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This pizmon, signed with the name Moshe but of otherwise unclear attribution, is recited in the Sephardic communities of Rhodes and Istanbul (and nowadays in Seattle) before the open ark on Shabbat Shirah and the seventh day of Pesaḥ. The main Hebrew text of the first and last two stanzas are as found in the Seattle Sephardic community’s 2002 Siddur Zehut Yosef (as well as the Gözlem Kitap press in Istanbul’s 2011 Şaloş Regalim), with footnotes marking differences in the Shirei Yisrael B’Erets HaḲedem (published in Istanbul in 1921) and the Yeshiva University Library diwan of Baruch Moshe Moreno, written by hand in the monastery neighborhood of Tiberias in 1867 (YU MS. 1126). In between are three additional non-rhyming stanzas found in substantially different form in the other two sources but not recited in modern Sephardic communities. For clarity and ease of use, we are publishing each variant separately. Click here for the interpolated stanzas found in YU MS. 1126.
| Source (Hebrew) | Translation (English) | Translation (Turkish) |
|---|---|---|
מַֽהֲרוּ כׇּל־שָׁרִים וּבְרֹב הוֹן וָאֵל שִֽׁירוּ שִׁירָה לָאֵל צוּר דַר בִּמְעוֹנַי׃ |
Make haste, all singers, and in great potency[1] In the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities, written הוֹן “riches.” However, all manuscripts and earlier printings agree on the rarer word אוֹן “potency,” which makes more sense in context. and might! Orate a song to the Deity, Rock, dwelling in my heights! |
Tüm şarkı söyleyenler çabuk hareket edin ve tüm gücünüzle ve coşkuyla konutunda oturan T-anrı’y, Kaya’ya birşarkı söyleyin. |
שֶׁגָּזַר יָם סוּף וּבְתוֹכוֹ עַם אֵל נִקְרָאִים בָּנִים עָבְרוּ בַּהֲמוֹנַי׃ |
Split was the Reed Sea; and in its midst the Deity’s folk. Entitled as “children,” they passed in my myriads! |
O, Kızıl Deniz’i ikiye yardı ve böylece, çocukları olarak adlandırılan T-anrı’nın halkı topluca denizin içinden geçebildi. |
optional: Three additional stanzas[2] These three stanzas are not found in the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities. In the Shirei Yisrael b-Eretz ha-Qedem they are treated as an optional insertion. Considering their near-complete lack of any rhyme scheme whatsoever, their form could almost be considered akin to blank verse, only clearly readable as poetry due to the meter and alliteration. They also interrupt the acrostic, which suggests they may not be original. | ||
אֶתְחַנֵּן אַמְתֵּן חַנּוּן טוֹב רֶֽנֶן אֶתֵּן מָרוֹם נְעִילָה וּתְהִלָּה וּתְחִנָּה לֵאלֹהֵי אָמֵן׃ |
I will entreat; let me await the Merciful; good cheering I grant on high; last-minute prayer and praise and entreaty to the true God.[3] Literally “the God of amen,” a phrase found in Isaiah 65:16 | |
הִנֵּה עֵינָי הֵן לֹא־יָנוּם וְלֹא־יִשּׁוּנִי אִם־אֶתֵּן שֵׁנָה לָתֵת מַעֲלָה לְאֵל נַעֲלָה וְנִשָּׂא אָמֵן חַנּוּן׃ |
Behold my eyes, unsleeping, and no slumber; lest I give sleep; to grant recognition to the highest Deity, we will raise an amen to the Merciful! | |
טוֹב נָתַן בּוֹ אֶתְחַתֵּן אֲשַׁנֵּן תּוֹרָה וָאֶתְּנָה יוֹם וָלַֽיְלָה שִׁיר וּרְנָנָה לֵאלֹהֵי מְרוֹמָם׃ |
Goodness They gave me. I will entreat, I will repeat Torah and give daily and nightly song and cheer to the God on High. | |
הַמְקַּוִים הַטּוֹב הוֹדוּ כִּי הָאֵל הוּא יוֹסִיף שֵׁנִית לְקִבּוּץ אֶת־בָּנַי׃ |
So, those who hope for good, give thanks for the Deity[4] As found in the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities, and (with the minor variation of a missing article prefix) the Shirei Yisrael b-Eretz ha-Qedem. YU MS. 1126 reads הוּא אֵל “for They are the Deity.” who will yet again, once more,[5] Rearranged in YU MS. 1126 to יוֹסִיף שֵׁנִית הוּא “Yet again, once more They will” gather up my children.[6] In YU MS. 1126, בָּנָיו “Their children,” which is likely a mistaken hypercorrection to avoid switching to first-person for God, as it does not work with the rhyme scheme. |
İyi olacağını umanlar T-anrı’yı övün, çünkü O, bir daha çocuklarını dünyanın dört bir yanından toplayarak bir araya getirecek. |
אָ֣ז יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ וּבְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה׃ |
Thus Moses and the children of Israel would sing this song to the Cause. (Exodus 15:1) |
O zaman, Moşe ve İsrailoğulları T-anrı’ya bu şarkıyı söyleyecekler. |
Source(s)
Maharu Kol Sharim in the Shirei Yisrael B’Eretz HaKedem (Istanbul 1921) Maharu Kol Sharim in the Mahzor Shalosh Regalim (Gozelm Kitap 2011)
Notes
| 1 | In the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities, written הוֹן “riches.” However, all manuscripts and earlier printings agree on the rarer word אוֹן “potency,” which makes more sense in context. |
|---|---|
| 2 | These three stanzas are not found in the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities. In the Shirei Yisrael b-Eretz ha-Qedem they are treated as an optional insertion. Considering their near-complete lack of any rhyme scheme whatsoever, their form could almost be considered akin to blank verse, only clearly readable as poetry due to the meter and alliteration. They also interrupt the acrostic, which suggests they may not be original. |
| 3 | Literally “the God of amen,” a phrase found in Isaiah 65:16 |
| 4 | As found in the text recited in the Seattle and Istanbul communities, and (with the minor variation of a missing article prefix) the Shirei Yisrael b-Eretz ha-Qedem. YU MS. 1126 reads הוּא אֵל “for They are the Deity.” |
| 5 | Rearranged in YU MS. 1126 to יוֹסִיף שֵׁנִית הוּא “Yet again, once more They will” |
| 6 | In YU MS. 1126, בָּנָיו “Their children,” which is likely a mistaken hypercorrection to avoid switching to first-person for God, as it does not work with the rhyme scheme. |
“מַֽהֲרוּ כׇּל־שָׁרִים | Maharu Kol Sharim — a pizmon on the parting of the Sea of Reeds with stanzas added in the Shirei Yisrael b-Erets ha-Qedem” 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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