Page 24 - HaMizrachi TuBiShvat 5784 North America

The Gadol of Gaza:

Rabbi Yisrael Najara

Odelia Glausiusz

My heart races when I see / my enemy stabbing me with his eyes
Gnashing his teeth full of rage / to disperse the multitude of my troops.
Hasten, answer me mightily / G-d of Hosts. / How long until the end of awful things,
That I may rejoice and my honor triumph?
(Zemirot Yisrael, Rabbi Yisrael Najara)
T his poet seems to be talking popularity are the three editions of his adapt musical models from the Ottoman

to us directly. As I write this,
empire in which he lived. He learnt the
early collected poems entitled Zemirot
it has been 85 days since the
versifications, techniques and forms of
Yisrael that were printed during his
October 7th massacre. Hos-
of his time and skillfully combined them
tages are still trapped in Gaza, soldiers lifetime. This was extremely unusual the Turkish and Arabic poetry and songs
for his time and place. Indeed, the first
are still engaged in a bitter battle, the edition, published in Tzfat in 1587, was with devotional Hebrew text. His poems
country is still reeling. We’re all asking, the second book ever printed in Eretz Yis- were designed to be sung, and he desig-
how long until the end of awful things? rael. It spread like wildfire. From as early nated a melody to almost every poem. By
When can we rejoice again? Yet these as the seventeenth century, his poems borrowing melodies of popular foreign
words were written some four hundred were sung from Morocco to Persia, and songs sung by the local Jewish populace,
years ago by Rabbi Yisrael Najara, a his poetry became a model for paytanim and making them, in his own words,
prolific poet, who, for much of his life, who followed in his footsteps. ‘kosher,’ he displayed a willingness to
served as the rabbi of Gaza. interact with and uplift popular culture
Najara’s poems reached the Ashkenaz that greatly bolstered his widespread
A fascinating figure, he was born in Tzfat world as well, first appearing in 1702 in popularity. To quote Professor Edwin
around 1550 to a family of rabbinic schol- Frankfurt, when a little booklet enti- Seroussi, it takes a real talmid chacham
ars of Spanish origin. His grandfather, tled Zemirot Yisrael was published by to make magic from combining texts.
Rabbi Levi Najara, was among those a group of mystics from Bohemia and Najara was able to weave two remote
exiled from Spain in 1492, and resettled in Moravia. The mystical poetry of Tzfat verses together and imbue them with a
Constantinople. His father, Rabbi Moshe likely entered central Europe through renewed sense in song, dancing between
Najara, was hired as rabbi by the Jewish Italy (where Jewish circles were in Tanach and Talmudic allusions, and
community in Damascus, before relocat- contact with Sephardi communities of borrowing a wealth of different poetic
ing to Tzfat, where he became a close the Middle East), before extending east forms to infuse his poetry with deeper
friend and student of the Arizal. Rabbi to Poland and Russia. Today, his most meaning.
Yisrael Najara himself spent long periods well-known poem, Kah Ribon, is sung at
in Tzfat and Damascus, while also visit- Shabbat tables around the world. His genius also lies in his crystal-clear
ing Istanbul, Salonika and Bursa. This Why was he so influential, and why Hebrew that is a pleasure to listen to
diverse background greatly informed his did his poetry reach so many people? and is still easily understood today. He
unique approach as a paytan. clothed lofty ideas in beautiful language,
The primary source of his work is the yet his language was accessible to the
Rabbi Najara was well-versed in Torah Tanach; his poetry is infused with verses general populace. His words have with-
and halacha. But his true fame rests on of prophecy. In this vein, Najara was fol- stood the most difficult test – the test of
his enormous poetic oeuvre. Scholars lowing in the tradition of medieval Sep- time – and his poems are still performed
have identified some 1,000 poems com- hardic poets like Yehuda HaLevi, Avra- by modern Israeli singers. Yet not only
posed by him, and, according to Profes- ham Ibn Ezra and Shlomo Ibn Gevirol. his language, but also his ideas, still
sor Tova Beeri, evidence of his enormous His own contribution to the genre was to speak to us today.

24 |