צָמְאָה נַפְשִׁי | Tsam’ah Nafshi, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Avi Shmidman & Tzvi Novick)

Contributor(s):

Tzvi Novick (translation), Avi Shmidman and Avraham ibn Ezra

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

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Se'udat Yom Shabbat

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זמירות zemirot, acrostic, פיוטים piyyutim, 12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, נשמת כל חי Nishmat kol ḥai, libi uv'sari, צמאה נפשי Tsamah Nafshi

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
צָמְאָה נַפְשִׁי לֵאלֹהִים לְאֵל חָי לִבִּי וּבְשָׂרִי יְרַנְּנוּ לְאֵל חָי	My soul hungers for God, for the God who lives! My heart and my flesh, they sing for the God who lives!
אֵל אֶחָד בְּרָאָנִי וְאָמַר חַי אָנִי כִּי לֹא יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי	A living God created me, and said: As I live! For none can see me, merely man, and live.
בָּרָא כֹּל בְּחָכְמָה בְּעֵצָה וּבִמְזִמָּה מְאֹד נֶעֱלָמָה מְעֵינֵי כׇּל חָי	He created all with wisdom, with planning and design Most hidden from the eyes of all who live.
רָם עַל כֹּל כְּבוֹדוֹ כׇּל פֶּה יְחַוֶה הוֹדוֹ בָּרוּךְ אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדוֹ נֶפֶש כׇּל חָי	Raised over all is His glory. All mouths express His majesty. Blessed is He who holds all souls that live.
הִבְדִּיל נִינֵי תָם חֻקִּים לְהוֹרוֹתָם אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה אוֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחָי	He placed apart the whole man’s sons, principles to teach them, Which he should do, the man who would live.
מִי זֶה יִצְטַדָּק נִמְשַׁל לְאָבָק דָּק אֶמֶת כִּי לֹא יִצְדַּק לְפָנֵיךָ כׇּל חָי	Who should be deemed righteous, of those compared to fine dust? In truth, before You, none of all who live.
בְּלֵב יֵצֶר חָשׁוּב כִּדְמוּת חֲמַת עַכְשׁוּב וְאֵיכָכָה יָשׁוּב הַבָּשָׂר הֶחָי	Within the will there lurks a like to poison of the viper; So how will it return, the flesh that lives?
נְסוֹגִים אִם אָבוּ מִדַּרְכָּם שָׁבוּ טֶרֶם יִשְׁכָּבוּ בֵּית מוֹעֵד לְכָל חָי	If the backsliders would only want to turn back from their ways Before they rest where all must rest, who live.
עַל כֹּל אֲהוֹדֶךָ כׇּל פֶּה תְּיַחֲדֶךָ פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָּל חָי	For all things I praise You, all mouths unify You; You open Your hand and sate all who live.
זְכוֹר אַהֲבַת קְדוּמִים וְהַחֲיֶה נִרְדָמִים וְקָרֵב הַיָמִים אֲשֶׁר בֵּן יִשַׁי חָי	Mind the love of the ancient ones. Enliven the sleeping ones. Bring near the day when Jesse’s son will live.
רְאֵה לִגְבֶרֶת אֱמֶת שִׁפְחָה נוֹאֶמֶת לֹא כִּי בְנַךְ הַמֵת וּבְנִי הֶחָי	Look to the mistress, who is true. The maidservant says: No yours is dead; my son, the one who lives.
אֶקּוֹד עַל אַפִּי וְאֶפְרוֹשׁ לְךָ כַפִּי עֵת כִּי אֶפְתַּח פִּי בְּנִשְׁמַת כׇּל חָי	I bow upon my face, I spread my palms out to You As I open my mouth with “the soul of all that live”.

Tsam’ah Nafshi is a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (1089/1092-1167), recognized via an acrostic signature. This translation of Tsam’ah Nafshi was made by Avi Shmidman and Tzvi Novick, and first published by the Az Yashir Moshe Project birkon (2009), p. 56-57. The second line of each couplet is written in iambic pentameter.

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“צָמְאָה נַפְשִׁי | Tsam’ah Nafshi, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Avi Shmidman & Tzvi Novick)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Tzvi Novick (translation)

Dr. Tzvi Novick is the Abrams Jewish Thought and Culture Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He has an M.A. from Yeshiva University and a Ph.D. from Yale. His research focuses on law and ethics in rabbinic Judaism. He has also written on topics in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism, and on Jewish liturgical poetry (piyyut) from late antiquity.

Avi Shmidman

Dr. Avi Shmidman is a Senior Lecturer in the Hebrew Literature department at Bar-Ilan University, and the head of research and development at DICTA: The Israel Center for Text Analysis. His publications focus upon: liturgical piyyutim from the Cairo Genizah; the textual development of birkat ha-mazon; the writings of S. Y. Agnon; and algorithms for computational processing of Hebrew texts.

Avraham ibn Ezra

Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם בֶּן מֵאִיר אִבְּן עֶזְרָא‎ ʾAvraham ben Mēʾīr ʾībən ʾĒzrāʾ, often abbreviated as ראב"ע; Arabic: إبراهيم‎ المجيد ابن عزرا‎‎ Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra; also known simply as Ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167) was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Tudela in northern Spain.

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אֲגַדֶלְךָ | Agadelkha, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (ca. 12th c.) translation by Sara Lapidot

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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