בַּר־יוֹחַאי | Bar Yoḥai, a pizmon by Shimon ibn Lavi (ca. 16th c.)

Contributor(s):

Akiva Sanders (translation) and Shimon ibn Lavi

Shared on:

17 June 2021 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Se'udat Leil Shabbat, Se'udat Yom Shabbat, Se'udah haShlishit

Tags:

16th century C.E., 54th century A.M., פזמונים pizmonim, shimon ben yoḥai, זמירות zemirot, Needing Source Images

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, נִמְשַׁחְתָּ – אַשְׁרֶיךָ! שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, you have been anointed with joyful oil, fortunate one, more than your companions.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, שֶׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ נִמְשַׁחְתָּ מִמִּדַּת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, נָשָׂאתָ צִיץ נֵזֶר הַקֹּדֶשׁ, חָבוּשׁ עַל רֹאשְׁךָ פְּאֵרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, you were anointed with the oil of holy anointing, coming from the holy attribute You wear the holy priestly crown, your glory, on your head.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, מוֹשַׁב טוֹב יָשַׁבְתָּ, יוֹם נַסְתָּ, יוֹם אֲשֶׁר בָּרַחְתָּ, בִּמְעָרַת צוּרִים שֶׁעָמַדְתָּ, קָנִיתָ הוֹדְךָ וַהֲדָרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, you lived in a good dwelling on the day you escaped, the day you ran away, in the cave of stone in which you stood, there you acquired your majesty and your splendor.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עוֹמְדִים, לִמּוּדֵי יְיָ הֵם לוֹמְדִים, אוֹר מֻפְלָא, אוֹר הַיְקוֹד הֵם יוֹקְדִים, הֲלֹא הֵמָּה יוֹרוּךָ מוֹרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, they stand like acacia wood, the ones who learn of YHVH, they learn With a wondrous light, a burning light, they burn, are they not the ones shown to you by your teachers?
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, וְלִשְׂדֵה תַּפּוּחִים עָלִיתָ לִלְקֹט בּוֹ מֶרְקָחִים, סוֹד תּוֹרָה בְּצִיצִים וּפְרָחִים, ״נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם״ נֶאֱמַר בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, and you went up to the field of apples to gather fragrances, The secret of the Torah, from blossoms and flowers, “Let us make a Human” was said on your account.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, נֶאֱזַרְתָּ בִּגְבוּרָה, וּבְמִלְחֶמֶת אֵשׁ דָּת הַשַּׂעְרָה, וְחֶרֶב הוֹצֵאתָ מִתַּעְרָהּ שָׁלַפְתָּ נֶגֶד צוֹרְרֶיךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, you clothed yourself in strength and went to the gate in the war of the law And you took a sword and pulled it out before those who oppressed you.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, לִמְקוֹם אַבְנֵי שַׁיִשׁ הִגַּעְתָּ וּפְנֵי אַרְיֵה לַיִשׁ, גַּם גֻּלַּת כּוֹתֶרֶת עַל עַיִשׁ, תָּשׁוּר וּמִי יְשׁוּרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, at the place of marble stones, you came in the face of the lion of Leo, It is your crowning achievement that you beheld to Ursa, but who will behold you?
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, בְּקֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים. קַו יָרֹק מְחַדֵּשׁ חֳדָשִׁים, שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת סוֹד חֲמִשִּׁים קָשַׁרְתָּ קִשְׁרֵי שִׁי״ן קְשָׁרֶיךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, in the holy of holies a green line renews the months Seven weeks, the secret of fifty, you bound the connections of your Shin (ש) knots.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, יוּ״ד חָכְמָה קְדוּמָה הִשְׁקַפְתָּ לִכְבוּדָה פְּנִימָה, לֵ״ב נְתִיבוֹת רֵאשִׁית תְּרוּמָה אֵת כְּרוּב מִמְשַׁח זִיו אוֹרֶֽךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, you perceived the inner glory of the Yud (י) of original knowledge The thirty-two paths, the first offering; you, a cherub, were anointed with the radiance of your light.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, אוֹר מֻפְלָא רֹם מַעְלָה יָרֵאתָ מִלְּהַבִּיט כִּי רַב לָהּ, תַּעֲלוּמָה וְאַיִן קֹרָא לָהּ, נַמְתָּ: עַיִן לֹא תְשׁוּרֶךָ.	Bar Yoḥai, a burning light raised on high, you were afraid to look, because it was so great, You slept; it was a mystery, and it is called nothingness because no eye may see you.
בַּר־יוֹחַאי, אַשְׁרֵי יוֹלַדְתֶּךָ, אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם לוֹמְדֶיךָ, וְאַשְׁרֵי הָעוֹמְדִים עַל סוֹדֶךָ, לוֹבְשֵׁי חֹשֶׁן תֻּמֶּיךָ וְאוּרֶיךָ	Bar Yoḥai, how fortunate is your mother, how fortunate is you people, they are your students. And how fortunate are those who stand before your secrets, those who wear the breastplate, your Urim and Tumim.

The pizmon, “Bar Yoḥai” was written by Rabbi Shimon ibn Lavi (1486–1585). A translation in Farsi is extant but we have not been able to locate a text yet. If you have one, please share it. The English translation here by Honi Sanders was published in the birkon for his wedding, Siman l’Vanim (Dimus Parrhesia Press 2019). –Aharon Varady

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“בַּר־יוֹחַאי | Bar Yoḥai, a pizmon by Shimon ibn Lavi (ca. 16th c.)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Akiva Sanders (translation)

Akiva Sanders is a Neubauer Graduate Fellow specializing in Mesopotamian Art and Archaeology. He is interested in mobility during the rise and fall of one of the world’s first urban networks in northern Mesopotamia. Specifically, his research is concerned with mutually transformative interactions on the edges of this network with highland societies of the Kura Araxes Cultural Tradition. Previously, Akiva has worked on genetic diversity in present-day highland Georgia and other regions, and he has published an article on the application of a new methodology for analyzing the sex of ceramic producers to episodes of state-formation at Tell Leilan, Syria. Akiva has excavated in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Georgia.

Shimon ibn Lavi

Shimon ibn Lavi (שמעון אבן לביא‎, 1486–1585) was a Sephardi Ḥakham, kabbalist, physician, astronomer, and poet. He is credited with the founding of religious institutions and the revival of Torah study in Tripoli, Libya, in the mid-sixteenth century, where he served as spiritual leader and dayan (rabbinical court judge) for more than three decades. He authored a commentary on the Zohar titled Ketem Paz and the piyyut, "Bar Yoḥai", a kabbalistic hymn which became widely popular in the Jewish world. Libyan Jews consider him their greatest scholar.

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Rashbi’s cave, Peqi’in, Israel (credit: Deror_avi, license CC BY-SA)

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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