268 CHAPTER NINEargument of Shulamit Elitzur (n 61) thatqedushtaotof the “classical period”
usually contained several relatively simple stanzas that even the moderately
well-educated could probably more or less understand .Nor should we ignore
the likelihood that peoplediscussedpayyetanic performances, and such dis-
cussions may have helped the uneducated get the gist of the contents of the
piyyutim.^74
Qerovahof Yannai for Numbers 8^75
(I) By day we grope like blind men/ and by night we feel our way like the sightless/
and we say, “The Lord is my light (Micah 7.8), and a lamp for the pathway of
my feet” (cf .Palms 119:105).
The branches of the menorah/ were broken with wrath/ and the city which was
as a light to all/ lo, it is darkest of all.
Search Jerusalem by lamplight/ and we shall see tenmenorot(2 Chronicles 4:7)/
which were arranged within it/ precisely set near the menorah of the Faithful.^76
They will see her power,/ those who hear the vision of her greatness [in this
piyyut?];/ she is entirely of pure gold/ and on her head is a bowl, as it is written
(Zechariah 4:2), “He said to me, ‘What do you see,’ and I said, ‘I saw a menorah
entirely of gold with a bowl on its head and its seven lamps were upon it, seven,
and seven attached to the lamps which were on its head.’ ”
(II) Light which shows and makes seen/ of action and of deed/ You instructed to
the humble [i.e., Moses]/ and his eyes flowed.
With Your finger You showed him/ with Your mouth You instructed him/ in Your
dwelling You entrusted to him/ as an artisan You taught him.... ./ [etc .The poem continues with a detailed description of the menorah, drawn
from biblical and rabbinic sources.]
(III) The lamps of Edom (the Christian empire) grew strong and numerous/ the
lamps of Zion were swallowed up and destroyed.^77
(^74) Somepayyetanim, most prominently Qiliri, delighted in displays of virtuosity that were al-
most certainly wholly incomprehensible, even to the most learned and attentive members of the
congregation .Qiliri’sqerovahfor the Sabbath before Purim (its first lines are: Atz qotzetz ben
qotzetz/ qetzutzai leqatzetz/ bedibbur mefotzetz/ retzutzai leratzetz/ letz bevo lerotzetz, etc.) was
notorious for its incomprehensibility even in the Middle Ages, and yet it was exceedingly popu-
lar—one of the few ancientpiyyutimto survive long enough to have been included in the stan-
dard modern liturgies .See Yahalom,Poetic Language, pp .16–18.
(^75) See M .Zulay,Piyyute Yannai(Berlin: Schocken, 1938), pp .188–89; Rabinowitz,Liturgical
Poems, 2: 35–40, with commentary .The translation is my own.
(^76) I.e., of Moses—the very menorah mentioned in the week’s Torah lection; cf. Y. Shekalim
6:4, 50b.
(^77) A similar conceit appears also in Midrash Tadshe, chapter 2, a medieval collection that like
thepiyyutim, often draws on lostmidrashim: “ ‘And he made ten golden menorot’ (2 Chr 4:7),