יָהּ, אָנָה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ | Yah, Where shall I find you?, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (translation), Nina Davis Salaman (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription) and Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

Shared on:

6 June 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

🤦 Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim), Purim Qatan, Motsei Shabbat

Tags:

alienation, 12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., dveykut, אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יָהּ, אָנָה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ? מְקוֹמְךָ נַעֲלָה וְנֶעְלָם! וְאָנָה לֹא אֶמְצָאֶךָּ? כְּבוֹדְךָ מָלֵא עוֹלָם!	Yah, where shall I find you? High and hidden is your place; And where shall I not find you? The world is full of your kavod.^[1] cf. Proverbs 7:15. A short prayer on this theme is quoted in Ḥovot haLevavot by Baḥya ibn Paquda (1050-1120): ונאמר על קצת מן החכמים שהיה אומר בתפלתו אלהי אנה אמצאך אך אנה לא אמצאך נסתרת ולא תראה והכל ממך מלא. דומה למה שאמר יתברך אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲנִי מָלֵא נְאֻם־יְהוָה (ירמיהו כג:כד) (It is said of one of the Sages who would say in his prayer: “My elo’ah, where can I find you, yet where can I not find you. You are hidden and invisible yet everything is filled with you, similar to the verse “‘Do I not fill heaven and earth,’ says YHVH” (Jeremiah 23:24)). Note also, Song of Songs 8:1.
הַנִּמְצָא בַקְּרָבִים אַפְסֵי אֶרֶץ הֵקִים, הַמִּשְׂגָּב לַקְּרוֹבִים, הַמִּבְטָח לָרְחוֹקִים,	Found in the innermost being, He established the ends of the earth: Refuge for the near, Safe Haven for those far off.
אַתָּה יוֹשֵׁב כְּרוּבִים, אַתָּה שׁוֹכֵן שְׁחָקִים. תִּתְהַלֵּל בִּצְבָאֲךָ – וְאַתְּ עַל רֹאשׁ מַהֲלָלָם,	You dwell amid the Keruvim, You abide in the clouds; You are praised by your angelic legion Yet are raised above their praise.
גַּלְגַּל לֹא־יִשָּׂאֲךָ אַף כִּי חַדְרֵי אוּלָם! וּבְהִנָּשְׂאֲךָ עֲלֵיהֶם עַל כֵּס נִשָּׂא וָרָם,	The whirling worlds cannot contain you; How then the chambers of a temple? And though you be uplifted over them Upon a throne high and exalted,
אַתָּה קָרוֹב אֲלֵיהֶם מִרוּחָם וּמִבְּשָׂרָם, פִּיהֶם יָעִיד בָּהֶם, כִּי אֵין בִּלְתְּךָ יוֹצְרָם.	Yet are you near to them, Of their very spirit and their flesh. Their own mouth testifies for them That you alone are their Maker.
מִי זֶה לֹא יִרָאֲךָ – וְעֹל מַלְכוּתְךָ עֻלָּם? אוֹ מִי לֹא יִקְרָאֲךָ – וְאַתָּה נוֹתֵן אָכְלָם?	Who shall not revere you, Since the yoke of your kingdom is their yoke? Or who shall not call to you, Since you give them their food?
דָּרַשְׁתִּי קִרְבָתְךָ, בְּכׇל־לִבִּי קְרָאתִיךָ, וּבְצֵאתִי לִקְרָאתְךָ – לִקְרָאתִי מצָאתִיךָ,	I have sought your nearness, With all my heart have I called you, And going out to meet you I found you coming toward me,
וּבְפִלאֵי גְבוּרָתְךָ בַּקֹּדֶשׁ חֲזִיתִיךָ. מִי יֹאמַר לֹא רָאֲךָ?	Even as, in the wonder of your might, In the sanctuary I have beheld you. Who shall say they have not seen you?—
הֵן שָׁמַיִם וְחֵילָם יַגִּידוּ מוֹרָאֲךָ בְּלִי נִשְׁמַע קוֹלָם!	Lo, the Heavens and their constellations Declare reverence of you, Though their voice is not heard.^[2] Psalms 19:14.
הַאֻמְנָם כִּי יֵשֵׁב אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם?	How then, in reality, can Elohim dwell with humanity!?
וּמַה יַחְשֹׁב כׇּל־חוֹשֵׁב, אֲשֶׁר בָּעָפָר יְסוֹדָם – וְאַתָּה קָדוֹשׁ יוֹשֵׁב תְּהִלּוֹתָם וּכְבוֹדָם!	What can they think—every thinking being, Whose foundation is in the dust— How you, Holy One, are dwelling Amid their praises and their kavod!?
חַיּוֹת יוֹדוּ פִלְאֲךָ הָעוֹמְדוֹת בְּרוּם עוֹלָם, עַל רָאשֵׁיהֶם כִּסְאֲךָ – וְאַתָּה נוֹשֵׂא כֻלָּם!	Angels adore your wonder, Standing in the everlasting height; Over their heads is your throne, Meanwhile, you uphold them all!

This translation of Yehudah haLevi’s piyyut, “Yah, Ana Emtsa’eka” was adapted by Aharon Varady from the translation of Nina Salaman published in 1924 by the Jewish Publication Society. We are grateful to the Ben Yehuda Project for transcribing the Hebrew text of this piyyut.

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	cf. Proverbs 7:15. A short prayer on this theme is quoted in Ḥovot haLevavot by Baḥya ibn Paquda (1050-1120): ונאמר על קצת מן החכמים שהיה אומר בתפלתו אלהי אנה אמצאך אך אנה לא אמצאך נסתרת ולא תראה והכל ממך מלא. דומה למה שאמר יתברך אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲנִי מָלֵא נְאֻם־יְהוָה (ירמיהו כג:כד) (It is said of one of the Sages who would say in his prayer: “My elo’ah, where can I find you, yet where can I not find you. You are hidden and invisible yet everything is filled with you, similar to the verse “‘Do I not fill heaven and earth,’ says YHVH” (Jeremiah 23:24)). Note also, Song of Songs 8:1.
2	Psalms 19:14.

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“יָהּ, אָנָה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ | Yah, Where shall I find you?, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

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.)

Nina Davis Salaman (translation)

Paulina Ruth "Nina" Salaman (née Davis) (פָּאוּלִינָה רוּת ”נִינָה” דֵעוִיס שָׂלָמָן‏; 1877 – ‎1925) was a British Jewish poet, translator, and social activist. She is best known for her English translations of medieval Hebrew poetry, especially of the poems of Judah Halevi. Paulina Ruth Davis was born on 15 July 1877 at Friarfield House, Derby, the second 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 Davises 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.

the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription)

Founded in 1999, the Ben Yehuda Project digitally transcribes Hebrew works in the Public Domain.

Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

Yehudah haLevi (also Judah ha-Levi; Hebrew: יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi יהודה בן שמואל הלוי; Arabic: يهوذا اللاوي‎; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Yehudah haLevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was The Kuzari.

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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