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370 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Azharot

by Isaac Petit b. Mordecai Kimhi, but have not been preserved. Perhaps they are identical with the Azharot commencing toun D0t6 ^n 11JHK ("I will gird me with strength to extol the Creator "), which, according to Isaac b. Todros, were contained in the " siddur " of Amram Gaon even the present recension of this siddur contains pieces which are

later

Amram 's

than

time.

Solomon ibn Gabirol was the next to treat of the precepts in the Azharot commencing ej>n "|"6n i"lp31K ("Thy God is a consuming fire"), edited by Sachs-Halberstamm, "Kobe? 'al-Yad," 1893; later on he wrote complete Azharot to which reference will be had in the following. Isaac b. Reuben Albargeloni is the author of the Azharot rou DlpD nPK (" Where is the abode of understanding? "). Elijah ha-Zaken b. Menahem of Mans wrote the Azharot

On first

nan''

HON

("Truth

shall

my mouth

published by Luzzatto in

indite"),

"

Literaturblatt des later reprinted by Ro-

Orients," 1850, part 16, and senberg, I.e. pp. 55 el seg. Mention may be made here of the piyyut by Eliezer b. Nathan, '3JK JTPSn? tWI, intended for the evening service of the second. day of Pentecost, which also treats of the 613 precepts. The Azharot commencing nj'3 'OK

njlVD njait? ("I, Understanding, dwell on high") were written by Isaac Petit b. Mordecai Kimhi. Krespia ha-Nakdan wrote Azharot beginning with " "pDTlK (" I will extol Thee, O the words Lord, my King "). A species of Azharot was composed by Joseph b. Solomon Yahya, but nothing

^0

known concerning

save that it was lost in a conflagration. Elijah ha-Kohen Tchelebi -|"i2x ("I will bless the God Ca!>y) wrote KTIJ definite is

it

^

Tremendous"). The Azharot "Pour forth Thy mercy " were written by Menahem Tamar. Menahem Egozi (Nut-Tree) entitles his Azharot, which begin n^KB>X rf?V3 1K» 'HO, with a play upon his own (" A blossom from the nut-garden "). name tUK p Similarly, those of Elijah Adeni (of Aden), which begin with the words D2 '•jnK (Amsterdam ed., Finally, men1688), were entitled by him n^X T. tion must be made of the Azharot of Joshua Benveniste, which are only known from Azulai's "Shem ha-Gedolim" (s.v. niVDn mDE>D). R. Simlai's utterance, quoted above, speaks of the

ms

division of the Pentateuchal precepts into affirmative

and negative commandments (nK>y and nCJJn fcO). The "Hal. Gedolot" observe this division; and, in addition, they group the individual precepts as far

may

be according to their subject-matter. The Azharot n^njn iinX do not observe The this method affirmative and negative Material precepts follow each other in wild conand Its fusion regardless of subject, entailing Divisions, a great sacrifice of perspicuity. Saadia, in his "613 precepts," places, in two divisions, first 97 duties of the person (niXD S]1in), and then 58 and 45 affirmative precepts referring to sacrifices, priests, and purification; in all, 200 Then follow, in four diviaffirmative commands. sions, 277 negative precepts (the specific enumeration is not correctly given in the present printed texts, nor even by Zunz): 71 punishable with death, and 65 sections pertaining to the community as a as



370

whole, amounting in all to 630. This clearly shows closely Saadia adheres to the "Hal. Gedolot"; just so closely, too, does Isaac Albargeloni follow the same authority; and, indeed, this is the rule, as Maimonides remarks, with all Azharot composed down to the latter's time. Gabirol deviates from this practise only to the extent that he observes the Talmudic enumeration of 248 affirmative and 365 Krespia ha-Nakdan follows negative commands. Maimonides in the enumeration, as do also Menahem Tamar and Joshua Benveniste. In his Azharot proper, Saadia disregards the strict demarcation between affirmative and negative precepts. He adduces the precepts according to their derivation from by Saadia the Decalogue, an idea often imitated himself again in his Yezirah Commentary, and then, not only by later poets, but by writers on jurisprudence. Of examples may be adduced here the "Ma'amar ha-Sekel" by an unknown author, and the cabalist Ezra-Azriel in his commentary upon the Song of Solomon. The attempt to establish such a derivation was rendered all the more alluring by the discovery of the fact that the individual letters contained in the Decalogue number 620, thus corresponding to the 613 precepts and the seven addiFor further refertional ones mentioned above. ences, see Zunz, " Literaturgeschichte, " p. 95, and

how



Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." vi. 125. As regards the poetical form of the Azharot there is little to be said. The oldest pieces nnnfX

n'K'XI and n?njn nnK are extremely simple in composition the verses, which contain the alphabet in acrostic fashion, are two-membered and bare of Rime all poetic adornment, such as rime, meter, etc. appears later, and a division into Poetical strophes becomes general the alphaForm, bet, both in its usual order and inverted (p'l'C'n), being given acrostic;



ally, as is also the

name

of the writer.

Saadia's

composition is more artificial, in that he not only uses the opening words of each article of the Decalogue, but interweaves therewith phrases from the Song of

Solomon and from the eight verses of Psalm lxviii., which are associated by the Talmudists with the Pentecost festival. The construction of these compositions is fully treated by Zunz, Sachs, and LandsSaadia's " 613 precepts " are less artificial construction, but possess rime, strophes, and

huth. in

refrain.

Gabirol uses four-membered strophes, the first three of which have changing rimes of their own; the fourth, a rime running through the poem. Tchelebi's Azharot are also metric, although halting

many places Tamar, whose Azharot are metrical and resemble GabiroPs in construction, endeavors to find excuse for the halting measure of his predecessors (Steinschneider, "Cat. Leyden," p. 396). Isaac b. Reuben closes his strophes most cleverly with a verse from the Bible, greatly to the admiration of Al-Harizi, who was himself an adept in the ingenious application of Biblical passages. The same is true of the Azharot of Elijah ha-Zaken, whose Azharot consist of 176 four-membered strophes with alphabets (backward as well as forward) and frequent interweaving of names as acrostics. That such poems can not possess poetic value is in