Eicha reading in Washington Heights

I was going to take pictures of my Megillat Eicha for your edification this evening, and write you a chirpy little post about the interesting layout, but I went and left the Eicha down in Washington Heights.

I was also going to write a post about the reading we had, and the kinot afterwards, but I really REALLY want to illustrate that with a picture of "reading Eicha scroll by candlelight," for which I need the Eicha scroll and the bag of candles, which are ALSO in Washington Heights. That's the post where I'll talk about What Masekhet Soferim Says You Should Do With Your Scrolls On Tisha B'Av.

So it'll have to wait. I'll retrieve the Eicha and the candles in the next few days and take pictures when it gets dark, and then you'll hear all about it.

More literature from MarGavriel

We have just emerged from the doom and gloom of the Ninth of Av. In the various Ashkenazic Rites, as well as in the Italian and the old Byzantine (“Romanioti”) rites, the largest and most central piece of the morning service of this day is the Qinoth (poems of lamentation) by the great poet Eleazar be-Ribbi Qallir (“the Qalliri”). These poems are excruciatingly difficult to follow – the poet has weighed down his own artistry with literary structures which leave little room for comprehensible content: the poems contain backwards alphabetical acrostics, forwards alphabetical acrostics, acrostics of the poet’s name; allusions in each line to each sequential verse in the biblical book of Ekha; allusions in each stanza to the 24 groups of priests (משמרות כהונה), and more. Moreover, they contain unexplained, opaque allusions to rabbinic literature, and difficult, rare Hebrew words.

The excruciatingly difficult structure and language of these poems surely must be intentional and inherent: they are meant to be painful to read, for they are written for the Ninth of Av, a painful day [They're Vogon poetry, basically - JTF]. Moreover, the communities recite so many of them. The Shaharith service on the Ninth of Av can easily last five and a half hours, as it did at my synagogue yesterday, and at many other synagogues around the world.

Alas to those for whom these Qinoth are the totality of their acquaintance with Qallirian piyyut! If only they knew about his other work, they would have a much fuller, and more positive, picture.

For in fact, the Qalliri, who gave us the pain of the Qinoth, also gave us the antidote. For each of the seven Sabbaths of Consolation which follow the Ninth of Av, he wrote beautiful, lyrical Qedushtaoth. (A Qedushta is a sequence of piyyutim which adorns the first three berakhoth of a Shaharith ‘Amida for a Sabbath or festival, and culminates with the recitation of the Qedusha.)

The greatest living scholar of piyyut, Professor Shulamit Elizur, writes the following about these compositions:

In the Qallirian Qedushtaoth for the Sabbaths of Consolation, we see the smiling face of the paytan. Rather than linguistic tricks and copious allusions to midrashim, which are characteristic of a large subset of Qallir’s piyyutim, these piyyutim are written in clear, flowing language, based primarily on Biblical Hebrew.

Moreover, at least in the surviving sections, there is a complete lack of any reference to apocalyptic midrashim about redemption, which we would have expected in piyyutim about the redemption and consolation of Jerusalem. Bits and pieces from the Pesiqtoth and other midrashim do show up here and there, complementary to the biblically-based structure; but the main novelty of these piyyutim is in the paytan’s creative composition, in which he skillfully builds up delicate lyrical passages of sorrow and mourning for the troubles of the exile, and then erodes them with waves of joy and consolation that uncontrollably drown out the sorrow.

Interspersed between descriptions of Zion sitting poor and storm-tossed [עניה סוערה], and claiming “the Lord hath forsaken me” [עזבני יי], we find delicate passages of consolation, which come to soften her, comfort her, and calm her down. And beyond these, there are passages of unmixed consolation and hope, overflowing with “double joy, and double, and double more” [שמחה כפולה בכפלי כפלים]. All this is written in clear, readable, fluent Hebrew, such that the poems are in need of practically no explanation at all.
(קדושה ושיר, Jerusalem, 1988, p. 102)

Let us look at the first stanza of the Qalliri’s Qedushta for Nahamu, the first of the Seven Weeks of Consolation. It is addressed entirely to a personified Jewish People, in the feminine singular (except for the concluding stanza, addressed to God, which is in the masculine singular, leading into the conclusion of the first berakha of the ‘Amida). Already in the first two words, the poet alludes to Song of Songs 4:8 (“With me, O bride, come from Mt. Lebanon!”), and thus places us in the context of the Song of Songs, where God is addressing His bride, the personified Jewish People, with love.

Finally, note that the Qallir uses one word in this poem which is Aramaic, rather than Hebrew, namely the root שפר (beautiful). Aramaic was the everyday spoken language of his audience, and perhaps the use of this word is meant to reach out to them, using a familiar word.

אִתִּי מִלְּבָנוֹן לֹא תֵבוֹשִׁי בִּגְדֵּי עֻזֵּךְ בְּכָבוֹד לִבְשִׁי גּוֹיִם בְּרַגְלַיִךְ תִּדְרְכִי וְתָדוּשִׁי דְּגָלַיִךְ אַעֲדֶה שֵׁשׁ וָמֶשִׁי	With Me, from Lebanon, you shall not be shamed; Your raiments of strength you will don with honor; Nations you will trample with your legs, and trod over them; Your flags I shall adorn with linen and silk.
הִתְנַעֲרִי בַּת צִיּוֹן מֵעָפָר וְקוּמִי עֲטִי מַלְבּוּשׁ שְׁפָר זֵרֵךְ הָאַחֲרוֹן מִן הָרִאשׁוֹן יְשֻׁפַּר חֶטְאֵךְ יוּתַם וּכְעָב יְכֻפָּר	Rouse yourself up, O daughter of Zion, from the dust, And get up and enrobe in beautiful clothing! Your later halo will be more beautiful than your first; Your sin will be over, and atoned like [the passing of] a cloud.
טִירוֹתַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר בְּאַפִּי הוּעָמּוּ יָקְדוּ בְחֵמָה וּבְכָלָה הֻזְעָמוּ כָּבוֹד יַעֲטוּ וּמִפִּי יְרֻחָמוּ לָהֶם יַשְׁמִיעוּ נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ	Your palaces, which were dimmed due to My fury, Burned in anger, and with destruction were wrathed – They shall be robed in glory, and given compassion from My mouth. Announce to them: “Give ye comfort, give ye comfort!”
ככתוב: נחמו נחמו עמי יאמר אלהיכם	As it is written: Give ye comfort, give ye comfort to my people, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 40:1)
ונאמר: ברב שרעפי בקרבי תנחומיך ישעשעו נפשי	And it is written: Though there be a multitude of [anxious] thoughts within me, thy consolations charm my soul. (Psalm 94:19)
ונאמר: וּתהי עוד נחמתי ואסלדה בחילה לא יחמל, כי לא כִחדתי אמרי קדוש	And it is written: And let this be my consolation, though I be anxious with unsparing fear: I have not rejected the words of the Holy One. (Job 6:10)
ונאמר: שמחו את ירושלם וגילו בה כל אהביה, שישו אתה משוש כל המתאבלים עליה	And it is written: Rejoice with Jerusalem, yea, be glad with her, all who love her; celebrate a celebration with her, all who mourn for her. (Isaiah 66:10)
ונאמר: למען תינקו ושבעתם משֹׁד תנחומיה, למען תמֹצּו והתענגתם מזיז כבודה	And it is written: So that ye may nurse, be satisfied from the teat of her consolations; so that ye may suck, and enjoy the breasts of her glory. (ibid., verse 11)
כְּבוֹדָהּ עַל כֹּל יִתְעַלֶּה וּכְבוֹדָךְ בָּהּ כְּאָז תְּגַלֶּה יָמֵינוּ כִּימֵי קֶדֶם תְּמַלֵּא וּבְעֹז מָגִנָּךְ בְּכָבוֹד נִתְעַלֶּה	Her glory will be elevated above all, And Thy glory shalt Thou then reveal in her. Our days – may you fill them, like the days of yore, And in the strength of Thy shield may we be uplifted in glory.
ברוך אתה ה’ מגן אברהם	Blessed art Thou, O Lord, shield of Abraham.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.