TO A JUVENILE COLLECTOR OF SMALL SUMS.

THOUGH trifling in your eye
The little mite appear,
Yet to my cheering words
A moment lend your ear.

Look on the mighty deep,
And contemplate the sea;
If it were not for the drops,
Where would its vastness be?

Behold the emerald field,
Where sheep and oxen feed;
If it were not for the blades,
Say, where would be the mead ?

The oak its shelter gives,
When flocks from tempests flee;
But, if the leaves were gone,
Where would the shelter be?

The smooth extended sand
That checks the roaring deep;
Say, if the grains were gone,
Where would the billows sweep.

Despise not then the pence,
They serve to make the pound;
And each may help to spread
The Gospel's joyful sound.

ANON.

London: Printed at the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green.

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE.

JUNE, 1850.

HEBREW POETRY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

II.

THE poem of Rabbi Jehuda Hallevi, from which we gave extracts in our last, was composed to be sung on the 9th of the month Ab.

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The 9th of Ab is a mournful day amongst the children of Israel; being the anniversary of many awful calamities that befel their people on that day. By a singular coincidence, too powerfully marked to be called accidental, on the first of these several memorable days the people revolted against Moses and Aaron; on the same day of the same month, nine hundred years after that rebellion, Nebuchadnezzar burned and destroyed their city, and made captives of their leading men; and again, on the ninth day of Ab, the Romans, under Titus, destroyed their city and sanctuary, fulfilling the prediction of the prophet Micah, (iii. 12,) that Zion should be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.' And when, half a century later, Bar Chochebas involved his nation in a dreadful calamity, by attempting to rescue his country from the abomination of Paganism, which had

been established in Jerusalem by Hadrian, it was again on the ninth of Ab. Taking advantage of the indignation of his countrymen, Bar Chochebas proclaimed himself Messiah, by the aid of the celebrated Rabbi Akiba, and in order to accommodate himself to the anger and prejudice of the people, spoke of nothing but wars, battles, and triumphs;-the first lesson of this false Messiah being the necessity of a general rising against the Romans. He fortified himself and his deluded followers in many places, and chose the city of Bether for his seat of empire. Rufus, the governor of Judea, attempted to quell these disturbances, but, although he committed great cruelties, he did not succeed. Julius Severus, the greatest general of his time, was sent by Hadrian against the Jews, and adapting the policy of attacking and cutting them off separately, reduced the whole war to the memorable siege of Bether, the last resource and stronghold of Bar Chochebas and his followers. The city was stormed and captured, and the blood of the leader, and of six hundred thousand Jews, of all ages and sexes, glutted the inhuman vengeance of Hadrian.

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The ninth day of Ab is therefore a day to be remembered by the Hebrews, as the anniversary of so many recurring instances of divine vengeance against rebellions and crimes, and as such is still commemorated with sad and mournful solemnities.

"The Rabbins, who were the contemporaries of Jehuda Hallevi, seemed as if they could never sufficiently praise him, and succeeding Rabbins have joined in their eulogies. He alone,' says one of them, 'penetrated into the sanctuary of

poesy. The gates of heaven had been locked by the grandeur of the empyrean, but the genius of Jehuda boldly shattered their bars. How our souls are uplifted by the force of his prayers! O listen to his elegies! and the mist of your tears will flow down in torrents.'

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Having composed the elegy entitled ' ZION,' Rabbi Jehuda determined, in the fiftieth year of his age, to undertake a pilgrimage from the heart of Andalusia to the devastated city of Jerusalem, then in the possession of the Crusaders, with the intention of reciting it upon the ruins which it lamented, eleven hundred years after its destruction by Titus.

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When he came in sight of the holy mountain, whereon his forefathers had worshipped the great Jehovah, he rent his clothes, pulled off his shoes, and entered the holy city barefooted. Thus humiliated, and with ashes cast upon his head, he commenced reciting his elegy in melancholy strains. Completely absorbed by his subject, he did not observe that his dress and occupation had excited the attention of a mounted Arab; nor did he hear the taunts with which the rude horseman commanded him to cease his melancholy lamentations. Enraged at the disobedience of the enrapt enthusiast, he spurred his horse over the unfortunate bard, and trampled him to death."

Another Hebrew poet of the Middle Ages met with a fearful and sudden death. A specimen (translated) of his poetry is given in the article from whence we have extracted the above history. He excelled chiefly in the Ode. The following lines from his writings may suffice :

"Chase thy cares from thee, my afflicted soul! why should the adversities of this world afflict thee?

"Soon will thy frail covering repose in the tomb, and all will be forgotten.

"Man is a vine, and Death the Vintager, who carefully watches when the fruit is ripe for gathering.

"Time is short, the road is long; forget thy trouble, think but of the grave, and fear nought but the day of judgment."

"The poet was gathered to the vintage at the blooming age of thirty. He fell under the dagger of an assassin, who, it was generally believed, was driven to this execrable deed by jealousy at the superior talent of his victim.

"The following prose version of an elegy, written in mournful remembrance of the destruction of Jerusalem, is a good specimen of the more solemn style of the Hebrew poets of the Middle Ages. It is the production of Rabbi ben Gabriol, whose untimely and violent death we have mentioned above.

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The poet selects for his text, Lam. i. 16: For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye

runneth down with water.'

66 6 'Alas! these sacred ruins are the result of our sins, which we expiate this day with floods of tears; and every year I give vent to my grief by mournful lamentations.

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My heart is broken; for me no comfort lives. Where are there sufferings equal to mine! O listen to the dreadful tale of two scions of the stock of Aaron, whose memory consumes my bosom like a devouring fire; and every year I give vent to my grief by mournful lamentations.'

Two lords among the strangers had carried away as captives the son and daughter of Ismael, the High Priest. One of the nobles said to the other, Among the captives of Sion, I have chosen a maiden clad in purple, bright as the morn and