This translation of David ben Elazar ibn Paquda’s introduction to ibn Gabirol’s Azharot was adapted from that of Hakham Rabbi Moses Gaster’s translation appearing in his maḥzor for Pesaḥ and Shavuout, Seder haTefilot vol. 5 (1906). Mainly I wanted a simpler translation that hewed more closely to the text. Many thanks to Javob Chatinover for looking over my work and adding notes and citation references. –Aharon Varady

David ben Elazar ibn Paquda’s authorship can be found in his signature acrostic.

Source(s)

“אָמוֹן יוֹם זֶה | Amon Yom Zeh, an introduction to the Azharot of ibn Gabirol by David ben Elazar ibn Paquda (ca. 12th c.)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Moses Gaster

Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster (17 September 1856 – 5 March 1939), born in Romania, was a Romanian and British scholar and rabbi, the Ḥakham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation, London, a folklorist, and a Hebrew and Romanian linguist. He received his PhD in Leipzig in 1878, followed in 1881 with his Hattarat Hora'ah (rabbinical diploma) from the Jewish Seminary in Breslau. Before his expulsion from Romania in 1885 by the government of Ion Brătianu for his early Zionist organizing, he was lecturer on the Romanian language and literature at the University of Bucharest (1881–85), inspector-general of schools, and a member of the council for examining teachers in Romania. He also lectured on the Romanian apocrypha, the whole of which he had discovered in manuscript. His history of Romanian popular literature was published in Bucharest in 1883. Gaster was a central figure of Hibbat Zion in Romania and played a central role in the 1882 establishment by Jews from Moineşti of the Samarin (Zamarin) settlement, known since 1884 as Zichron Ya'akov. In England, in 1886 and 1891, he held a lectureship in Slavonic literature at the University of Oxford. In 1895, at the request of the Romanian government, he wrote a report on the British system of education, which was printed as a "green book" and accepted as a basis of education in Romania. In 1887 Gaster was appointed hakham of the Sephardic or Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in London, in which capacity he presided over the bicentenary of Bevis Marks Synagogue. He was a member of the councils of the Folklore, Biblical, Archaeological, and Royal Asiatic societies, writing many papers in their interest. He was the only ordained rabbi ever to become president of The Folklore Society, in 1907–1908. He became vice-president of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, and was a prominent figure in each succeeding congress. The first draft of the Balfour Declaration was written at the Gaster home on 7 February 1917 in the presence of Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, Baron Rothschild, Sir Mark Sykes and Herbert Samuel. In 1925, Gaster was appointed one of the six members of the honorary board of trustees (Curatorium) of the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO) in Wilna, alongside Simon Dubnow, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Edward Sapir, and Chaim Zhitlowsky.

David ben Elazar ibn Paquda

David ben Elazar Paquda (also, Pakuda, Baqoda; first half of the 12th century), was a Spanish payyetan (possibly the cousin of Baḥya b. Joseph ibn Paquda). Al-Ḥarizi praises David's verses twice in the third maqāma of his Taḥkemoni: "none as bright and hot as the songs ben Bakoda begot"; "and Rabbi David ben Bakoda – skill is his prelude, praise his coda." Numerous liturgical poems by him have been preserved. According to Zunz, David's authorship is firmly established in the case of 14 poems by the appearance of his full name in acrostics or in superscriptions; more than 20 other poems in various Spanish nusḥaot, which are signed simply "David" are for the most part also to be regarded as his compositions. One of David's peculiarities, which he shares with Yemenite Hebrew poets, is the scriptio plena spelling of his name (דויד). David has been rightly characterized as a conservative liturgical poet. This is shown in his technique: he uses the syllabic meter more than the quantitative one (used only in two bakkashot), and sometimes he does not use any meter; he prefers monorhymed compositions to the strophic ones. He does not employ the novelties of Andalusian-Hebrew liturgical poetry; he prefers old paytanic structures and very simple forms. (via his entry in encyclopedia.com)

Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer translator for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his translations, 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 transcribes prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes for the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17