ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE BY PROFESSOR ISRAEL DAVIDSON Reprinted by courtesy of the General Publication Committee or tne Students' Annual of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America New York, 1914 ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE BY PROFESSOR ISRAEL DAVIDSON THE influence of Arabic on Hebrew poetry made itself felt first and foremost in the art of versification. But it is not the meter alone that has been revolutionized by Arabic poetry : the exterior aspect of Hebrew verse has equally been affected by it. The Arabs set the fashion for poets to indulge in strange devices, which gave their poems an interest apart from their content and rhythmic beauty. 1 Due partly to this influence, and partly, also, to a native sense of playfulness, mediaeval Hebrew poets have developed a cer- tain species of verse which may be called whimsical. Such com- positions lay special stress upon some odd device, calculated to catch the eye, or to surprise the ear, or, otherwise, to startle us by its strange peculiarity. The difficulties in which this species of writing abounds challenged the ingenuity of the best minds and gave them an outlet for their pent-up youthfulness. To cite but one instance out of many, there is Abraham ibn Ezra, in the midst of his weary wandering, penning picturesque epistles or writing riddles to his friends. In fact, this peculiar class of compositions is not only interesting to the student of Hebrew poetry, but is just as interesting to the student of Jewish pastimes and amuse- ments, and in a measure it may also serve as an index of Jewish optimism. All whimsical compositions may be said to fall into three main divisions, those which appeal to the eye, those which appeal to the ear, and those which strike us as peculiar, not by their form or their sound, but by the fact that they make use of some ingenious com- bination of letters, words, or phrases. The odd devices by which the various whimsicalities are produced are quite numerous, and the following is an attempt to elucidate and illustrate each of them: 'See Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der jiidischen Poesie, Leipzig, 1836, p. 164. 81 20924 82 STUDENTS' ANNUAL 1-2. Acrostics and Lipograms The most ancient of the poetic whimseys is the acrostic, and since the Bible itself contains some poems with acrostics, this de- vice must be considered as genuinely Jewish, or at least not the result of Arabic influence. It is also of all groups the most fre- quently met with in Hebrew literature, and therefore stands in no need of illustration. 2 But akin to the acrostic is the lipogram, which is a poem so constructed as to omit entirely one or more letters of the alphabet, or, on the contrary, restricted to the use of a certain letter in each word. The earliest examples of the lipo- gram are, perhaps, the two poems contained in the eleventh chapter of Harizi's Tahkemoni, one of which is restricted to the use of the letter t?"n in each word, and the other to the entire omission of the same letter. 3 More remarkable, however, are the two lipo- grams of Abraham Bedarshi, one of which consists of a thousand words, each beginning with the letter f)"i>K, 4 and the other of four hundred and twelve words, each of which is restricted to the use of the letters between PJ"^N and i"c6 and the omission of any letter that follows 1"O^ in the alphabet. 5 His son, Ye- daiah, likewise cultivated this species of composition, and wrote a long prayer, each word of which begins with the letter D" . 6 Difficult as this mode of composition is, there were nevertheless a number of poets who cultivated it with more or less success. Of those who imitated Abraham Bedarshi's first lipogram, mention should be made of Joseph ben Sheshet ibn Latimi, in the fourteenth century, 7 Israel Nagara in the sixteenth century, 8 Isaac 'On the various forms of the acrostic comp. Zunz. Synagogale Poesie, Berlin, 1855, p. 105, etc.; MGWJ., vol. 47, p. 171. For an exceptional case of acrostic see Divan of Judah Halevi, ed. Brody, vol. 2, p. 93-100. *Comp. 3i03nn ed. Kaminka, Warsaw, 1899, p. 114, beginning pisa top and p. 116, beginning uny pto jaSnfX *Ysht* C[hn (inn mD vol. iv, pp. 59-65), comp. also non D13 vol. ii, p. 116. No. 5. * paSn npa (in numerous editions; see Benjacob D"niN s. v.). * )'DOn nwps (See ibid, s.v.) T ooS p nptr *aia spv n iiitraS riSen beginning ^m nx *roxx (in Dni2 1 T palp* Breslau, 1844). Comp. Zunz, Literaturgesckichte, p. 499; Landshuth misyn HiDj?, p. 98. niTOT. Venice, 1599, No. 54, beginning nviK IBM rvrw ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE 83 been imitated only by Wolf Buchner 12 and M. Hesse. 13 In regard Zedek in the nineteenth. 11 The second lipogram of Bedarshi has been imitated only by Wolf Buchner 12 and M. Hesse. 13 In regard to Buchner, it may be stated in this connection that almost all his poetic effusions are whimsical, and that most of his whimseys are lipograms of one form or other. His Shire Tehillah, for instance, which is the most pretentious of his poetic compositions, is, with the exception of the first six leaves, made up of various lipograms employing different letters of the alphabet for the different poems. 14 While most of the lipograms make use of the letter v\"*?tt, the letter N"n was also not neglected. David ben Solomon Vidal, in the sixteenth century (d. after 1536), composed a poem of a thousand words, each beginning with N"n, 15 and the same was done by M. S. Rabener in the nineteenth century. 18 In the 18th "onHiTv Aaron Hayyim Voltera composed a religious poem each ip. run vol. iii, p. 164. np. t'Din nrux Leghorn, 1780, fol. 43-47, beginning -jtrnpH w n*EX -px btt inx ax isn;?K s\ jsax mnx Y'ax -iSix ...mhivtt w* btt mam Sax m:w peSx t\btt 1890. He left out the name Nathan because it begins with pa K * |"?M. n 3 TB% Frankfurt, 1802; nSnn 'TIP, Berlin, 1808; niTT TtP, Frankfurt, g. in paSn npa. Hamburg, 1829. According to Fiirst, Bibliot heca vol. i, p. 390. Hesse is only the editor, not the author. , cu . 7a-8a rvm cy 'rxnt!" nc33 ni2i each word contains the letter i; <-) >, nSnn ^VV comp. note 12 above; fol. 29b-40a, nnn T consists O than 850 words, each containing a b. but no letter that follows ilphabet; fol. 40-43 cnn Vtrh n'rnn Tt? similar to tne preceding; S a n 1 bv '3 m^ nSnn n'tr omits all letters between x and b fol. 46b-50k M Snn n'tP contains a pa in each word; fol. 50b-52a nx n"~\b nbnr\ n etter K in each word. The same method is carried on for the [ oths, the poem for ]io has the letter D in each word and so on. nn n^pa beginning 'ixon xTi:n iiajn "man "?xn (in his niiS nnao 546, fol. lOOa). It is preceded by two couplets as follows: ;'nn tvyyn TDK nnaa rhiy pip lainn isnax nsv nnx waSo wax IDIX xn xn '.]a nj?w Sip yaci n:on axn nnx s- n TtP with the motto wi3 B-Xia I2*n xn (Ezek. xvi, 43) in n {,x, vol. i, pp. 47-52. 82 STUDENTS' ANNUAL 1-2. Acrostics and Lipograms The most ancient of the poetic whimseys is the acrostic, and since the Bible itself contains some poems with acrostics, this de- vice must be considered as genuinely Jewish, or at least not the result of Arabic influence. It is also of all groups the most fre- quently met with in Hebrew literature, and therefore stands in no need of illustration. 2 But akin to the acrostic is the lipogram, which is a poem so constructed as to omit entirely one or more letters of the alphabet, or, on the contrary, restricted to the use of a certain letter in each word. The earliest examples of the lipo- gram are, perhaps, the two poems contained in the eleventh chapter of Harizi's Tahkemoni, one of which is restricted to the use of the letter u>"n in each word, and the other to the entire omission of the same letter. 3 More remarkable, however, are the two lipo- grams of Abraham Bedarshi, one of which consists of a tl words, each beginning with the letter 5]"$>N, 4 and the of four hundred and twelve words, each of which is restri the use of the letters between pj"fjN and Y'e6 and the o: of any letter that follows 7"Gb in the alphabet. 5 His so daiah, likewise cultivated this species of composition, and ^ long prayer, each word of which begins with the D*D . 6 Difficult as this mode of composition is, ther< nevertheless a number of poets who cultivated it with more success. Of those who imitated Abraham Bedarshi's first lip mention should be made of Joseph ben Sheshet ibn Latimi, fourteenth century, 7 Israel Nagara in the sixteenth century, 'On the various forms of the acrostic comp. Zunz. Synagogale Berlin, 1855, p. 105, etc.; MGWJ., vol. 47, p. 171. For an exct case of acrostic see Divan of Judah Halevi, ed. Brody, vol. 2, p. * Comp. 'jioann ed. Kaminka, Warsaw, 1899, p. 114, beginning j 1 and p. 116, beginning ny p*O .isS'SK 4 ffi t 7N f\htt (nan m3 vol. iv, pp. 59-65), comp. also ion D13 vol. ii, No. 5. * poSn nwps (in numerous editions; see Benjacob D"niN s. v.). * poon nwpa (See ibid, s.v.) ' 'B'sS p r\w 'sin epv i nitroS nScn beginning 'anx DN TO D'ms'l f3ip, Breslau, 1844). Comp. Zunz, LiteraturgescMchte, p Landshuth miayn HID}?, p. 98. "jtotr' niTDT. Venice, 1599, No. 54, beginning rvriN itTK ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE 83 been imitated only by Wolf Buchner 12 and M. Hesse. 18 In regard Zedek in the nineteenth. 11 The second lipogram of Bedarshi has been imitated only by Wolf Buchner 12 and M. Hesse. 13 In regard to Buchner, it may be stated in this connection that almost all his poetic effusions are whimsical, and that most of his whimseys are lipograms of one form or other. His Shire Tehillah, for instance, which is the most pretentious of his poetic compositions, is, with the exception of the first six leaves, made up of various lipograms employing different letters of the alphabet for the different poems. 14 While most of the lipograms make use of the letter f)"i>x, the letter N"n was also not neglected. David ben Solomon Vidal, in the sixteenth century (d. after 1536), composed a poem of a thousand words, each beginning with x"n, 15 and the same was done by M. S. Kabener in the nineteenth century. 18 In the 18th century, Aaron Hayyim Voltera composed a religious poem each Comp. pjn vol. iii, p. 164. "Corop. t"nin nnsx Leghorn, 1780, fol. 43-47, beginning -|tpnpM rex TIX htt inx sx "|*-ix ^K 11 x'bax nixnx Y'nx iSnx ...niSstrx BX Sx msTx Sax max peSx t\h* London, 1890. He left, out the name Nathan because it begins with |"ia instead of !)"Sx. " xSB3 1'C% Frankfurt, 1802; nWl *V, Berlin, 1808; riWT "VV, Frankfurt, 1810. "nenn poSn ntrpa. Hamburg, 1829. According to Fiirst, Ribliotheca Judaica, vol. i, p. 390. Hesse is only the editor, not the author. 14 Fol. 7a-8a rnn ny SxntS" nD33 r2i each word contains the letter x; fol. 12-29, nSnn '"W comp. note 12 above; fol. 20b-40a, nnn' TB> consist* of more than 850 words, each containing a h, but no letter that follows t, in the alphabet; fol. 40-43 enn tPNlS nSnn 'TB> similar to tlie preceding; fol. 44-46a n 1 hv '2 Di'S nSriM ^V omits all letters between x and ^ fol. 46b-50k p'3 n"~\b nSnn n'tr contains a pj in each word; fol. 50b-52a I"K n"~\h nSnn TW has the letter K in each word. The same method is carried on for the other months, the poem for JVD has the letter o in each word and so on. 15 ]"'nnn nc'pa beginning ixon ioun IISJH hijn SKH (in his nnS Venice, 1546, fol. lOOa). It is preceded by two couplets as follows: j'nn nj,"2ii 1021 nnsa nSiy pip oipoa noinn uroK nsv nn 122^0 wn xn 'ia nyir Sip JTOIPI nson an nnx xn Ttr with the motto WI3 tPXli 131T xn (Ezek. xvi, 43) in nsix, vol. i, pp. 47-52. 84 STUDENTS' ANNUAL word of which begins with the letter pp." As might be ex- pected, the artificiality of these compositions was no aid to clear- ness, and in several instances commentaries became indispensable. 18 8. Pictorial Whimseys Belonging to the same class of whimsicalities, though not so ancient nor yet so common as the acrostic, are the pictorial whim- seys. It is generally accepted that Hebrew poets first learned from the Arabs to give their poems the shape of geometrical figures or figures taken from the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 19 But the desire to embellish the exterior of poetic compositions can be traced to much earlier times, for the Talmud has already prescribed various forms in which certain poetic passages of the Bible are to be written in the scrolls. Some are to appear like small bricks above larger bricks, and larger bricks above smaller ones, and some are to appear like small bricks laid upon small bricks, and large bricks upon large bricks. 20 However, as these whimsicalities be- came more prevalent and more varied in the Middle Ages, it is but reasonable to assume that Arabic influence had something to do with it. Usually such eccentric compositions require more scribal skill than poetic inspiration. But there are some pictorial poems in which the construction and the form are so mutually dependent upon each other, that they require more than the mere ingenuity of a scribe. Such, for instance, is the Tree Poem, which Abraham ibn Ezra wrote in honor of Kabbi Jacob Tarn. 21 4- Echo Verses From poetic whimseys which appeal to the eye we come to consider those which appeal to the ear. Of course, the oldest is 1T nenn nwpa, Leghorn, 1740. M Comp. e.g., nan D13, vol. iv, p. 59, and the poem of Voltera men- tioned above. "Delitzsch, loc. tit. "Comp. nVja, 16b; anew roco, chap, xii, 10. "nmrn YND 'i p spr "b Ticon KITJ? p oman 'n ...nvyv fr* (in Rosin, Reime und Gedichte, pp. 145-147). The Karaite Aaron b. Elijah, the younger, also composed a tree poem (Comp. mm lf)3, Gos- low, 1866, No. 20). (Communication of Dr. Marx.) Abraham Gabison composed a poem in the shape of a seven-branched candlestick (nmtm p. 134b). Comp. also Steinschneider, ^jntr 1 nviBD, p. 222. ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE 85 undoubtedly the echo verse, so-called because the last word of each verse consists of the ending of the preceding word, and sounds like its echo. The mere repetition of a rhyme in the middle of a verse, however, does not constitute it an echo verse. The poem of Moses ibn Ezra, for instance, beginning y\& nitj>p Ti 'me> nmi Din, 22 does not belong to this class, nor are the poems the Shibzi beginning $n Hn and JTVT rrvT Dira *aw echo poems in the strict sense of the word. 28 It is necessary that the repeti- tion of the rhyme should be at the end of the verse, just as the echo can only be heard when the original sound has stopped. According to Kaufmann, who published a number of echo poems, 24 the echo verses are especially adapted for the elegy. Whether this opinion be accepted or not, the fact is that we have a number of elegies written in this eccentric form of verse, such as Joseph ben Solomon ibn Yahya's elegies on the death of Solomon ibn Adret, 25 and on the destruction of the temple, 28 Jomtob Val- vasson's elegy on the death of Leon de Modena 27 and Isaac Aboab's (III) elegy on the destruction of the temple. 28 The echo verses, however, are by no means restricted to the elegy. Immanuel of Eome wrote a love poem in echo verse, 29 Israel Nagara composed a hymn in similar verses, 30 Jomtob Valvasson, mentioned above, wrote a poem of dedication, 81 and one anonymous echo poem has ** Comp. LitU. d. Or., 1847, p. 403, also nilBDn 1S1N, vol. v, p. 94. ** Bacher considered it so, comp. his Hebraische und arabische Poesie der Juden Jemens, p. 81, and the Hebrew part, p. 4, No. 23, and p. 11, No. 132. "Comp. Z. f. H. B., vol. i, pp. 22, 61, 114, 144. * Comp. ibid., p. 24, the echo verses begin with the fifth verse ono ana *w nnni iin onr nntwa awinS nmp M Ibid., p. 115, c'cn D'trtpo Siyi IT '3 nnj nnj33 nnaS ijnp. 27 Ibid., pp. 145-146, the poem proper begins yoirj 102 in in nnaiK "rip. "Comp. pun, vol. iii, p. 158, beginning: nno onoK San S:n '3i. " Comp. nnanD, ed. Lemberg, 1870, p. 23, beginning rnSa noin H'2S. 88 nno nnnx nv mv hy sh Kii nS> (in LitU. d. Or., vol. iv, 526; also in Smrn, vol. ii, p. 308 ; also in i)DKH, vol. iv, p. 22 ; Z. f. H. B., vol. i, p. 144). "K^'i'in n"n T'ono r\mrb Snj T nm nn, Venice, 1661. Comp. Steinschneider, Die italienische Litteratur der Juden (Monatsschrift, 1899, p. 421), also the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5, col. 292, where three stanzas are quoted. 86 STUDENTS' ANNUAL even been admitted into the liturgy. 82 Then, again, there are a number of didactic poems in echo verse by Meir ben Joseph ibn Yahya, 33 Moses Abudiente, 34 Moses Zacuto, 35 Joseph Penso," Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, 37 Jacob Daniel Ulamo 38 and M. Freund. 39 The elasticity of the form, in spite of its difficulties, has been further demonstrated by Buxtorf in his prefatory remarks to his lexicon, 40 and even more so by R. Furstenthal in his clever dialogue between a beggar and a miser, in which the miser is deceived by the echo of his own words to part with his fortune. 41 5. Macaronics Perhaps the most whimsical of all poetic whimseys is the maca- ronic, which may be composed in one of two ways. It may consist either of various languages welded together in one and the same verse, or of Hebrew words so selected that they may be phonetically interpreted as words of another language. Tradition ascribes to Samuel ha-Xagid the composition of a poem of seven stanzes, each in a different language. 42 But the earliest existing example of the first kind of a macaronic is Harizi's poem in the eleventh chapter of the TahTcemoni, each line of which consists of three phrases, one in Hebrew, one in Arabic, and one in Aramaic, all fused into one ** pcK'pyii aS nnnir spin Sarrtana mnS nnnK no (|OK3 *\*v IBO pt. ii, fol. 21, Amsterdam, 1793; also in nnnTNi mj?l3B7l an YTO S^ia ...D'1133 Vienna, 1889, p. 3). "" D'lOT D'tma nxipS ia^n no, published first as an epigraph to the man ICO, Fano, 1506; reprinted by Kaufmann in Z. f. H. B., vol. i, p. 116, and by Berliner in Aus meiner Bibliothek, Frankfurt, 1898, p. 33. M nno nnotr oia inc^i iso' onn anno pn paoa o^m. Sea ciDKon 1789, p. 162; Litbl. d. Or., vol. iv, p. 729; Bpota voL iv, p. 23. e Comp. -[i-\y nnen, stanzas 52-67. **B>BI vti ntrj? pns ia nr ' (in his nipnn 'TDK, Leghorn, 1770, fol. 17a). "Comp. TJ? "TWO, Leipzig, 1837, p. 77-78 ( n pp 'n pSn). "Cornp. imy py. S 14-34, 59-81, 147-149. ** n^an nnnn (in prer 'aaw, vol. 31, p. 105). *Comp. Lexicon Hebraicum et Chaldaicum, Glasgow, 1824, p. 4. The poem begins as follows : nnj? anj?an Sa iaip nmnan mo ^. It is reprinted by Kaufmann in Z. f. H. B., vol. i, p. 145. 41 inn in Samoscz, D3tnB> nTlK, Breslau, 1827, p. 74-75. Comp. Steinschneider 'rantr ninBD. p. 248. ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE 87 homogeneous verse. 43 The fusing of Hebrew and its sister lan- guages, Aramaic and Arabic, 44 may not appear so difficult or so strange as the fusing of Hebrew and European languages, yet even this feat has been accomplished. In a volume of liturgical com- positions entitled ninDP yiv (Leghorn, 1782, folio 27a), there is a poem for the feast of Purim in which Hebrew and Spanish are fused together, 40 and in a similar collection entitled JON3 TB> (Amsterdam, 1793, fol. 21-22), we find two more poems in which Hebrew and French are the component parts. 48 Mordecai Astruc 47 composed three macaronic poems in which Hebrew and Provengal are used in alternate verses, 48 and Yomtob Valvasson wrote a sonnet, each verse of which consists of Hebrew, Portuguese and Italian. 49 The device of mixing languages, however, is not quite so dif- ficult nor quite so startling as the use of Hebrew words which at , ey 'no to the tune of a non- Jewish song which began with the words 'OYVKttD V K NO^K 'D ""orPKUD. 62 Evidently until we ascertain the identity of this poet, 53 we cannot say whether Modena was the first to invent this class of macaronics or not. In the seventeenth century Moses Hayyim Catalano wrote a poem in honor of the marriage of his sister, which likewise can be read as Hebrew or as Italian. 5 * A certain Judah ha-Rophe, in the eighteenth century, composed an epithalemium which can be read as Hebrew as well as Yiddish. 85 In the eighteenth century 80 Comp. n^spn fiJTQ, Goritiae, 1852, p. 8. "The elegy begins: w TON DB3 no IN "nat? na'p, Comp. Libowitz Kama K-n, N. Y., 1901, p. 7. M The passage in Lonzano's nw ntP (Venice, 1618, fol. 142a) reads as follows: \vgbh man mSas p^nno^ nntr mp wn DINB"? MN-IB* na SSK,, IBKI '8 iv NIB " ob a BIVKIB ojnaS *w 12'ntr IDIKD lybn o jn Kb NWI Svu nan nvyv wj?a nNiai "'iai nain 01 ny na by ano,, pi ,cr\^by vavjni wS neNiani SIKISH nan isw naittn '3 nsT K 1 ? Kin SUB nrs IT "ntS nann Ssi "nivi^,, oipas "KIIJ n f , onainn ** Dukes who first cited the passage quoted in the preceding note made the erroneous statement that Lonzano had reference to Israel Nagara (Litbl. d. Or., vol. iv, p. 359). He was evidently misled by the fact that later on the same page he speaks of Nagara. Graetz ( Oeschichte, vol. ix, p. 395) and Bernfeld (spota vol. iv, p. 20-21) followed him blindly, copy- ing even the misprints, e. g,, 31 nj? for at OJ?. The same is done by Rosanes in his recent work on the Jews of Turkey (naijiro SNIC* 'B' nan voL iii, pp. 176, 313). * Reprinted by Wolf in his Bibliotheca Hebraica, vol. iii, p. 726. It begins UMK mon JT Comp. also Monatsschrift, 1899, p. 420. "Wagenseil (Sota, Altdorf, 1674, p. 49) states that Judah ha-Rophe had told him of this and that he himself remembered only the first line, which is as follows: na'Bi B>*nn ]3K D'SnK 3tw BN 3ipy, Jaacob is jo so woll im eben heraus auf eina. Fiirst (B. J. ii, p. 49) invents the title of navin "w. ECCENTRIC FORMS OP HEBREW VERSE 89 this kind of writing was cultivated by Ephraim Luzzatto, 66 but the cleverest of macaronics are the echo macaronics of Rosenzweig. In his book of epigrams there are a number of them in which a girl is represented as soliloquizing in Hebrew, and the echo re- sponds to her sentiments in English. 67 Aside from the epigram- matic sting of these couplets, the effect of the combination of the two devices in one verse, the echo and the macaronic, is quite startling. 6-7. Typographical and Hieroglyphic Eccentricities In a manuscript collection of liturgical poems coming from Tunis, and now in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 08 I find two poems which seem to me to be unique in character, and may be designated as typographical whimseys. Their peculiarity consists in spelling out the letters of the last word of each stanza. 69 One of the poems has the name of pmr in acrostic, and the other that of TIB. It is, therefore, safe to assume that both are the compositions of Isaac Faragi. The same manuscript contains another poem by Faragi, the peculiarity of which is that the names of almost all the diacritical signs are woven into the poem and made an integral part of it. It is not far from possible that it was the intention of the author to substitute the diacritical sign in the place of its name and expect the reader to supply the meaning himself. It is for this reason that I designate it as a hieroglyphic whimsey. 90 8-10. Chain Verses, Monosyllabic, and Monomial Verses There are also several whimsical devices which in a measure appeal both to the eye as well as to the ear. One of these is to be found in the so-called chain verses, which are so constructed a) '3ioS ':iSs miap naso (in his nnipn 'as n^K, London, 1768, p. 42); b) rmnn u\h IIDTD inr (ibid. p. 54). " nn Sipi noSj: Sip (in his tfrm ntrnn, N. Y., 1903, p. 284). M DTTfiDB D'TWi n'oVB 'D MS. Hirsch, 47. Comp. below Hebrew poems Nos. 1, 2. Incidentally it may be men- tioned that Zabana also made use of this device. Comp. my edition of " 1BD > N - y - 1914. P- 63 not 7. " Comp. below Hebrew poems No. 3. 90 STUDENTS' ANNUAL that each verse begins with the same word with which the prece- ding verse ended. Playful as such poems would seem, they are nevertheless found in the Liturgy. 61 Another device which like- wise appeals to the eye and the ear is the exclusive use of mono- syllabic words. Such poems were written by Buchner 82 and Ra- bener. 63 The monomial verses, on the other hand, are poems each verse of which consists of just one word. Poems of this class were written by N. I. Fischman, 6 * L. Marcus," 5 and M. Strelisker. 66 In none of these is the art of poetry developed to any great extent, but from the point of technique they form rather an interesting group. 11-12. Palindromes and Jesuitical Verses Attention may now be turned to those verse forms whose eccentric character depends not so much upon external devices, as upon some inner peculiarity, and for this reason appeal to us not through the auditory and visual senses, but rather through what may be called our logical or intellectual faculties. Such are the whimseys known by the names of palindromes and Jesuitical verses. These two eccentric verse forms are to a certain extent the complements of each other. A palindrome is a composition which can be read both forward and backward, producing the same sense. Jesuitical verses, on the other hand, are so con- structed that they have one meaning when read forward and the opposite meaning when read backward. Immanuel Frances, 67 One is by Moses ibn Ezra, beginning vinaa 'nxan 'mn? mDTD (in rn Berlin, 1900, p. 129; Brody & Albrecht inrn 1J?B>, N. Y., 1906, p. 81. The other is a penitential hymn by Isaac b. Yakar beginning 'nuS rvtra vwa tn (nasamtryS nurSo). Mandelkern finds this device even in the Bible (comp. nneon ISix vol. ii, p. 367). * Comp. Buchner nSnn n't?. "a) nn ax rv n h t?' .'noan isw vol. Hi, p. 146); b) enn TBT cn'cn Snpa inSnn oe>jn. vol. iv, No. 12). * isiT m 'M rvtwa - rvnnn (imn voL v, p. 149). "a) napn (in -ayn. N. Y., 1892, No. 1) ; b) jvxS beginning -piyDJ-]lir nSD-lVS-nfya-Jvjn-KJW-pVin (in nonp N. Y., 1899, p. 36). The first poem was parodied by Zolotkoff. Comp. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, N. Y., 1907, p. 254. "puirn n'srKiS beginning now - noia nwws- DTI^N (in -itwn vol. v, y. 153). "Comp. nriBB>pnD, Berlin, 1892, p. 24, beginning pin 1 ? naS iS nv ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VEKSE 91 Naphtali Kohen, 88 and Jakuthiel of Wilna 69 have each given us a sample of a palindrome, while the Jesuitical verses have been cultivated by Judah Harizi 70 and Immanuel of Borne. 71 In this connection mention may be made of a Yiddish proverb which makes use of a palindrome. The proverb reads pmv D3SD urm jrm. The word urm (and they shall give) reads the same forward and backward. In other words, they who give have also the right to demand. 72 IS. Mosaic Verses A great deal of ingenuity is also shown in the Mosaic verses. I have in mind three such compositions. The one is the letter of Solomon ben Simon Duran, consisting entirely of Talmudic phrases strung together so as to make one homogeneous composi- tion. 73 The other two are poems by Immanuel Frances, 74 and Moses Abudiente, 75 each word of which is found in the Bible as a proper name, but in the poem all of them retain their original etymological meaning. 14- Mnemonic Verses Equally ingenious are the Mnemonic verses, which fall into two classes. In one class the verses are intended as an aid to memory, and consist of words which help us to remember facts and dates, and at the same time convey the meaning required of them in the poem. In the other class the numerical value of the Hebrew letters is taken into account, and each verse, when the value of its letters is summed up, amounts to a certain number, usually the year of the composition. Of the first class of Mnemo- nics Abraham Gabison cites two examples. One is a versification "Comp. pjn vol. i, p. 100, begins: jin xSoS ':ipS nSnx rn^ "Comp. rmtn nSjon joS'iio KBIIH yh rmn p SN'mp nun nuo eSa nxip;, ed. by L. Scherschewsky, Vienna, 1879. 70 Comp. 3iODnn. ed. Kaminka, p. 86-87, beginning: <,r irvas. " Comp. nvnna. chap, ii, ed. Lemberg, p. 86-87, mwn nS'Son and .rvmjn " Comp. Bernstein, Jtidische Sprichworter, Warsaw, 1908, p. 94. "Comp. ion ni3, vol. ix, pp. 110-113. 74 Comp. DTiBtr pna, pp. 59-59, beginning ct?in Dioy ns> lirx. 15 Comp. Litbl. d. Or., vol. iv, p. 784, beginning aits* ^KV HB> n. 92 STUDENTS' ANNUAL of the Talmudic tracts by Isaac ibn Zimrah, written in the meter of Judah Halevi's Zion Elegy, 78 and the other is a versification of the names of various chapters of the Talmud by Saadia ibn Danon. 77 A similar poem with a double commentary was written by Shabbethai Beer. 78 To the second class of Mnemonics belong the poems of Eichenbaum, 79 Gottlober, 80 Sommerhausen, 81 A. J. Stern 82 and Zweifel. 88 For the sake of completeness, we might also mention other verse-forms which are eccentric, though difficult to put under any specific classification. Such, for instance, are the poems in the ninth chapter of Harizi's TaTikemoni, where the poet undertakes to frame verses around some given Biblical sentence, or the Piyut of Kalir for Purim, every stanza of which begins with one of the words of the seventeenth verse in the second chapter of the Book of Esther. 8 * Perhaps this might be considered as a form of acrostic. There may be other eccentric compositions entitled to be included in this study, such as the Anagram, the Riddle, the Alliterative compositions, and the Tegnis. But these must be left for another occasion, as they are not, strictly speaking, eccentrici- ties of form. The foregoing account is in no way intended as a defense for this class of poetic composition. There cannot be the least doubt that these eccentricities tend to make these compositions clumsy and cumbersome, and very rarely add to the intrinsic value of the poem. But the student of literature has to take account of every literary phenomenon that presents itself. w Comp. nnsBtt *iiy Leghorn, 1748, fol. 123c. "Z&id., fol. 123d. "Comp. ptrjnxaiDD Venice, 1674, fol. 1-6. It begins >h ftWO rvyatP wrh [Communication of Mr. Israel Scbapiro.] n Comp. his pnOT *np Leipzig, 1836, p. 49-53. * "pfiS "W (in Wohlman's D'33l3n 1865, p. 30). "nvn njT> (in Filipowski's ei'DKPMBD Leipzig, 1849, pp. 110-113). " Comp. Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica, p. 382. "min nnao (in non 012 vol. ix, p. 80-81). " pn now pin arw'i (SnB" mwy p. 674). ECCENTRIC FORMS OF HEBREW VERSE 93 Hebrew Appendix illustrating the typographical and hieroglyphic eccentricities. 85 1 ipiy vro nyi" 1 V'v i'" 1 ^ rroab TB>K ox3 D^T nyo ivx imp' 'D D^3$>3 3311 1DXJ ^N D'n D^D n Kin ^33 po'n 31 W1D3 pN ^3 '3 im D'DNT ^ cn i| D /;"n D"n NV S in ^ant^ vrm nvn mm nipo nx n'inD vp'T'n now D^UJ; jnt nny -3 a^ipo 11 p 87 D" v /s n e| 'nw nx "See above Nos. 6 and 7. W MS. Hirsch, 47, fol. 92a, No. 32. "Ibid. ibid. No. 33. 94 STUDENTS' ANNUAL 3 'n bao fsba -n* n'JTSD pneo fn pna "pxv npi*3 imo bx nnb vn p3pbi *iiDxb pm pS ID-'ja b N p 1 T ibin IB-IP jnot? -px p riv? pj JX Ntrb>n mjr nnvyo oy onepo H^ DV nv inn m 31 H3 13 iy n\nn ne 11 nnro nbno nny 88 novy non oni by IT Tion np 11 no y^cnnb 3'n ^ nnn bwab r T&a Din by ^3 nos % 3 jn noyi nxj N n b n ob nvn my TK ^3 "1^3 *n ^ HI-ID ma mp ton non njv 331^ 1 MS. Hirsch. Part II, fol. 81, No. 31. 33 nbvbv 3iD poyta pin ny Dpi ivbl KB' IT ID nan 3 v p'T'n jy nnn on 3'n* iv bo 11 nbne> ^sna t^n b p'ao 3b by 13T UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000133947 2 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. ID-URL MAR 51989 Univer; Sout Lib