Tag Archives: Elazar Birabi Qilir

A Payytanic Quiz for Hanukkah – “The Answers”

Posted on December 16, 2012 by

Hanukkah is almost over and it is time to publish the “answers” to the quiz. I put answers in quotation marks since it is not always clear what the payytan meant or was referring to, but this is the case, … Continue reading →

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A Payytanic Quiz for Hanukkah

Posted on December 9, 2012 by

Hebrew liturgical poems (piyyutim) only rarely relate to halakhic matters. However, we do have one intriguing piyyut for Hanukkah that enumerates laws concerning the candle lighting during the days of the feast. This piyyut is attributed in Genizah manuscripts to … Continue reading →

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Two Unusual Traditions in Piyyutim for Shavuot

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Shavout is just around the corner and I present in this post two most unusual traditions that appear in piyyutim for the holiday: Were Hillel and Shamai brothers? On June 8, 1951 Menachem Zulay published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz two late … Continue reading →

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Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 3)

Posted on December 29, 2011 by

The third and last (albeit slightly belated) installment of the series on Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 1, Part 2). In the days of the Geonim (i.e., the Babylonian sages that followed the rabbis of the Talmud), individuals and communities sent … Continue reading →

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Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 2)

Posted on December 24, 2011 by

In the first part of this series I discussed an intriguing “historical” tradition in a piyyut by Elazar Birabi Qilir. In this second part I turn to an interesting juxtaposition of the cosmos and the Tabernacle in another piyyut for … Continue reading →

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Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 1)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Hanukkah begins today and since I have been working for some years now on Hebrew liturgical poems for this feast, I thought it would be nice to share with the readers of the Talmud Blog some interesting bits and pieces … Continue reading →

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A Sign of Confusion? The Hometown of Elazar Birabi Qilir

Posted on October 17, 2011 by

Archeological sites in Israel feature signs that explain the findings and elaborate on their historical context. Many of these signs quote texts that are relevant to the site in most cases from the Bible and rabbinic literature. To my joy, … Continue reading →

Posted in Piyut, Readings | Tagged , , | 11 Comments