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Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

Benjamin ben Zerah (Hebrew: בנימין בן זרח) was a paytan who lived in southeastern Europe in the middle of the eleventh century. He is called by the later payyetanim "the Great," and also "Ba'al Shem" (Master of the Name), on account of the numerous names of God and angels used by him in his piyyutim. He wrote 15 poems ("yotsrot") for the Sabbaths preceding the feasts, and 40 seliḥot, published in the Maḥzor of the German rite. His piyyutim have an easy, elegant style. Parallels with Eleazar beRabbi Qallir are frequent. Judging from his seliḥah אנא ה' האל ("I beseech thee, Hashem ha-El) – in which he plays on the name of God – consisting of 22 letters, and his "ofan," in which he gives the names of angels, Benjamin was inclined to mysticism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_ben_Zerah
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בְּלוּלֵי אֵשׁ וּמֵימוֹת | Blulei Esh uMeimot — an ofan piyyut for Shabbat haGadol by Rabbi Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

An ofan (a piyyut inserted into the Qedusha d’Yotser) recited in the eastern Ashkenazi Minhag Polin rite for Shabbat haGadol. Signed “Benjamin,” Davidson ascribes it to the great paytan R. Binyamin bar Zeraḥ, possibly as part of the same poetic cycle as Itti MiLvanon (his yotser for the same day).


אִתִּי מִלְּבָנוֹן | Itti MiLvanon, a yotser piyyut for Shabbat haGadol by Rabbi Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

The Minhag Ashkenaz (Western Ashkenazi) yotser (piyyut inserted into the beginning of the first blessing of the Shema service) for Shabbat haGadol, by Binyamin bar Zeraḥ. Also recited by some eastern Ashkenazim, although not as commonly as Aamir Mistater (the standard in Minhag Polin). Translated here with preserved acrostic and rhyme scheme. This piyyut uses the language of Song of Songs to retell the story of the exodus via the language of a romantic relationship.


יוצר לשבת לפני שבעות | Yotser piyyuṭ for the Shabbat before Shavuot by Rabbi Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Binyamin bar Zeraḥ

This yotser, by the great eleventh-century payṭan R. Binyamin bar Zeraḥ, goes through the entire alphabet with which the Torah was written, giving midrashic and mystical interpretations of each letter. As a yotser, it is recited immediately after the petiḥah of the Yotser Or blessing.



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