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“Keḥi kinnor” by Samuel Archivolti (d. 1611): A Wedding Ode with Hidden Messages
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 December 2011
Extract
Most research has a preliminary story embedded in earlier writings, which raise questions and spawn new inquiries conducive to new findings. The present study was born of other circumstances: I was asked by the directors of the early music group Ensemble Lucidarium if, for purposes of performance, I knew of a translation of Samuel Archivolti's Hebrew wedding ode “Keḥi kinnor” (Take a lyre). I had run across the ode in various listings, but was unfamiliar with any translation, so I suggested doing my own. That is where the problems began. To establish a clean reading for the poem, I consulted its manuscript and printed sources; to confront its verbal obscurities, and pinpoint its meanings, I traced its references to biblical and rabbinical literature; and to satisfy my own curiosity about how it was sung, I looked into the few recorded examples of its melodies. It follows that in this article, I shall be concerned mainly with semantics and music. Yet, to begin, I shall present some information about the author, sources, and prosody of the poem; and, to conclude, I shall compare it with other wedding odes of his and his contemporaries, and, in an epilogue, appraise its singularity.
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References
1. Avery Gosfield, Francis Biggi.
2. Davidson, Israel, Oẓar ha-shirah ve-ha-piyyut mi-zeman ḥatimat kitvei ha-kodesh ‘ad reshit tekufat ha-haskalah [Thesaurus of Medieval Hebrew Poetry from the Time of the Completion of Scriptures to the Beginning of the Period of the Enlightenment], 4 vols. (New York: Beit midrash ha-rabbanim de-Amerikah, 1925–33; repr. New York: KTAV, 1970)Google Scholar, 3:343, sec. 316; and, earlier, Zunz, Leopold, Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie (Berlin: L. Gerschel, 1865; repr. Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1966), 418Google Scholar. The piyyut is available at www.piyut.org.il/textual/724.html.
3. For a recent summary monograph, see Schwarz, Dror, “Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti—toldotav u-khetavav, she'elot u-teshuvot ve-igrot” [Rabbi Samuel Archivolti: His Biography and Writings, Questions and Responses, and Letters], Asufot, sefer shanah le-mada‘ei ha-yahadut 7 (1993): 69–156Google Scholar (esp. 69–81 for biography and 81–86 for overview of writings).
4. After Song of Songs 2:4: “ve-diglo ‘alai ahavah” (and his banner over me was love).
5. After Song of Songs 4:16, opening words.
6. After Song of Songs 5:13: “Leḥayav ka-‘arugat ha-bosem” (His cheeks are as a bed of spices).
7. Some of the examples are extended, while others have only one or two distichs; ‘Arugat ha-bosem (Venice: Zuan Degara, 1602)Google Scholar, chap. 32, “Be-darkhei ha-shirim” [On the Prosody of Verse], fols. 111a–119b (recte 118b).
8. There is no edition or full discussion of his poems. Nor is their exact number known. Examples, with comments thereon, can be found in Bregman, Dvora, “Sheloshah ‘asar sonettim le-Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti” [Thirteen Sonnets by Rabbi Samuel Archivolti], Italia: studi e ricerche sulla storia, la cultura e la letteratura degli ebrei d'Italia 7 (1988): 29–65Google Scholar, and, for the same ones, Bregman, ed., Ẓeror zehuvim: sonettim ‘ivriyyim mi-tekufat ha-Renesans ve-ha-Barok (Jerusalem and Beer-Sheva: Ben-Zvi Institute and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 1997), 94–110Google Scholar; Schirmann, Jefim, Mivḥar ha-shirah ha-‘ivrit be-Italyah [An Anthology of Hebrew Poetry in Italy] (Berlin: Schocken, 1934), 251–55Google Scholar (four examples, without discussion); and Bernstein, Simon, “Shirim ḥadashim le-Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti” [New Poems by Rabbi Samuel Archivolti], Tarbiẓ 8 (1937): 55–68Google Scholar (fourteen examples, originally in manuscript; see below). Of the eighty-one works that I was able to trace from references in secondary sources, sixty-seven are variously tabulated for their titles and sources in Davidson, Oẓar ha-shirah ve-ha-piyyut (as above).
9. Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 55.
10. On these “novelties,” in general, see Pagis, Dan, Ḥidush u-masoret be-shirat ha-ḥol ha-‘ivrit: Sefarad ve-Italyah [Change and Tradition in Hebrew Secular Poetry: Spain and Italy] (Jerusalem: Keter, 1976), 245–356Google Scholar, esp. 289–314 for the metrical, rhythmical, and accentual characteristics of Italian influenced Hebrew verse; on end rhymes as exploited for their resonance, see Bregman, , “The Emergence of the Hebrew Sonnet,” Prooftexts 11 (1991): 231–39Google Scholar, at 337.
11. A point made by Bregman, “Sheloshah ‘asar sonettim le-Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti,” 31. One of the three is for circumcision (“Arzei Levanon yifreḥu”), another a prayer for burial (“Yehi raẓon mi-le-fanekha, Adonai Eloheinu ve-Elohei avoteinu, she-yikhbeshu raḥamekha et ka‘askha”), and the third for recitation as a seliḥah (“Seridei ‘am asher nif‘am”).
12. “Sar be-shirim . mehudarim / leshon ‘ivrim . tispod ‘alav” (the verb li-sepod, beyond “to mourn,” also means “to eulogize”): from “Eikha yu‘am pe'er kol ‘am” (How the splendor of every people will dull), in the Divan le-Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh mi-Modena [The Divan of Rabbi Leon Modena], ed. Simon Bernstein (after Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Mich. 528) (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1932), 209–210Google Scholar (line 11). The poem has the following inscription: “A lament over the death of the gaon (great scholar), my teacher and master, his honored eminence Rabbi Samuel Archivolti, may his saintly memory be blessed!”
13. “ ‘La-Adonai ha-areẓ u-melo'ah’: miknat kaspei Shemu'el ben kevod ma‘alat Rabbi Elḥanan Ya‘akov min ha-Arkivolti yishmerehem Ẓuram u-vi-yeḥayyehem shenat shayag li-ferat katan be‘ad ḥet litra viniẓiyya”(“The earth and its fullness is the Lord's” [Psalms 24:1]: a purchase of Samuel, son of his honored eminence Rabbi Elḥanan Jacob of the Archivoltis—may the Rock preserve them and give them life!—in the year 1553 for eight Venetian pounds).
14. Details on the volume and its location can be found in Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 55–56: I thank Dr. Jay Rovner, manuscript bibliographer at the library of the Seminary, for their corroboration (the volume is currently shelved under the identifier SHF 1987:13). Its other owners, after Archivolti, were Samuel Ungar (early nineteenth century?; signature on title page), Joseph Ungar (1828–1913, possibly Samuel's son; signature on front flyleaf), and Mayer Sulzberger (1843–1923; bookplate—Sulzberger gave his collection of Hebrew books, including the volume by Kimḥi, to the Seminary in 1902).
15. See Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 56.
16. For other manuscript copies, from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, see Appendix 2.
17. Discrepancies in wording, as, e.g., in 3.2, between ve-ḥen ḥen lah and ve-hen ḥen lah, or in spelling (open versus deficient); uncertainties, as, e.g., in 2.2, where all sources (including autograph) have le-mappelah, though mi-mappelah would seem more logical (see note to the verse in Appendix 1).
18. About Luzzatto, see below, under “Semantics.”
19. Specifically, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.2 (see Appendix 1).
20. In six instances: see Appendix 1.
21. The melody could not be traced. For the poem, however, see Eliezer ben Shem Tov Papo, Sefer appei zutrei [Book of Small Faces] (Sarajevo: n.p., 1876), 149–50. While it is metrically identical to Archivolti's, it differs from it in the number of its distichs and in not having a refrain. See details (and transcription of first distich) under Appendix 2.
22. For full entry, see the caption to Figure 1.
23. Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1698, 1716.
24. Davar be-‘itto, 1653, or so presumed from its publication in Leghorn, though there is no indication of the ritual affiliation in the title or contents. “Keḥi kinnor” was excluded from Siddur berakhah “according to the sacred rite of Sefarad,” 1617, and its use in Sephardic wedding celebrations remains an open question. On the Sephardic tradition in Leghorn, see Flora Aghib Levi d'Ancona, “The Sephardic Community of Leghorn (Livorno),” in The Sephardic Heritage: Essays on the History and Cultural Contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal, ed. Richard D. Barnnett and Walter M. Schwab, vol. 2: The Western Sephardim (Grandon, Northants: Gibraltar Books, 1989), 180–202Google Scholar; Seroussi, Edwin, “Livorno: A Crossroads in the History of Sephardic Religious Music,” in The Mediterranean and the Jews: Society, Culture, and Economy in Early Modern Times, ed. Horowitz, Elliott and Orfali, Moises (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2002), 131–54Google Scholar; and Harrán, Don, “Review Essay: In Search of the Italian Sephardic Tradition,” Musica Judaica 17 (2003–2004): 165–95Google Scholar.
25. See Appendix 2.
26. Not so in Amsterdam, Gans, MS D 68, where the initial distich does not return. In Siddur mi-berakhah, 1693, and London, Valmadonna, MS 122, the refrain is repeated not only after each set of two distichs but also immediately after its opening statement.
27. Most sources for “Keḥi kinnor” indicate the verses as distichs, but not Amsterdam, Gans, MS D 68, where the hemistiches appear on separate lines, thus not two lines for the distichs, but four. For the meter marnin, see Pagis, Ḥidush u-masoret be-shirat ha-ḥol ha-‘ivrit, 119; also Bregman, ed., Ẓeror zehuvim, 553, where the same meter is classified as taz milra‘ (sixteen syllables to verses ending on an oxytone), or better, according to Bregman in various studies (e.g., Essa et levavi [see the section “Wedding Odes by Archivolti and his Contemporaries”], 326), as ḥet milra‘ kaful (eight syllables ending on an oxytone doubled for each hemistich). A typical example is the hymn “Ădōn ‘ōlām . ăshēr mālkh / bĕ-tērēm kōl . yĕẓīr nīvr
” (sung variously at the beginning of the morning service on weekdays and the Sabbath, before the benedictions and pesukei de-zimra, and at the close of the evening service on the Sabbath).
28. The stanzas are in effect quatrains, of which “Keḥi kinnor” has four (1.1–2.2, 3.1–4.2, 5.1–6.2, 7.1–8.2) introduced and followed by a refrain. Since the end rhyme of the refrain returns in the last line of each quatrain, the overall construction resembles a “girdle.” Yet the traditional medieval Spanish shir ezor, about which see Pagis, Ḥidush u-masoret be-shirat ha-ḥol ha-‘ivrit, 131–40, did not have a refrain; rather, its recurrent rhymes are in its ever changing verses.
29. Before returning, some eight months later, to Ferrara: see Modena, , Sefer ḥayyei Yehudah [The Book of the Life of Judah], ed. Carpi, Daniel (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1985), 37–38Google Scholar, or in an English translation by Cohen, Mark R., The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi: Leon Modena's Life of Judah, with historical notes by Howard E. Adelman and Benjamin Ravid (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), 81–82Google Scholar (and for reference to Luzzatto, 193).
30. Leon, at the age of ten, was sent to Padua to study with Archivolti, whose influence as teacher over the course of a single year was to “shape Modena's activities for the rest of his life”: cf. Howard Adelman, “Success and Failure in the Seventeenth-Century Ghetto of Venice: The Life and Thought of Leon Modena” (PhD diss., Brandeis University, 1985), 213.
31. Of the various families in Venice, Luzzatto's was mentioned by David de Pomis, in the later 1580s, as “distinguished”: its members “increased and multiplied in wealth and honor, especially the important and outstanding paterfamilias [kaẓin], his honored eminence Rabbi Isaac, son of the honored, eminent sage Rabbi Lucio (may he rest in peace!)”: Ẓemaḥ David [David's Plant] (Venice: Zuan de Gara, 1587)Google Scholar, fol. 5b, from “Hakdamat ha-sefer” (Introduction to the book). For Isaac Luzzatto, overshone by his son Simone (who wrote the remarkable Discorso circa il stato de gl'Hebrei, 1638, and, along with Modena, officiated as rabbi in Venice until his death in 1663), see the “Notizie storico-lettararie sulla famiglia Luzzatto,” etc., at the beginning of Luzzatto's, Samuele DavidAutobiografia (Padua: Tip. Crescini, 1882)Google Scholar, esp. 10–11. Isaac died in 1645 at the age of 95; La comunità ebraica di Venezia e il suo antico cimitero, ed. Luzzatto, Aldo, 2 vols. (Milan: Il polifolo, 2000), 2:1033Google Scholar.
32. Dvora Bregman suggested the possibility of reading eitan (1.1, translated there as “strong”) as a metonym for Abraham. Her point might be sustained by reference to various sources. Psalms 89, e.g., has “A maskil for Ethan (eitan) the Ezrahite” in verse 1, yet emphasizes the covenant that God made with His people (originally through Abraham, see Genesis 17:10–12) in verses 4, 29, and 34 (Abraham was “strong” in his faith, not wavering under God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac). For Ethan the Ezrahite as Abraham, see B. Baba Batra 15a; Rashi, commenting on 1 Kings 5:11 (where Solomon is said to be wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, i.e., Abraham); and Zohar 2, Exodus, Parashat “Mishpatim,” fol. 101a.
33. Davar be-‘itto, 1653; Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, 1623, 1627 (presumably; see Appendix 2), 1641, 1673, 1693.
34. Siddur berakhah, 1708.
35. Jerusalem, Meir Benayahu, MS 141.
36. Siddur mi-berakhah, 1737, 1739.
37. Siddur mi-berakhah, 1698.
38. Amsterdam, Gans, MS D 68; New York, Jewish Theological Seminary, MS 4104; Siddur mi-berakhah, 1716.
39. Or if not the groom, the rabbi who presided over the wedding ceremony.
40. See, for details, Modena, Leon, Historia de’ riti hebraici (1638), 1678 ed. (repr. Bologna: Arnaldo Forni, 1979)Google Scholar, part 4, chap. 3 (“Delli Sposalitij, e Nozze”), 90–93, esp. items 4, 5, 7.
41. R.1, 1.1, 3.1, 6.1.
42. R.1, R.2, 1.2, 7.1, comment to 3.1.
43. 1 Samuel 16:23 (“Whenever an evil godly spirit overcame Saul, David would take his lyre and play upon it with his hand. Then Saul was refreshed and relieved, for the evil spirit departed from him”). On the passage as it relates to Kabbalah and seventeenth-century music theory, see Harrán, , “David's Lyre, Kabbalah, and the Power of Music,” in Austern, Linda, McBride, Kari, and Orvis, David, eds., Psalms in the Early Modern World (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2011), 257–95Google Scholar.
44. 2 Samuel 6:14; cf. comment to 3.1.
45. Psalms 81:3; cf. R.1–2.
46. Psalms 33:3; cf. 3.1.
47. Psalms 149:3 (see also 150:4).
48. “Hitnaḥami ‘edah ve-khinnor nevel / likḥi be-yad u-s′’i le-konekh zemer” (from the first of six stanzas formed as hendecasyllabic octaves with the rhyme scheme abababcc). The piyyut, to be sung on the new moon, was published in Kenaf renanim [On the Wings of Song], a prayer book that Carmi assembled for the kabbalist confraternity Shomerim la-Boker (Watchers of the Dawn) (Venice: Bragadini, 1627), fols. [33]b–[34]b.
49. Moscato, Sefer nefuẓot Yehudah [The Book of the Dispersed of Judah] (Venice: Degara, 1589)Google Scholar, fol. 1a. For sermon 1, “Higgayon be-khinnor” (Sounds for contemplation on a lyre), fols. 1a–8a, see Moscato, Sefer nefuẓot Yehudah, Hebrew text and annotated English translation, in Judah Moscato, Sermons: Volume One, ed. Giuseppe Veltri and Gianfranco Miletto in conjunction with Don Harrán (sermon 1), Giacomo Corazzol, Regina Grundmann, Yonatan Meroz, Brian Ogren, and Adam Shear (sermons 2–10) (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2011), 63–123 (English), 11–26 (Hebrew pagination; Hebrew).
50. The point will be pursued in the section “Wedding Odes by Archivolti and His Contemporaries.”
51. “At ḥatan le-yom ḥatunah / [repeated] / efod ḥokhmah ve-rov binah,” stanza 1 after refrain beginning “Yifru ve-yirbu” (They will be fruitful and multiply): Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, sig. 10:4a–b (and still earlier in Siddur mi-berakhah, 1578, fol. 72a).
52. The implication is that the groom glows as well; see Daniel 12:3 (“The wise will glow like the glow of the firmament”). Thus it was said of the bride, in the second wedding ode just mentioned, “how pleasant was the glow of her beauty” (stanza 3); and of the groom, “how pleasant was the glow of his appearance” (stanza 2).
53. See Song of Songs 5:1.
54. The same beloved ones would have flanked the bride and groom under the ḥuppah (wedding canopy), where they read out the stipulations of the contract. For Archivolti's signature as witness to a ketubbah for the marriage of Aaron Zeraḥ ben Yekuthiel Ha-Cohen and Esther bat Samuel in Padua, 1591, see within the collection of ketubbot in Jerusalem, National Library of Israel (David and Fela Shapell Family Digitalization Project), at the Web site http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/ketubbot.
55. As did the “virtuous wife” (eshet ḥayil) in Proverbs 31:12 (“She will remunerate him with good, not evil, all the days of her life”).
56. As in the same verse from Ezekiel (in the portion signed above with ellipsis points: “and I will place them and multiply them”).
57. After Jeremiah 33:11, about which more below.
58. See, e.g., Exodus 29:29 and 30:27.
59. Cf. Ecclesiastes 9:7 (“Go and eat your bread happily and drink your wine wholeheartedly, for God has already favored your works”).
60. The poem speaks of “his attendants” (1.1).
61. Though not completely; see “Epilogue.”
62. Isaiah 23:15–16. The most devastating description of iniquitous Tyre occurs in Ezekiel 26–28. There its “songs” are said to have been completely silenced (“And I will muffle the noise of your songs and the sound of your lyres will no longer be heard”; 26:13).
63. Meẓudat David on Isaiah 23:16.
64. In Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618 (Italiani), e.g., the poem (sig. 10:2a–b) is followed by the Seven Blessings (10:2b–3b), as it is in 1716 (Ashkenazi; poem, fols. 15b–16a, Seven Blessings, 16a–b).
65. The words are a restatement of B. Ketubbot 8a.
66. According to the descriptive data that Levi provided on the file cards for the various items in his collection (his term for Ashkenazi was Tedeschi).
67. For example, “ḥa-i” (first melody) instead of “ḥai,” “ẓa-ho-lah” (first) or “ẓo-ho-lah” (second) instead of “ẓah-lah,” “na-‘a-lah” (second) instead of “na‘-lah.”
68. It was recorded in its refrain (R.1–2), the first distich of stanza 1 (1.1–2), both distichs of stanza 4 (7.1–8.2), and the concluding refrain (R.1–2).
69. As in the first, second, and fourth feet of line 1 and the second foot of line 2, respectively measures 1–2, 3–4, 8, 11–12. For examples without an extended final note, see the third foot of line 1 and the third of line 2, respectively measures 6–7 and 13.
70. As in the fourth foot of line 1 and the fourth of line 2, respectively measures 10 and 15.
71. It was recorded only in its refrain (R.1–2).
72. As in the first, second, and fourth feet of line 1 and the fourth foot of line 2, respectively measures 1–2, 3–4, 7–8, 14–15. For examples without an extended final note, see the second and third feet of line 2, respectively measures 11–12 and 13.
73. As in the third foot of line 1 and the first of line 2, respectively measures 6 and 10.
74. Thirteen instances in the Casale Monferrato melody as against seven in the present one.
75. The only difference is that the D, first sounded in measure 12 in the version from Casale Monferrato, is first sounded in measure 13 in the one from Alessandria.
76. The melody was recorded in its refrain (R.1–2), both distichs of stanza 4 (7.1–8.2), and concluding refrain (R.1–2).
77. As in the first, second, and fourth feet of line 1 and the first and fourth feet of line 2, respectively measures 2, 4, 8, 10, and 15. Short ornaments occur at the end of foot 3 in line 1 (measure 6) and, less noticeably, at the end of feet 2 and 3 in line 2 (measures 12 and 13).
78. I deal with this, at length, in “The Seventeenth-Century Barabano, a Study in Affinities,” in Music Observed: Studies in Memory of William C. Holmes, ed. Reardon, Colleen and Parisi, Susan (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2004), 163–93Google Scholar, esp. 182–85.
79. For Modena's, see Divan le-Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh mi-Modena, 165–94 (under “Shirei apiryon,” i.e., “canopy songs” [Song of Songs 3:9]); for Zacuto's, see Essa et levavi: shirim me'et Rabbi Moshe Zakhut [“I raise my heart”: Poems by Moses Zacuto], ed. Bregman, Dvora (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2009), 59–181Google Scholar (under “Le-ḥatunah” [For a wedding]). Modena appears to have been instrumental in commissioning Jacob Segre to compose a wedding ode for Salamone Rossi's collection Ha-shirim asher li-Shelomo (Songs by Solomon) published in 1623: see Harrán, , “Marriage and Music as Metaphor: The Wedding Odes of Leon Modena and Salamone Rossi,” Musica Judaica 17 (2003–2004): 1–31Google Scholar, and, as it relates to both Modena and the Venetian poet Sulam, Sarra Copia, idem, “A Tale as Yet Untold: Salamone Rossi in Venice, 1622,” Sixteenth Century Journal 40 (2009): 1091–1107Google Scholar. Bregman was responsible for identifying the author as Segre—see her “ ‘Nefashot be-zivug nikhnasot ke-gever be-‘almah’: ketav yad mi-Budapest megalleh et zehuto shel meḥabber shir ‘ivri baroki, she-noda‘ ‘ad ha-yom bi-zekhut ha-laḥan shel Salamone Rossi” [“Souls that enter into wedlock as a man with a maid”: A Manuscript from Budapest Reveals the Identity of the Author of a Baroque Hebrew Poem Known till Now from a Work by Salamone Rossi], [the newspaper daily] Ha-areẓ, the eve of Sukkot, Wednesday, 22 Sept. 2010, Tarbut ve-sifrut (Culture and Literature), 3. I deal with this wedding ode and Segre's relations to Modena and Rossi in “ ‘A New Thing in the Land’: Jacob Segre as a Poet in Salamone Rossi's Songs by Solomon,” Revue des Études Juives 171/3–4 (2012), in press.
80. See above, note 8.
81. See, for the few that exist, Bregman, Dvora, “Shenei sonettim le-ḥatunah” [Two Wedding Sonnets], Moznayim: shavu‘on le-sifrut, le-vikoret u-le-divrei omanut 61 (1987): 38–39Google Scholar (one of the two is by Zacuto: see Essa et levavi, 126–27); Bregman, , “Ḥamishah shirei ḥatunah shel Remez” [Five Wedding Odes by Rabbi Moses Zacuto], Te‘udah 19 (2003): 341–58Google Scholar (all five, again, in Essa et levavi); and a number of wedding odes mentioned in Pagis, , “Piyyutim me'uḥarim me-Italya: ketav-yad be-Beit ha-Sefarim ha-Le'umi ve-ha-Universita'i” [Late Piyyutim from Italy: A Manuscript from the Jewish National and University Library (now the National Library of Israel—this writer)], Kiryat sefer 3 (1975): 288–312Google Scholar.
82. For his sixteen generally long and intricate riddle epithalamia, see Essa et levavi, 135–225. There are none in Modena's Divan. For a comprehensive study on the riddle poem, see Pagis, , ‘Al sod ḥatum: toldot ha-ḥidah ha-‘ivrit be-Italyah u-ve-Holand [A Sealed Secret: The History of the Hebrew Riddle in Italy and Holland] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1986)Google Scholar. An exception to this type would be a short riddle appended to a regular wedding ode as a postscript: an example is “Eikh teshvu nirpim ve-lo tashiru” (How can you sit there idly without singing?) by the Mantuan rabbi and physician Luliano Shalom ben Samuel Cases (d. 1630); Bregman, ed., Ẓeror zehuvim: sonettim ‘ivriyyim, 151–52. It rightly belongs to the first category.
83. See Fleischer, Ezra, Ha-yoẓerot be-hithavutam ve-hitpatḥutam [Yoẓerot: Their Origins and Development] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1984), 385Google Scholar, 408, 565; also Fleischer, , Shirat ha-kodesh ha-‘ivrit bi-yemei ha-beinayim [Hebrew Liturgical Poetry in the Middle Ages] (Jerusalem: Keter, 1975), 153–54Google Scholar, 472.
84. For yeḥidah as soul, see Even-Shoshan, Abraham, comp., Ha-millon he-ḥadash [The New (Hebrew) Dictionary], 7 vols. (Jerusalem: Kiryat sefer, 1966–70, plus one-volume supplement, 1983), 3:955–56Google Scholar (after Psalms 22:21), though here it might be understood as “work of expression.”
85. See Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim le-Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti,” 59–61, though the author appears to have misread tomer as ḥomer (matter)—I thank Dvora Bregman for the correction. Archivolti thus envisaged the “soul” as endowed with the legal powers of the prophetess Deborah, who “sits under a palm tree” where she receives “the children of Israel [who] come to her for her judgment” (Judges 4:5).
86. Ibid., 65–66.
87. Beyond, of course, the tendency, in poems of the first category, to choose vocabulary that relates to the names or qualities of the recipients.
88. “Yeḥi gil yedidim,” Divan le-Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh mi-Modena, 180–81 (line 13).
89. “Enosh yishba‘,” ibid., 169–70 (lines 16–17).
90. “Be-yom simḥat ḥatunatkha,” ibid., 194 (2–3).
91. “Simḥah le-veit Simḥah,” ibid., 167 (line 5).
92. “Yiẓḥak yiẓḥak yismaḥ yagel libbo,” ibid., 185 (line 6).
93. “Hativu naggen bi-teru‘ah,” ibid., 190 (line 12).
94. “Ani hu ha-sho'el,” ibid., 165–66 (line 9).
95. “Ma tov shevet aḥim,” Essa et levavi, ed. Bregman, 112–14 (line 27).
96. “Simḥu yedidim ha-yom be-khol gil,” ibid., 90–91 (lines 18–19).
97. See above, note 65.
98. “Marom ve-kadosh,” Essa et levavi, 128–29 (line 8).
99. “Paẓu hamonim mi-benei adam,” ibid., 82–84 (line 27).
100. “Kol ba‘alei shir,” ibid., 67–69 (line 21).
101. “ ‘Uri yeḥidati ve-‘anpei ḥomer,” in Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 59–61 (lines 25–27).
102. Ibid. (line 9).
103. The one reference to music in the second of Archivolti's two other odes is the clang of drums that stir his thoughts to compose a worthy poem (“. . . for my drums [tupai] will scream: why doze? / Thus I will polish my song [shiri], a clear path will I not abandon, I will hack the tongue of stutterers until revealing wisdom”); “Im omar lakh gisi,” in Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 65–66 (lines 3–4).
104. Printed, along with five rabbinical statements of approval, in Modena's, She'elot u-teshuvot Ziknei Yehudah [Questions and Responses of the Elders of Judah; after London, British Library, MS add. 27148, fols. 9a–10b], ed. Shlomo Simonsohn (Jerusalem: Rabbi Kook Institute, 1955), 15–20Google Scholar (the response originated in a controversy, in Ferrara, 1605, over the introduction of art music into the synagogue). See, e.g., the statement that “it is the custom of all Israel to offer praises in the houses of bridegrooms and at [wedding] banquets to the sound of neginot (songs) and to the sound of rejoicing” (ibid., 18).
105. “Im ‘al keri‘at Yam Suf”: in Divan le-Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh mi-Modena, 167–68 (line 1).
106. “Im mi-kaẓeh”: ibid., 175–76 (line 3).
107. “Yis'u be-kol rinah ve-shir ‘atah”: ibid., 173–74 (lines 1–2).
108. “Kidros ve-kol sabkha”: ibid., 171 (line 2; the various terms are cited in Aramaic). Modena appears to have been influenced by a similar passage in Archivolti's, Ma‘yan ganim (Venice: Alvise Bragadin, 1553)Google Scholar, fol. 10a (“. . . sambuca, psaltery, sumponya, and all varieties of song”; though here in a different context: the father warns his son not to pursue the frivolous pleasures of instrumental and vocal song).
109. Shiltei ha-gibborim (Venice: n.p., 1612), chap. 9 on the kinnor (fol. 8b); after a passage in B. Berakhot 3b (itself based on Psalms 119:62). Modena was probably influenced by the even more impressive discussion of this passage that Judah Moscato placed as the cornerstone of sermon 1 in his Sefer nefuẓot Yehudah (for details, see above, note 49).
110. “Their” in reference to the “strings” and the “hollow wood” of the instrument.
111. See Essa et levavi, ed. Bregman, 107–109.
112. It is not clear which praise is meant: his own praise as David ben Abraham Ferrara?; his praise of King David?; of God?; or, more generally, praise as a theme in his poetry?
113. Zacuto plays on the double meaning of shem as noun and name.
114. Zacuto plays on the double meaning of ha-‘olah as a noun (“burnt offering”) and a verb (“that rises”), after a similar example in Leviticus 6:2.
115. Psalms 65:1.
116. “Maẓa min et mino,” in Essa et levavi, ed. Bregman, 69–70 (lines 1–2).
117. “Kol ba‘alei shir,” ibid., 67–69 (lines 1–3; “Let singers,” etc., after Psalms 68:26).
118. “Im shorerim sharim,” ibid., 86–88 (line 1).
119. “Avo be-shir yiḥud,” ibid., 65–66 (lines 1–2).
120. “Miftaḥ sefat ha-shir,” ibid., 115–16 (line 1).
121. “Evrat shirah naẓo teẓe,” ibid., 61–64 (lines 1–4). “Melody of melodies” alludes to the Song of Songs; “Awake, awake,” to Psalms 57:9 (“Awake, my soul, awake, psaltery [nevel] and lyre [kinnor]”); and “To the chief musician on Shushan ‘edut” (in reference, it would seem, to the opening words of a particular melody), to Psalms 60:1. Shoshan above is probably a musical instrument, as in Psalms 45:1 (“To the chief musician on shoshannim”).
122. As, e.g., Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, sig. 10:4b–5a.
123. Ibid., stanza 2:4–5 plus refrain.
124. Ibid., stanza 4 plus refrain.
125. Archivolti's interest in Kabbalah started in the 1570s, as manifest in his copying out Samuel Gallico's ‘Asis rimonim [Pomegranate Juice], a résumé of Moses Cordovero's Pardes rimonim [Pomegranate Orchard]; Dror Schwarz, “Rabbi Shemu'el Arkivolti,” 71. For the various kabbalistic sources on which Archivolti drew for his ‘Arugat ha-bosem, see ibid., 84.
126. Zohar, 1, Genesis, Parashat “Va-yeḥi,” fol. 215a.
127. “ ‘Uri yeḥidati ve-‘anpei ḥomer,” in Bernstein, “Shirim ḥadashim,” 59–61 (lines 58–61).
128. Zohar, 3, Deuteronomy, Parashat Ha'azinu, fol. 288a.
129. See, e.g., Genesis 2:24.
130. As, e.g., Deuteronomy 4:4, 13:5, 30:20, and numerous passages in Zohar.
131. On God's protection, see note 182.
132. The transcription of the poem is after autograph, with reference to other sources for variants in the verses (the autograph is the only source to mention Isaac Luzzatto in the inscription and to have the author's comments). Diacritics in the transliteration: the guttural character het, close in pronunciation to ch in the German word doch, is written as ḥ (see Keḥi in the first verse); the silent consonant alef is written as the right-curled apostrophe ’ when in the middle of words (see se'i in same verse), otherwise it is unsigned; the silent, though slightly guttural consonant ayin is written as the left-curled apostrophe ‘ (see ‘adat in the same verse). The headings “Refrain,” “Stanza 1,” etc., are editorial additions, as are the vowel points in the verses (the autograph is without them, not so the printed and manuscript sources). For the structure of the poem as nine distichs, its meter as a peg plus two cords in a fourfold succession for each verse, and the verse type as a girdle poem, see above, under “prosody” (in section 1); for the different inscriptions in the sources, see Appendix 2.
133. On Isaac Luzzatto, his relation to Leon Modena's family, and his son Simone, see above.
134. After Isaiah 23:16 (along with harbi shir, next verse, and, vaguely, sovev, distich 4, in allusion to sobbi ‘ir, “circle about the city”): the proof text has nothing to do with rejoicing; rather, its content is antithetical (see above). For “tak[ing] the lyre” both Isaiah and Archivolti rely on 1 Samuel 16:23 (where David “took his lyre” to relieve Saul of his melancholy).
135. Hebrew transcript after Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, which, for reasons of scansion, writes ẓahalah (as it appears in Davar be-‘itto, 1653; Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1716; Amsterdam, Gans, MS D 68) as ẓahlah.
136. After Isaiah 23:16 (see above).
137. Hebrew vocalization after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, which, for reasons of scansion, write na‘alah (as it appears in Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1716) as na‘lah. For “me'od na‘alah,” see Psalms 47:10.
138. The groom's and bride's voices are two of five voices for rejoicing: see Jeremiah 33:11, as above, also 7:34 (“In the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem I stopped the voice of mirth and the voice of happiness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become desolate”) and, similarly, 16:9, 25:10.
139. Isaiah 62:5 (“the rejoicing of the groom over the bride”). As said, the groom's is one of the five voices for rejoicing (see above).
140. Read: for the rejoicing of his attendants (at the wedding). The Hebrew vocalization is after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, in both, moreover, as le-shoshevinav (Siddur mi-berakhah, 1716: le-shushevinav), or five syllables, which, for reasons of scansion, have been reduced (in the reading above) to four.
141. B. Berakhot, specifically 6b.
142. The words that Archivolti omitted were “[that] Rabbi Huna said.”
143. The portion omitted is: “For it is said [in Jeremiah 33:11]: ‘The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts.’ ”
144. The portion omitted is: “What is his reward? Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said.”
145. “Instead of [the] voices” (sounds of thunder, lightening, the shofar) that were heard before the revelation of the Torah, as recounted in Exodus 19:16 (see above).
146. For netunim netunim hemah lo, see Numbers 3:9.
147. Here the groom's “attendants” are expanded to his people, in the sense that all those whom God created will use their voices to rejoice not only with the newlyweds but also in Torah.
148. Add, perhaps: in what they say and do.
149. As in the Ancient Temple. In the background there lurks the original sacrifice of the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22:1–14), whereby Abraham, tested by God for his obedience, won his promise to bless his descendants (ibid: 17–18).
150. The one who rejoices with the bridegroom.
151. Berakhot 6b (same paragraph as above, continuation), followed by the words “for it is said [in Jeremiah 33:11]: ‘They bring an offering of thanks to the House of the Lord.’ ”
152. Gendered as a feminine dative object, “it” appears to refer to Jerusalem, hitherto not mentioned, yet implied by the continuation (“for ruin”). On building for the Lord, see Ezra 4:1 (“. . . they build a sanctuary for the Lord, God of Israel”); and on the reconstruction of Jerusalem, Nehemiah 2:17, 12:27 and 43.
153. The First Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, the Second Temple in 70 CE. Le-mappelah (into ruin) might seem to be an error in the sources for mi-mappelah (from ruin), thus Jerusalem “rebuilt” (after the fall of the First Temple). Yet le-mappelah is supported by Isaiah 25:2 (“For You turned a city into a heap, a fortified domain into ruin [le-mappelah]”).
154. Berakhot 6b (same paragraph as above, continuation), followed by the words: “for it is said [after Jeremiah 33:11]: ‘For I will return the captivity of the land to be as it was at first,’ said the Lord.”
155. The sources cite various portions of the refrain after the four stanzas. Some have its first four words (Keḥi kinnor .se'i gilah), as, e.g., Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, while others have its first two (Keḥi kinnor), as, e.g., Siddur mi-berakhah, 1716.
156. From the locution “El barukh gedol de‘ah” (Blessed God, great in knowledge) in a prayer for the weekday morning service. In the present verse, gedol de‘ah is anthropomorphized, in the continuation, as ish toḥen (“a man . . . a miller”), in reference, it would seem, to the rabbi who presides over the wedding (see section on “Semantics”).
157. On sovev after sobbi in Isaiah 23:16, see above.
158. Add: testing grain (in the present context, the grain being the bride).
159. B. Ketubbot 16b–17a, from chap. 2 (on “the woman who became a widow”). Rashi reads “How do they dance before her?” as “What do they say before her?” (in her praise). The continuation is: “Beit Shammai [the followers of Shammai] say: ‘The bride as she is’ [meaning one should not exaggerate in praising a bride] and Beit Hillel [the followers of Hillel] say: ‘Lovely and graceful bride’ [meaning every bride has to be regarded as lovely and graceful]. Beit Shammai said to Beth Hillel: ‘If she were lame or blind, would one say of her: Lovely and graceful bride? for the Torah said, Keep away from a false statement [Exodus 33:7].’”
160. Archivolti originally wrote ve-shikhlulah (and her beauty), then crossed it out, replacing it with ve-ḥen ḥen lah (after Zechariah 4:7); see fig. 2. I thank Shlomo Zucker for deciphering the original. There are differences in the sources, for example: Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, has ve-hen ḥen lah while Davar be-‘itto, 1653, has the same though spells ve-hen as ve-hein.
161. The translation follows the order of the Hebrew, though clearly, for an idiomatic reading, “May he examine” should precede “the glow of her loveliness.” Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1716, has boḥen (an inferior reading).
162. Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1716, have sherak, yet the word should begin not with sh but with s (as corrected above).
163. Ve-ya‘′lat, so vocalized (for sake of scansion), after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, though it should properly be ve-ya‘alat (as in Siddur mi-berakhah, 1623, 1716). The graceful woman is the bride, yet also Torah, both to be praised for their “splendor,” beauty, and “majesty.” For wording, see B. Ketubbot 17a: “lo kaḥal ve-lo sarak ve-lo pirkus ve-ya‘alat ḥen,” which Rashi explains as follows: “lo kaḥal, she does not need powder; ve-lo sarak, [nor does she need] color to redden her face; pirkus, [nor does she need any] waving of her hair . . . indeed, she is a graceful gazelle.” The passage connects with the controversy between Hillel and Shammai over how one praises the bride (see above): Archivolti appears to side with Shammai, whose point was, beyond the admonition that one should not exaggerate in lauding the bride, that the bride is beautiful for her person, not for her cosmetics or hairdo.
164. Same passage (Ketubbot 17a). “West” refers to the land of Israel. The continuation is as at the end of 4.1 (ve-ya‘alat ḥen).
165. Add perhaps: who accepts her for who she is, in her natural beauty. Ba‘alah is vocalized after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618, 1716, yet for sake of scansion should be baʾ′-lah.
166. Archivolti is referring to Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Sefer ha-zemanim, hilkhot shabbat, chap. 22, halakhah 23, as a continuation of verse 4.1 and the comment to it about there being no need for cosmetics: “One who paints [is] among the basic restrictions: therefore it is prohibited for a woman to spread powder over her face, because it is as if she were painting [herself].”
167. They serve as two witnesses to the wedding contract; on the berit shalom and its connotations, see under “Semantics.”
168. B. Yevamot, chap. 6, beginning as above (ha-ba ‘al yevimto), 53b–66a. See Deuteronomy 25:7 (“And if the man does not desire to take his [deceased] brother's wife [yevimto], then let his [deceased] brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say: ‘My husband's brother [yevami] refused to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform his duty as my [deceased] husband's brother [yabbemi]’ ”).
169. The omitted portion is “he who loves his wife as [he does] himself.”
170. The omitted portion is “and who guides his sons and daughters in the right path and arranges for them [his daughters] to be married around the time of their puberty.”
171. Job 5:24, which Rashi explains thus: “Then you will be safe in every place.”
172. B. Baba Meẓi‘a, chap. 4, 44a–60b.
173. The full portion reads: “Rav Ḥelbo said: A man should always observe the honor due to his wife, for there is no blessing to be found in a man's home except on account of his wife, for it is written: ‘And he [Pharaoh] treated Abram well for her sake’ [Genesis 12:16]. And thus did Raba say to the townspeople of Mahuza [a large commercial town on the Tigris, where Raba had an academy]: ‘Honor your wives so that you may be enriched’ ”; B. Baba Meẓi‘a 59a.
174. “Sons” refers not only to the children of the married couple but to future generations of those who practice Torah. On the blessings of fruitfulness, see, e.g., Genesis 1:28, 9:1, 22:17.
175. “Their,” in reference to the sons. ‘Aliẓotam after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618 and 1716, yet it should properly be vocalized as ‘aliẓutam.
176. That is, their fertile production of oil and wine.
177. Meant to be read as a metaphor for the people of Israel who serve the Lord. Va‘alah is so vocalized after Davar be-‘itto, 1653, and Siddur mi-berakhah, 1618 (though Siddur mi-berakhah, 1716, has ba‘alah), yet for sake of scansion should be va‘′lah.
178. I have not been able to trace the parable. For va-tesharetehu, see 1 Kings 1:4 (“And the girl was very pretty and she became a companion to the king and she served him, but the king knew her not”). The statement (in its verbs “to stand” and “to serve”) is a conflation of 1 Kings 1:2 and 4 (“2 . . . a young girl; and let her stand before the king . . .4 . . . and she served him . . .”).
179. To praise the married couple, but also, as clear from the continuation, to praise the Lord.
180. All sources have the reading naishir, from the verb le-heishir.
181. It is not clear whether what is written in his book is in reference to his people's being troubled or to his sparing them. See, for the first, Psalms 77:5 (“I am so troubled that I cannot speak”), Genesis 41:8 (“And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled”), Daniel 2:3 (“[I have dreamed a dream] and my spirit was troubled to know the dream”); and for the second, namely, the protection that God promised his people in his covenant with them, Psalms 18:27, 34:7, 44:7, 106:10, 107:13, 19, though the theme is ubiquitous in Scriptures at large.
182. God pledged to renew the Temple after restoring the Jews from their captivity, Jeremiah 33:11.
183. Literally “her,” which, as before (distich 3), appears to designate Jerusalem. The construction is awkward—for one, the verb “hasten” lacks an object; for another, the dative lah is one of reference, hence (as translated) “hasten unto it.” Both direct and indirect objects may be illustrated in the verse “Aḥisha miflat li” (I will hasten a refuge [object] for myself [reference]); Psalms 55:9.
184. I wish to thank Dr. Yael Okun, Head of the Institute of Microfilmed Manuscripts and Manuscripts Department in Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, for help in locating the manuscripts.
185. The owner is to be identified with Mozes (“Max”) Heiman Gans (1917–87), Dutch author, journalist, jeweler, and collector of Judaica.
186. The manuscripts in the Valmadonna Trust Library were purchased by Jack Lunzer.
187. I thank Jay Rovner for checking the volume for me. It appears to be a reprint of 1641.
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