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COMMENTS Semicursive Sephardic script. Liturgical hymns like the Selihot. This fragment incorporates some Quinot. They are elegies, lamentations, penitential prayers which are recited on days of fasting as a preparation for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). These hymns and prayers were gathered in book form. They are mentioned in different inventories of medieval Catalan books. Shlomo ben Adret from Barcelona declared that swearing an oath upon a book of Selihot was just as valid as swearing an oath upon a Torah. The beginning of the famous poem by Juda ha Levi (d. 1141), the most important of the Hebrew poets, is found on fol. Hospici 62.18-a. His poetry is included among these liturgical hymns after 1391. How is it, Zion, that you do not ask what your captives are doing, the ones who wish you well, the rest of your flock? From East and from West, from North and from South, receive the salute from who, although far away, is always near you, a salute from who would break out in tears and imprisoned by a strong desire to water with tears, like pink from the Hermon, your mountain ranges, to howl like a jackal lamenting the suffering in which you live, and dreaming about the return of the captives to be a lyre for your songs. (Translation Eduard Feliu) |
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