O my soul, set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou didst go; for all was made of dust, and indeed unto dust shall all return. Every thing that was created and fashioned has an end and a goal to return unto the ground, whence it was taken. Life and death are brothers that dwell together; they are joined to one another; they cling together, so that they cannot be sundered. They are joined together by the two extremes of a frail bridge over which all created beings travel: life is the entrance, and death is the exit thereof. Life builds, and death demolishes; life sows, and death reaps; life plants, and death uproots; life joins together, and death separates; life links together, and death scatters. Know, I pray thee, and see that also unto thee shall the cup pass over, and thou shalt soon go out from the lodging-place which is on the way, when time and chance befall thee, and thou returnest to thine everlasting home. On that day shalt thou delight in thy work, and take thy reward in return for thy labor wherein thou hast toiled in this world, whether it be good or bad. Therefore hearken, I pray thee, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget thy people and thy father’s house. Arise, and sing unto thy King all thy day and all thy night; lift up thy hands toward Him, and bow down unto Him with thy face to the ground; let thine eyelids gush out with waters, and kneel thou upon thy knees; the King may perchance desire thy beauty, and lift up His countenance unto thee, and give thee peace. He will be gracious unto thee in the days of thy affliction in this world, and also after thou hast returned to thy rest. For as long as thou didst live He dealt bountifully with thee.

O my soul, prepare provision in abundance, prepare not little, while thou art yet alive, and while thy hand has yet strength, because the journey is too great for thee. And say not: ‘I shall prepare provision to-morrow’; for the day has declined, and thou knowest not what the next day may bring forth. Know likewise that yesterday shall never come back, and that whatever thou hast done therein is weighed, numbered, and counted. Nor shouldst thou say: ‘I shall do it to-morrow’; for the day of death is hidden from all the living. Hasten to do thy task every day, for death may at any time send forth its arrow and lightning. Delay not to do thy daily task, for as a bird wanders from its nest, so does a man wander from his place. Think not with thyself that after thou hast gone forth from the prison of thy body thou wilt turn to correction from thy perpetual backsliding; for it will not be possible for thee then to do good or evil; it will not avail thee then to turn away from backsliding or to repent of wickedness, guilt, and transgression. For that world has been established to render accounts—the book of the hidden and concealed deeds which every man commits is sealed—and it has been prepared to grant a good reward to them that fear the Lord and think upon His name, and to execute the vengeance of the covenant upon them that forget God, who say unto God: ‘Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?’[[96]]

O my soul, if thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; and if thou scoffest, thy error remains with thee. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Lay continually to thy heart the words of Koheleth the son of David: ‘The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole man. For God will bring every work into judgment concerning every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.’[[97]] Forget not that He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom He has made may know it.[[98]] Remember likewise that there is no darkness and no thick darkness wherein the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.[[99]] Seek the Lord thy Maker with all thy might and strength. Seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be that thou wilt be hidden in the day of God’s anger, and in the day of His fierce wrath, and that thou wilt shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the sun when it goes forth in its might. The sun of righteousness with healing in its wings shall shine upon thee. Now arise, go and make supplication unto thy Lord, and take up a melody unto thy God. Praise thou God, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.

XVI. AHIMAAZ B. PALTIEL

[Liturgic poet and author of a family chronicle. He was born at Capua, Italy, 1017, and died at Oria about 1060. His Chronicles (Sefer Yuhasin) is an important source for the history of the early Jewish settlement in Italy.]

Shephatiah Before His Death on Rosh ha-Shanah Declares that the Tyrant Basil Is Dead[[100]]

And Rabbi Shephatiah was old and well stricken with age; and God blessed him with all pleasant qualities. The Dweller of the high heavens gave him the Torah as a possession, and made him great with riches and immense wealth. He endowed him with a son who was worthy and perfect; the father and the son were faultless. With them was Rabbi Hananel who was great and perfect; they were all steadfast in the fear of God. They were brothers and friends, and were pleasant in their friendship. They continually occupied themselves with the Torah and with the commandments and lovingly fulfilled God’s statutes. They exalted their King with strength and with glory, and magnified their Maker with honor and majesty, and made for their Creator a wreath, and a crown, and a diadem of fine gold. They ascribed strength and power to their Maker, and came in the evening and in the morning to the assembly of prayers. All the days that they were upon earth they bewailed with grief the exile and the destruction, and lamented with bitterness and desolation over the persecution. They cried and made supplications to Him who turns wise men backward,[[101]] by whose knowledge the depths were broken up, and who established and founded the rivers and seas, that He should make foolish the knowledge of the enemy, and that He should lay his kingdom waste. They asked understanding from Him who is full of mercy, that the decree of persecution should be brought to nought and be abolished. Because of their cry which they cried to the Highest of all high, the decree did not pass across from the other side of the seas, and His servants who were perfect in His laws He delivered from filth, and dirt, and foul waters: from being made to kneel to the deaf and mute, and from worshipping the blind and sightless, and from bowing down to idols and images. He thundered with the voice of thunders upon their enemies, and was filled with indignation against their persecutors; He delivered His beloved ones from the hand of them that rise up against them; and spared their soul from the coals of broom; that they may occupy themselves with the Torah, and meditate therein, and that they may smell the savor of the spices and perfumes which are hidden and sealed up in the treasuries and store-houses, which are closed up in the Eden of the venerable and ancient fathers. Then Rabbi Shephatiah, the teacher among the wise, yielded up his soul completely to the Judge of the widows and the Father of orphans. He tasted the cup of his ancestors, which the father of the serpents caused all mortals to drink.[[102]]

On New Year’s day, Rabbi Shephatiah, being the worthiest man in a worthy congregation, had to blow the horn, for the sake of the glory of God and His people. That day he was feeble, bent down by illness; but all the congregation whispered to him persuasively: ‘Our master that art clothed with light, radiance of our splendor, light of our eyes, blow thou the horn for us; all the days that our God will keep thee among us no other man shall blow the horn in our midst.’ And they burdened him with the blowing of the horn. He stood up, and blew the horn; but he was without strength and power, and the blowing of the horn did not come out in a fitting manner. Whereupon the righteous man cried out aloud unto them, and justified God’s judgment against himself: ‘My children, may this be a good omen unto you; for on account of my transgressions fortune has changed against me.’ He left the synagogue of his congregation, went to his house, and lay down upon his bed. And all the congregation came after him to his bed-chamber. He then turned his face toward them, and thus said he unto them: ‘I am going to my eternal rest, to my lot with the ancient fathers; and I make known unto you, my dear sons, my three beloved sons, that Basil[[103]] the oppressor and apostate is dead. He passes before me now, bound with chains of fire, and is handed over to the destroying angels. And He whose name is the Lord of hosts sent for me to go to meet Basil, and to contend against him in judgment, because of all the evil which he had done unto His people, in order to cut off his name and the name of his seed, his root, his offspring, and his plant.’ (And they wrote down the day and the hour. Some days later a report came that Basil who had done evil died; in accordance with the words of the righteous man did the letter arrive. For thus the emperors of Constantinople were wont to do according to their custom; when a king died, they would send an explicit letter to Bari,[[104]] and write down the day and the time, which brought the terrible tidings of the king’s death.) ‘Blessed be He who alone does wondrous things, who destroyed him from this world, and cut him off from the world to come. Blessed be His name, and blessed be the name of His glory. Now I am to be gathered unto my people, and I shall go to my place. And ye, my children, the children of my trials, all the congregation of my multitudes, may God be with you. He kills, and makes alive; He is named I Am That I Am, when He brings to life the righteous of Benjamin and the lion’s whelp.’[[105]]

XVII. MOSES B. JACOB IBN EZRA

[Poet, philosopher, and philologist. He wrote gracefully in Arabic and Hebrew. He was born about 1070 at Granada, and died in the first half of the twelfth century. His best works are still in manuscript, but even his published books show him to have been a man of great talent. His poetry was chiefly praised for the beauty and polish of its diction. Judah ha-Levi addressed several panegyrics to him.]