Jewish Understandings of the Other: An Annotated Sourcebook
Over the millennia, Jews have sought to understand their relationships to their gentile (i.e. non-Jewish) neighbors. Many Jewish teachings generated texts that subsequent generations accepted as authoritative. Despite their authority, these texts often offer a variety of opinions. As Jews seek to understand their place in today's multi-cultural world, they do so in dialogue with these texts. Some of these texts are "difficult." The annotations accompanying them explore ways of reading and understanding them, as historical, theological and legal texts, and as received texts today.
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Liturgy: Ninth of Av: Qinot: Qalir

Introduction

The Fast of the Ninth of Av falls between late July and mid-August on the secular calendar. It is a day of mourning, first and foremost for the destructions of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE, respectively), and secondarily for a long litany of additional tragedies that Jewish tradition associates with this date. The special liturgies for the day include the reading of the book of Eichah (Lamentations) and the recitation of qinot, poetry of lament, that often elaborates on parts of Lamentations or its themes. Many of these poems respond to negative Jewish interactions with their neighbors, thus creating a ritualized memory of persecution, pain, and anger. This communal memory lurks for many Jews in their interactions with their neighbors today.

"Incline Your Ear" is ascribed to the poet whose oeuvre dominates the Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) liturgy for this day, Rabbi Elazar Qalir. Although Ashkenazi tradition, from the 12th century, identifies him as one of the rabbis of the second (and even first) century of the Common Era, contemporary scholars, drawing clues from various compositions, date him to the early seventh century, around the time of the Arab conquest of Byzantine Palestine. His calls for the downfall of Rome in this qinah suggest that it was composed under Byzantine rule. Archaeology suggests that many synagogues were flourishing at this point, built to rival their Christian neighbors. A parallel flowering of Syriac Christian liturgical poetry also suggests that Jews were part of the cultural life of the Byzantine Middle East. We know about Qalir only through his poetry.

There are several conventional structural elements into which Qalir fits the content of this poem: 

These elements limit the poet's ability to express his meaning freely and to organize his material logically (by our standards). In addition, Qalir's language is highly allusive, both to Bible and to rabbinic interpretations of the Bible. His citation of a verse can often really be a pointer to another part of the verse, or to its larger biblical context, or to its interpretation in rabbinic midrash. At least part of Qalir's audience would have understood these allusions and have been able to decode the layers of meaning suggested in the commentary (linked) below.

Text

הטה א-להי אזנך לתפלצת מנאצת, מי לי בשמים
ושמע שאגת צורריך, האומרים ערו ערו עד היסוד, שער השמים
 [1] Incline Your ear, my God, to the abominable blasphemy: "Who do I have in heaven?" 
and hear the roaring of Your adversaries who say: "Raze it, raze down to its foundation  the Gate of Heaven ."
הטה א-להי אזנך לרגשת הדוברת על צדיק עתק
ושמע קול שאון מעיר, בחמה שפוכה לשתק
 [2] Incline Your ear, my God, to the tumult raised by those who "speak in arrogance against the Righteous One," 
and hear "the sound of uproar from the city,"  and silence it with "outpoured fury."
הטה א-להי אזנך לציר שלח ונם, קומו ונקומה עליה למלחמה
ושמע פלצות הומים, בא העת, אתו בביתו להלחמה
 [3] Incline Your ear, my God, to the (prophetic) messenger who was commissioned to say: "Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!" 
And hear the terrifying shrieks (as the enemy exclaimed): It is time to fight (God) in His own house.
הטה א-להי אזנך לעצו עצה וחשבו מזמה, בל יוכלו
ושמע שיחת נועצו לב יחדו, עליך עלות נסתכלו
 [4] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who "hatched a plot"  and who "devised mischief, but could not prevail."
and hear the talk of  those who "have conspired with one accord"  foolishly to think to ascend against You.
הטה א-להי אזנך לנאצו ושלכו באש מקדש המורא
ושמע מחרפיך מדמימי תודה וקול זמרה
 [5] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who scorned and "set on fire the Temple of the Awe-Inspiring One,"
and hear (the voice of) those that blaspheme You, who have brought to silence "the voice of song and thanksgiving."
הטה א-להי אזנך ללצים לצון חמדו להם
ושמע כל חרפתם אשר חרפוך והפל אימתך עליהם
 [6] Incline Your ear, my God, to "the mockers who reveled in their scoffing."
and hear "all the abuse that they have flung at You," and "cast Your terror upon them."
הטה א-להי אזנך ליהרו והוציאו הכרובים ברחובות מחזרים
ושמע טרחות טנופם כהילו על מזבחך חזירים
 [7] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who haughtily took the Cherubim out and dragged them along in the streets,
and hear the burden (they brought You) with their defilement, when they sacrificed swine on Your altar.
הטה א-להי אזנך לחללו חטמפו בית קדש הקדשים
ושמע זדים וזרקים למולך מילות קדושים
 [8] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who profaned and defiled the Holy of Holies,
and hear how the arrogant slung before You the circumcisions of the martyrs.
הטה א-להי אזנך ךועזים מעיזים מצח לכו ונלחמה אתו בביתו
ושמע הוות הוללים צהללים כי אין האיש בביתו
 [9] Incline Your ear, my God, to the strangers who spoke insolently: "Come let us fight Him in His own house,"
and hear the derision of the mockers who mock that "the Master is not in His House."
הטה א-להי אזנך לדוברת אני ואפסי עוד
ושמע גדופיה וחרופיה משתחצת עד כסאך עוד
 [10] Incline Your ear, my God, to the one who says "I am and there is none beside me,"
and hear the one who abuses and reproaches her [Israel], exalting herself to Your Throne itself.
הטה א-להי אזנך לבוזה ומלעגת מה תוחילי ואינו נבנה
ושמע בכית מספידים וקורעים ומחכים מתי יבנה
 [11] Incline Your ear, my God, to to the mocker who derides us, "Why do you persist in hoping (for the Temple)? It will not be rebuilt!"
and hear the weeping of those who eulogize and rend (their garments) and yearn: "O when will it be rebuilt?"
הטה א-להי אזנך לאומרים עזב ושכח ונטש ולעד שומם
ושמע אנקתנו וקנא קנאתנו והאר פניך על מקדשך השמם
 [12] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who say: "(The Temple) is deserted, forgotten and forsaken, and it will be forever devastated."
and hear our cry and be zealous for our sake, "and cause Your face to shine on Your desolate Temple."

 

Commentary

[1] Incline Your ear, my God, to the abominable blasphemy: "Who do I have in heaven?" [Ps 73:25a]
and hear the roaring of Your adversaries who say: "Raze it, raze down to its foundation [Ps 137:7b] the Gate of Heaven [Gen 28:17 -- i.e., the Temple]."

In its own context, Ps 73:25a is better translated, "Who is mine in heaven?" -- but this would not be blasphemous. Rather, a blasphemer understands the verse as translated here, "Who do I have in heaven" or "Who is for me in heaven?" 

According to the midrash (Leviticus Rabba 7:6; 13:5, Pesikta deRav Kahana 4:9, Pesikta Rabbati 14, Tanhuma Buber Hukat 27) the "evil empire," i.e., Rome, blasphemes by uttering Ps 73:25a. Qalir, however, may be equating Romans and Christians. Deuteronomy Rabba Va-ethanan (Lieberman ed.) applies this verse specifically to Christians, when Israel says before God, "Master of the Universe, 'Who is mine in heaven?' We do not recognize any other God except the God who is in heaven. 'And having You, I want no one on earth' [Ps 73:25b]: We do not join a god to you on earth, but we proclaim Your unity and say 'Hear O Israel, the Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One'."

Ps 137:7 begins "Remember, O Eternal, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem's fall." Rabbinic tradition equates Edom and Rome. Mekhilta Beshalah 10 uses this verse to speak of God's grief at the destruction of the Temple; Deuteronomy Rabba Devarim (Lieberman ed.), places this verse in Israel's mouth, reminding God of Edom's sin -- and God promises never to forget what they did in His house. Exodus Rabba 35:5 indicates that God's anger at this attitude is so great that the messiah will not even accept a gift from Edom.

Hence, Qalir here is asking God to remember the blasphemy of Rome at the destruction of the Temple. That he equates Rome with the Christians of his day is also evident in his apparent allusion to trinitarian theology as blasphemy. This blasphemy and destruction caused God such grief that it is unforgivable.

[2] Incline Your ear, my God, to the tumult raised by those who "speak in arrogance against the Righteous One" [Ps 31:19]
and hear "the sound of uproar from the city" [Isa 66:6], and silence it with "outpoured fury" [Ezek 20:33]

The full texts of the verses here itself point to Qalir's meaning. Psalms 31:19 reads, "Let lying lips be stilled that speak haughtily against the righteous with arrogance and contempt." In many rabbinic interpretations of this verse, followed here by Qalir, "the righteous" is God. With his allusion to the first part of the verse, Qalir suggests that those speaking against God are liars. This could be a polemic against Christian theological claims.

Isaiah 66:6 reads in full, "Hark, the sound of uproar from the city, thunder from the Temple! It is the thunder of the Eternal as He deals retribution to His foes." Qalir is clearly alluding to the second half of this verse and the promise of justice to Israel's enemies, as is found in the midrash (Exodus Rabba  [Shinan] 9:9, Tanhuma Buber Vaera 15, Midrash Psalms 18:11.) These texts all identify Israel's enemy with Rome and its destruction of the Temple.

Ezekiel 20 speaks of the Jews' exile from the land as a time of purification, to be followed by a restoration to life in the land in right relationship with God. Thus, the second line of this stanza is messianic. The stanza as a whole may be read as a prayer for Divine retribution against Rome. 

[3] Incline Your ear, my God, to the (prophetic) messenger who was commissioned to say: "Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!" [Obad 1:1]
And hear the terrifying shrieks (as the enemy exclaimed): It is time to fight (God) in His own house.

Obadiah 1:1 reads "The prophecy of Obadiah: We have received tidings from the Eternal, and an envoy has been sent out among the nations: 'Up! Let us rise up against her for battle.' Thus said my Lord God concerning Edom." This predicts that in the future, all the nations will gather with God against Edom (Tanhuma Ki Tetze 4). Qalir adds that this will be in response to the blasphemy uttered by Rome in its decision to fight God in His own Temple (as Titus did). (Mateh Levi)

[4] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who "hatched a plot" [~Isa 8:10] and who "devised mischief, but could not prevail" [Ps 21:12].
and hear the talk of  those who "have conspired with one accord" [Ps 83:6] foolishly to think to ascend against You.

Isaiah 8:10 reads "Hatch a plot -- it shall be foiled; agree on action -- it shall not succeed. For God is with us!" The poet alludes to the failure of the plot against Israel. Ps 21:12 addresses this failure explicitly too. A midrash (Exodus Rabba 51:5) cites this verse in the context of discussing Hadrian's blasphemous behavior when he entered the Holy of Holies. It explains this by pointing out that David thought that such as he, if they were able, would build ladders and storm heaven itself. Because, as this verse indicates, they could not, they attacked Israel instead. Qalir apparently continues this allusion in the second half of the stanza, although his language does not appear in our received version of the midrash. Later commentaries on this qinah apply the first line to Titus instead of Hadrian, who when he cut through the curtain of the Holy of Holies and blood burst forth, thought he had killed himself (Mateh Levi, citing a version of the story of Titus found in Bamidbar Rabba 18:22, Tanhuma Huqat 1). 

No matter whether Qalir intended Hadrian or Titus, he is reflecting on the futility of any Roman hopes to benefit from desecrating the Temple. As desecration of the Temple Mount continued, first with the erection of a pagan temple, and then with Christian dumping of refuse there, Qalir's intent may not be purely historical.

[5] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who scorned and "set on fire the Temple of the Awe-Inspiring One" [Ps 74:7],
and hear (the voice of) those that blaspheme You, who have brought to silence "the voice of song and thanksgiving" [Isa 51:3].

A midrash, citing Ps 74:7,  suggests that the nations attack Israel because they cannot access God otherwise (Midrash Psalms (Buber) 64:1), thus continuing a theme embedded in the previous verse's allusion to Exodus Rabba 51:5.  Isaiah 51:3 is a verse of consolation, speaking of the joy of the restoration. Qalir's use of the verse for the opposite purpose is all the more powerful.

Mateh Levi suggests that this verse refers to those who entered the Temple on the 7th of Av and spent two days carousing there before setting it on fire, thus silencing the levitical song that accompanied Temple worship.

[6] Incline Your ear, my God, to "the mockers who reveled in their scoffing" [Prov 1:22],
and hear "all the abuse that they have flung at You" [Ps 79:12], and "cast Your terror upon them" [~Ex 15:16].

Ps. 79 is about the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. Verse 12 reads "Pay back [lit. return to the breasts of] our neighbors sevenfold for the abuse they have flung at You, O Lord." The midrash associates this variously with the Amalekites' mocking of the Israelite's circumcision (itself a midrashic motif, but perhaps an allusion to the Hadrianic persecutions too); with the destruction of the Temple; and with the Torah. (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 3:6 [Mandelbaum] and many parallels) All three possibilities lie at the physical center of the individual Jewish male, of the Land of Israel, or of the Jewish people. The inclusion of the Torah in this list is less frequent and not explained in any. Is it an allusion to Christian interpretations of this text?

[7] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who haughtily took the Cherubim out and dragged them along in the streets,
and hear the burden [~Isa 1:14] (they brought You) with their defilement, when they sacrificed swine on Your altar. 

According to the midrash, at the destruction of the First Temple, the Ammonites and Moabites entered the Temple, brought out the cherubim, and paraded them through Jerusalem, accusing the Jews of worshipping idols in the Temple. In response, God destroyed these nations completely. (Lamentations Rabba Proem 9, Pesikta D'Rav Kahana 19:1) 

The second half of the stanza apparently refers to Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt. That swine were sacrificed in the Temple itself appears only in one known midrash (Otzar Hamidrashim, ed. Eisenstein, Hanukkah, p. 190 = Beit Hamidrash, ed. Jellinek, I:137). Mateh Levi comments that if it burdened God when Israelites offered sacrifices without first repenting (Isa. 1:14), how much more so must it have burdened God for idolaters to have offered swine.

Is Qalir here also responding to pork-eating in Jerusalem and the casting of the refuse on the Temple mount?

[8] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who profaned and defiled the Holy of Holies,
and hear how the arrogant slung before You the circumcisions of the martyrs.

Alluding to the same midrash as in [6], here explicitly in the first verse to the destruction of the Temple, and in the second to the Amalekite's playing with the severed Jewish foreskins. (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 3:6 [Mandelbaum] and many parallels). Mateh Levi points instead to the midrashim alluded to in [4] and Titus' desecration of the Torah scroll, etc.,  in the Holy of Holies to explain the first line.

Is Qalir here also responding to Christian attitudes to circumcision?

[9] Incline Your ear, my God, to the strangers who spoke insolently: "Come let us fight Him in His own house,"
and hear the derision of the mockers who mock that "the Master is not in His House" [Prov 7:19].

The first line echoes the second half of the third stanza above. Two midrashic traditions apply the Proverbs verses in ways that may both be applicable here. One, found only in TB Sanhedrin 96b, gives this as the cry of the Ammonites and Moabites when they denounced the Jews to Nebuchadnezzar leading him to attack the First Temple. The other, found in the Midrash of the Ten Kings (Otzar Hamidrashim, ed. Eisenstein, p. 464) presents this as the call of Vespasian's henchmen at the destruction of the Second Temple. This text goes on to describe the desecrations that Titus, Vespasian's son, committed in the Holy of Holies, as in the traditions cited in [4].

Is Qalir here also responding to Christian claims that God has abandoned the Temple mount (and the Jews)?

[10] Incline Your ear, my God, to the one who says "I am and there is none beside me" [Isa 47:8, 10],
and hear the one who abuses and reproaches her [Israel], exalting herself to Your Throne itself.

Isaiah 47 speaks of the punishment that God will bring on Israel's persecutors, there the Babylonians, who think themselves untouchable in their sovereignty. The entire stanza is coherent with Isaiah's statement.

It is possible, though, that Qalir is applying this more to his contemporary situation, as without the Isaiac context, one can read these words as Byzantine Christian supersessionist claims. 

[11] Incline Your ear, my God, to to the mocker who derides [~Neh 2:19] us, "Why do you persist in hoping (for the Temple)? It will not be rebuilt!"
and hear the weeping of those who eulogize and rend (their garments) and yearn: "O when will it be rebuilt?"

Nehemiah 2:19 records the mocking words of non-Jews when they hear of Nehemiah's plans to rebuild the Temple. Nehemiah, of course, was successful. Transposed into Qalir's own day, these are the words of the Christians who had transformed the Temple Mount into a dung heap and for symbolic and theological reasons would not allow the Jews to rebuild it.

The language of eulogizing and rending garments refers to standard acts of mourning that were also part of the customs  of the Ninth of Av (Massekhet Soferim 18:9). The second stanza then also easily applies to those participating in the recitation of this poem. Qalir, thus, only here explicitly uses the second line of the stanza differently from the first line as a call to God to heed Israel's response to the loss of the Temples.

[12] Incline Your ear, my God, to those who say: "(The Temple) is deserted, forgotten and forsaken [~Isa 32:14, Jer 12:7], and it will be forever devastated."
and hear our cry and be zealous for our sake, and "cause Your face to shine on Your desolate Temple" [Dan 9:17].

The poet here reverses the voice of Jer 12:7, where God speaks of the destruction that He has brought about. Here, the gentiles use it as a proof, much in the way that Christians did historically, presenting Jews with prophetic reproofs as proof of their failures in God's eyes. As in the previous stanza, this statement that the Temple is permanently destroyed is a Christian claim that directly counters Jewish hopes. However, this verse also operates simultaneously on a different level, as most midrashic uses of Jer 12:7 focus on God's reference to Israel as "beloved" and build from this a messianic promise of restoration, including, sometimes, explicit discussions of the downfall of Rome (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana, Supplement Ch. 5 (Mandelbaum ed.).

Daniel 9:17, supplicating God to answer Israel's prayer and restore the Temple, immediately precedes the words "Incline Your ear, my God and hear" that set the framework for this entire poem. Daniel's prayer was indeed answered, and the Second Temple was subsequently built. Hence, there can be hope for the Third Temple too. This is Qalir's answer to the Christian claims.

While it cannot be stated with certainty that every line of this poem responds to Qalir's own early 7th century reality, a substantial percentage of the text not only bemoans the destruction of the Temple, but also calls for God to punish those who desecrated (and continue to desecrate it). The heirs of pagan Rome are the Byzantine Christian rulers, who mock Jewish dreams for the Temple as futile. The poem thus presents Qalir's non-Jewish neighbors, i.e., Christians, as those who are opposing Divine will, as the ultimate sinners in their blasphemy, not only in destroying the Temple, but in reveling in its destruction. In an era of overt Christian anti-Judaism, this served as an appropriate internal Jewish answer to Christian claims. Among traditional Jews today, the mourning for the Temple continues. However, as the Temple Mount has not been subject to such degradation since the seventh-century Arab conquest, substantial elements of this qinah must be read today within their historical setting. 

Bibliography

Abraham Rosenfeld, The Authorised Kinot for the Ninth of Av... (Israel, 1970), #22, pp. 124-5. 

Daniel Goldschmidt, Seder HaQinot L'tishah B'av (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1977), #21, pp. 80-82. 

Mateh Levi  and Beit Levi, in Seder Qinot Letishah B'av (Vilna, 5637/1877). 

Qol Berakhah, in Seder Qinot Letishah B'av (Bnei Brak, 5746/1986) [which largely recapitulates the commentary of Mateh Levi.]

Translation adapted from Abraham Rosenfeld, The Authorised Kinot for the Ninth of Av... (Israel, 1970), #22, pp. 124-5. Commentary by Ruth Langer