְעֵיפָה וְאֹֽפֶל וְעָיֵף וְצִיָּה׃ וְקִפּוֹד תְּקוֹנֵן וְעוֹרֵב יְקַנֵּן וְיַעֲנוֹת וְתַנּוֹת מְתַנּוֹת אֲנִיָּה׃ לְטָאָה וְחַיָּה וְאַיָּה וְדַיָּה וּמִסְפֵּד וְאֶֽבֶל וְקוֹל תַאֲנִיָּה׃ |
I seek the sore afflicted of my congregation, and consider my abode and its great devastation. Fences felled, walls toppled, gloom and darkness,weariness and dehydration, And the owl is nested, and the raven nests, and ostriches and jackals tell of the lamentation, lizard and beast and buzzard and kite and eulogy and mourning and the sound of desperation. |
שְׁאַלְתִּים וְאַיֵּה עֳפָרִים וּצְבִיֵּי חֲמוּדוֹת וְיוֹנֵי אֲפִיקֵי עֲלִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה עֲלִיּוֹת בְּאֶקְדָּח בְּנוּיוֹת וְגׇבְהֵי אֲרָזִים וְאֶֽבֶן שְׁתִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה דְבִירִים וְסוֹדֵי יְקָרִים וְחַצְרוֹת עֳפָרִים וְהֵיכְלֵי צְבִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה עֲלָמוֹת לְבוּשׁוֹת רְקוּמוֹת כְּבוּדּוֹת פְּנִימוֹת בְּחַדְרֵי שְׂכִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה עֲדָנִים וְאַיֵּה שְׁמָנִים וְיֵינֵי רְנָנִים וְסֹֽלֶת נְקִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה עֲבוֹדָה וְאַיֵּה תְעוּדָה וְאַיֵּה כְהֻנָּה וְאַיֵּה לְוִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה מְלוּכָה בְּמִשְׁפָּט עֲרוּכָה בְּשָׂפָה בְרוּרָה בְּאֶֽפֶס רְמִיָּה׃ וְאַיֵּה אֱמוּנָה עֲלֵי חֵיק אֲמוּנָה יְחִידָה לְבָנָה וְחַמָּה שְׁנִיָּה׃ |
I asked them, “And where are the fawns, precious gazelles, puissant doves in their place of elevation? And where are the heights built on the carbuncle, and the high cedars and the stone of foundation? And where are the sancta and honored secret chambers, fawns’ courtyards, gazelles’ palatial habitation? And where are the young maidens dressed in embroidery, turned into boudoir-chambers, of glorious acclamation? And where are the delicacies and where are the oils and the pure semolina and wine of exultation? And where is the service and where is the priesthood and where is the levitehood and where is the certification? And where is the reign, long-standing in justice, in pure speech without prevarication? And where is the faith nursed upon the breast, unique, like the moon, second only to the sun in all creation?”[1] This stanza, using the language of Song of Songs 6:10 and Isaiah 30:26, is missing in some printings. |
וְעָנוּ חוֹזֵיהֶם שְׁאוֹל מִשְׁכְּנֵיהֶם בְּחוֹרֵי עֳפָרִים וְעִמְקֵי נְשִׁיָּה׃ וְעָלוּ בְגַבָּם דְּשָׁאִים וְעִשְׂבָּם לְמִרְמָס יְעֵלִים וּמִרְעֵה גְדִיָּה׃ וּבֹֽקֶר וָעֶֽרֶב לְקֶֽרַח וְחֹֽרֶב לְמִפְנֵה זְרָמִים וְזִרְמֵי רְוָיָה׃ וְהָלְכוּ בְמוֹ־יָם לְאֵין קֵץ בְּשִׁבְיָם לְעַנּוֹת נְפָשׁוֹת וְכַלּוֹת גְּוִיָּה׃ וְיָם הִלְּכוּ בוֹ אֲבַדּוֹן נְתִיבוֹ וּמָֽוֶת לְחוֹבֵל וְקֶֽבֶר לְצִיָּה׃ חֲרָדָה וְשַׁמָּה וּפַחַד וְאֵימָה וְאֵין־קוֹל וְעוֹנֶה בְּכׇל־הָאֳנִיָּה׃ וְעֵדָה הֲדוּרָה צְמִיתוּת מְכוּרָה כְּתוּשָׁה נְטוּשָׁה לְחֶֽרֶב נְטוּיָה׃ וְזַרְעָם נְפוּצִים לְחוּצִים רְמוּסִים לְתוֹלְדוֹת נְגָעִים וּמַכָּה טְרִיָּה׃ וּבָחַל אֲבִיהֶם בְּאִמָּם וּבָהֶם וּבָעֲלוּ עֲלֵיהֶם בְּנוֹת נׇכְרִיָּה׃ אֱמוֹרִית וְחִתִּית וְהַגְרִית וְכִתִּית וְהַמִּדְיָנִית וְהַמּוֹאֲבִיָּה׃ |
And their seers[2] In some texts, “their sons” בְּנֵיהֶם responded, “Their abode is the underworld, the earth’s crevices, the depths of oblivion their damnation. And over their backs sprouted grass and foliage for the mountain-goats’s trampling and the kid-goats’s pasture station. And evening and morning, in ice and drought, turned over to torrents and streams in saturation. And they went into the sea, without end to their captivity, their bodies consumed and their souls in castigation. And they went about in the sea, whose way is doom, and death for the sailor, and for the dry-place inhumation. Panic and ruin and fear and terror, and in all the ship was no sound of reciprocation. And the once-splendid people, sold off in perpetuity, broken and abandoned to the sword’s elongation, And their seed scattered, stressed, and crushed, to eras of plagues and harsh flagellation, And their father will despise their mother and them and marry in their place women of a foreign nation — Amorite and Hittite and Hagrite and Kittite and Midianite and Moabite in fornication.”[3] Those who recite these reshuyot before ma’ariv on the Ninth of Av, instead of in their original locations on their respective shabbatot, cease here. |
אֲבִיהֶם בְּרַחֲמָיו יְרַחֵם יְתוֹמָיו וְיִקְבֹּץ זְרוּיָו לְאֶֽרֶץ נְקִיָּה׃ אֲשֶׁר רָם וְנַעֲלָה וְהוֹרִיד וְהֶעֱלָה וּמַחַץ וְרִפָּא וְהֵמִית וְהֶחֱיָה׃ וְתָשׁוּב לְעִירָךְ וְתִבְנֶה דְּבִירָךְ וְתִשְׁכֹּן בְּבֵיתָךְ וְתֶאֱסֹף דְּחוּיָה׃ |
May their Parent in compassion have compassion on Their children and gather Their scattered to the land without contamination, That the High and Exalted — who cast down and raised up, wounded and healed, brought death and rejuvenation — return to Your city and build Your sanctum and dwell in Your house, bringing the rejected to convocation. |
מְחַדֵּשׁ חֳדָשִׁים יְקַבֵּץ קְדוֹשִׁים אֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים לְעִיר הַבְּנוּיָה׃ וְזֶה הַחֹֽדֶשׁ לְטוֹבָה יְחַדֵּשׁ וְרָצוֹן יְצַו אֵל רַב הָעֲלִילִיָּה׃ |
May the Renewer of months gather the holy of all genders to the rebuilt conurbation, That this month be renewed for good, that desire be commanded by the Deity great in operation.[4] When recited before the blessing for the new moon, the prayer leader continues with “May the One who did miracles,” the start of the blessing of the new month proper. There are several supplications prior to this line in the Sephardic practice, but these are skipped for Shabbat Mevarkhim Av. |
Notes
| 1 | This stanza, using the language of Song of Songs 6:10 and Isaiah 30:26, is missing in some printings. |
|---|---|
| 2 | In some texts, “their sons” בְּנֵיהֶם |
| 3 | Those who recite these reshuyot before ma’ariv on the Ninth of Av, instead of in their original locations on their respective shabbatot, cease here. |
| 4 | When recited before the blessing for the new moon, the prayer leader continues with “May the One who did miracles,” the start of the blessing of the new month proper. There are several supplications prior to this line in the Sephardic practice, but these are skipped for Shabbat Mevarkhim Av. |
“אֲשַׁחֵר עֲדָתִי | Ashaḥer ʼAdati — reshut №6 from the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Shim’u, by Yehudah ha-Levi” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license.
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