Pijjūt

PIJJŪT. - Synagogal Hebrew poetry, cultivated by the "paytanim" (from ποιητής), largely liturgical, in which echo the biblical Psalms, the preceptive literature (v. HALAKHAH) and principally the midrashic narrative (v. HAGGADAH). The p. was born in Palestine, around the 5th or 6th century A.D., spread through the Babylonian diaspora and then throughout the entire diaspora, reached its period of greatest flourishing in Spain (750-1250); it continues to live, albeit modestly, to our own day.

According to Jehudah ben Barzilai of Barcelona (around 1100) and Samuel ben Jehudah ibn Aban of Fez (12th century, converted to Islam) the rise of the p. would have been due to religious persecutions. The p. would have been a composition sung al-hizana (Heb. hazanith, from hazan, originally supervisor of the boys during religious services, then official, and also dignitary of the community), unlike the ancient fundamental prayers (yala, in Aramaic yelota), recited and not sung. The p. developed under the influence of Arabic poetry and culture (after 635), adopting the use of the rhyme haraz, of rhythm and of the acrostic (called alfabetha) whose first elements are already found in biblical poetry. The melody that accompanies the p. is called no'am ("sweetness"), ta'am ("taste"), lahin (from the Arabic lahn, alhan) or niggun "melody". The meter, under Arabic influence, is called miqal "weight" (quantitative). Rahis "bolt", indicates a poetry that has as its frame words and hemistichs taken from the Bible; sometimes the Greek term δρόμος occurs. The final poetry is called sillaq (Aramaic selaq "to cease") or gemer ("completion").
The p. is fundamentally hymnic. Compositions of a penitential character are called selhoth (from sih "to forgive").

Among the "paytanim" should be remembered Jose ben Jose, called "the orphan", probably Palestinian (ca. 600-650), and his fellow countryman Jannai (ca. 700). The most popular is El'azar Qalir of Cariathsepher, who lived around 750. For all the days of the religious year he wrote short poems rich in artifice, in wordplay, as with the other "paytanim", with the polysemy of words, of biblical hapax legomena, of incessant allusions to texts of rabbinic literature. Among the imitators of Qalir should be numbered the gaonite Sa'adhjah ben Joseph (892-942), author of a rhyming dictionary (Agron), learned and not a poet. The first European paytan was Solomon ben Jehudah "the Babylonian" that is, of Rome (Babylon = Rome), 950-980. Other imitators: Kalonymos (v.) the "old", ca. 980, his son Kalonymos of Lucca and the latter's son Meshullam of Kalonymos. To Joseph ben Jishaq ibn Abitur, or ibn Santas (ca. 970), first representative of the p. in Spain, is spiritually akin Jishaq ben Jehudah ibn Gajath (d. 1089), rabbi of the community of Lucena. The compositions of Shim'on ben Jishaq ben Abun of Mainz (ca. 1000) were widespread in Germany and France. Rabbenu Gershom ben Jehudah, the "luminary of the exile" (around 1000), was called ba'al has-shem ("master of the Name") because he often treats of the various divine names. Joseph ben Shelomoh of Carcassonne (1st half of the 11th century) is the first among the "paytanim" to have drawn on the Sefer jesirah.

From 1050 onward the selhah, a penitential composition, prevails. To this epoch belongs the French "paytan" Elijah of Menachem. Among the authors of selhoth was famous Elijah ben Shema'jah of Bari, endowed with great sensitivity and at times original. In Germany Me'ir ben Jishaq is known. Rashi was also an author of p. The sad events of 1096 (1st Crusade) make the content of the synagogal poetry of that time exceedingly sad. Modest in bulk, but rich in profound piety is the poetic work of Bahja (v.) ibn Paquda. Distinguished synagogal poets were Shelomoh ibn Gebirol (v. AVICEBRON), Moses and Abraham ibn 'Ezra', Judah Halevi (v.). A famous "paytan" was Israel Nagara (16th century) belonging to the cabalistic milieu of Safed, author of the well-known Sabbath hymn Lekhah dodi ("Come, my beloved").

Eugenio Zolli