Songs of Exile/The Fast of Tebeth
THE FAST
OF
TEBETH
Joseph bar Samuel Tob Elem, living in Limoges about 1040 C. E., was a great poet of his time. He wrote numerous Festival poems.
Stanza 1, line 4, Job xvi, 7.
Stanza 2, line 3, "write the law in Greek," Talmud Babli, Megillah 9a; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, xii, 2; line 4, Psalm cxxix, 3.
Stanza 3, line 3, Genesis xlix, 21; line 4, according to tradition, the ninth of Tebeth was the day of Ezra's death.
Stanza 4, line 4, Ezekiel xxiv, 2: "Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day: the king of Babylon drew close unto Jerusalem this selfsame day."
Stanza 5, line 4, Ezekiel xxxiii, 21.
Stanza 6, line 4, Lamentations i, 18.
Stanza 7, line 4, Lamentations iii, 56.
Stanza 8, line 4, Job xxxviii, 11.
The Fast of Tebeth
By Joseph bar Samuel Tob Elem
LO! I recall the siege which fell on me:
Within this month He struck me; He destroyed
With three blows;—cut me down and left me void;—
Now He hath made me weary utterly.
He silenced on the eighth day all my throng:
(Have I not for three things a fast proclaimed?)
The king bade: write the law in Greek; they maimed,
They ploughed on me; they made their furrows long.
Upon the ninth day—wrath, disgrace, and shame!
Stripped off was my fair robe in honor worn;
For he who gave sweet words was surely torn:
Ezra the scribe—yea, he of blessed name.
The tenth day: then the seer was bidden: "Yea,
Write thee within the book of vision; write
This for remembrance; now shalt thou indite
For them despised and crushed this selfsame day."
Counting the months, within the tenth the woe
And wail he wakened; but the sorrow's smart—
Its onward way was branded on my heart
When one came saying: "The city is struck low."
For these things I have scattered o'er me dust:
O that a shaft had pierced mine heart that day!
For such woe I would dig my grave;—but nay,
I wrought rebelliously: the Lord is just.
I call Thee, Thou Who hast repentance nigh
For mine affliction; lo! my praying heed;
Hear my beseeching; my salvation speed;
Hide Thee not at my sighing, at my cry.
O moon Tebeth! exceeding is my sum
Of pain therein, when His face changed for me.
Yet, though I sinned, His goodness I shall see,
Who saith: "Ye waves, but so far shall ye come."