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Divine Love and the Salvation of Israel 57*

characteristically figurative language.52F25 Thus we find his description of the

Ram and Bull expressed as follows: ‫ ְל� ְבּ ֵני ְט ָלאַיי גּ ֹו ִעים ְבּ ַשׁ ְו ָע ָתם‬, “To You

the sons of my Ram [Israel] are bellowing in their cry for help” (line 586,
based on Job 6:5: “Does the bull bellow over his fodder?”). A second

sophisticated example can be found in line 592: ‫ָה ַא ָיּ ִלים ְבּ ָי ְשׁ ְר� ְדּ ֵלם ַכּ ָדּ ִגים‬
‫ ְל ַה ְרבּ ֹו ָתם‬, “When You guide the deer [Israel] along a straight path, draw
them from the water like fish to multiply them.” The phrase ‫ְדּ ֵלם ַכּ ָדּ ִגים‬

refers to the two zodiac signs Aquarius and Pisces. In his reference to the

seven planets, Samuel the Third alludes to Saturn (‫ )שבתאי‬and Jupiter
(‫ )צדק‬in a highly rhetorical way: ‫ ַעל ה ֹו ִגים ְבּ ִלי ְל ַה ְשׁ ִבּית ֶצ ֶדק ִמ ֵבּינ ֹו ָתם‬,

“Regarding those who pronounce [words about the law, i.e., Israel]: He
should not cease to do justice in their midst” (line 594). The last and
second to last stanzas contain acrostics that spell out the name of the poet:

‫שמואל הרביעי בחבורה בהושענא‬, “Samuel, the Fourth in the Assembly

[son] of Hoshana.” The fact that Samuel’s signature reflects his ranking as
number four in the academic assembly demonstrates his professional status.
He is the fourth member in the leading council and has not yet attained the
position of number three (which he would not attain until the year 1004).
This is evidence of an early composition date for his seder le-wayyosha.

Symbols used in this Edition
[ ] Square brackets denote restorations or additions within or above the
lines
( ) Round parentheses denote erasures
< > Angle brackets denote additions to abbreviated scriptural verses
.. Two-dot ellipses denote a lacuna of less than a single word
… Three-dot ellipses denote a lacuna of a whole word

25 However, there are very early examples of poetic treatment of the signs of the zodiac
and their participation in the lamentation of Israel, as in the qinah (dirge) ‫עד אנה‬
‫ ;בכייה בציון ומספד בירושלים‬see Daniel Goldschmidt, ‫סדר הקינות לתשעה באב‬
(Jerusalem, 1972; repr. 1992), 29–31; Joseph Yahalom, “Zodiac Signs in the
Palestinian Piyyut,” Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature 9 (1986), 313–22.