Page 261 - גנזי קדם יא
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46* Wout van Bekkum
only small adaptations to acrostics and rhyme, so mostly the initial and the
concluding words are poetic. In his 2003 study, Katsumata rightly observed
that a paytan like Samuel had not yet been subdued by the rules of metrics
because the obligations of meter would have prevented him from such
imbalances in line length. In the me’orot of the same yotser for Ki Tissa,
Samuel permits himself to criticise the duty to pay taxes to authorities who
loot or steal ( – ֶמ ְמֶׁש ֶלת נ ֹוֶׁש ֶלתmemshelet noshelet) from the Jews. They, the
Jews, would have preferred to donate the money to the Temple of Jerusalem:
ְו ַעד ָמה/ ֶמ ְמֶׁש ֶלת נ ֹוֶׁש ֶלת ֲאֶׁשר ִלי ָנ ָגָׂשה ְוָא ָנ ָסה/ ִׁשי ַח ְרִּתיָך ִא ִּוי ִתיָך ִק ִּוי ִתיָך ָרם ְו ִנׂ ָּשא
ִלי א ֹור ָּפ ֶניָך ְנ ָסה/ ֶאת ִר ְפי ֹו ִני ַׁשּ ֵנס ְּתַׁשּ ֵנ ָסה/ ( ָל ַמס ּ ַכ ְסִּפי ּג ֹו ָבה ִל ְק ֹנ ָסהshichartikha
iwwitikha qiwwitikha Ram we-Nissa / memshelet noshelet asher li nagashah
we-anasah / we-‘ad mah la-mas kaspi govah liqenosah / et rifyoni shanes
teshannesah, li or paneykha nesah). This translates as: “I beseech you, I
desire you, I long for you, O high and exalted. A looting kingdom oppresses
and forces me—Until when will it collect my money for taxes as a penalty?
Surely you will make me stronger in my weakness; lift up the light of your
face upon me.” Similarly, Samuel deplores the miserable situation of Israel
in a we-‘ad matay (parashat Balaq), which almost turns into a kind of qinah:
( ְו ִנ ְל ֵאי ִתי ְנׂ ֹשא ֵס ֶבלwenil’eti neso sevel), “Israel is tired of its sufferings,” ּ ָכלּו
ְּב ֵאין ַמִּתיר ּ ֶכ ֶבל/ ( ַחַּיי ְּב ֵת ֵבלkalu chayay be-tevel / be-en mattir kevel), “And
life is over when nobody comes to liberate,” ּו ִמּד ֹוב ְו ָנ ֵמר ַהַּמס/ ָהׁ ֵשב ִמּלּוד ּו ִמָּב ֶבל
( ְּת ַחּ ֵבלhashev mi-Lud u-mi-Bavel / u-mi-dov we-namer ha-mas techabbel),
“God should bring back Israel from Egypt and Iraq and annul the payment of
taxes from bear and leopard [the two Danielic beasts who represent the two
kingdoms].” It concludes with a wish: ְוִׁשי ֵת ִני ְב ָר ָכה/ ה ֹוִׁשי ִעי ֵמ ְר ִבי ִעית ְוִׂשי ִחי ַקּ ֵבל
( ְב ֶק ֶרב ֶּת ֶבלhoshi‘i me-revi‘it we-sichi qabbel / we-shiteeni verakhah ve-qerev
tèvèl), “Save me from the fourth beast and accept my prayer; put me as a
blessed spice.” In their commentary, the editors ask whether the reference to
the fourth beast should be linked with the Byzantines who, during Samuel’s
lifetime, occasionally threatened Palestine, but, as a historical reference, any
such explanation would be merely a guess.
Allusions play a major role in Samuel’s oeuvre, but they are sparingly
used for biographical and political circumstances, and, apparently, more
