VaYe'ehav Omen ()This piyyut is also known as the Kerovot for Purim (), or the kerovaytz/krovetz for Purim () . The latter is derived from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the former. is a Hebrew piyyut recited during the repetition of the Amidah (known as a kerovah) on Purim, composed by Eleazar beRabbi Qallir the seventh century CE. The recitation of this piyyut was widespread during the period of the Cairo Genizah, in which many copies were discovered. The piyyut arrived in Europe and entered the Ashkenazi nusach, in which it was recited during Shacharit of Purim. Following the loss of prominence of piyyutim in the Ashkenazi rite, many communities no longer recite this piyyut. Nonetheless, it remains widely printed in siddurim.
The piyyut focuses primarily on the story of the Book of Esther, primarily based on Rabbinic midrash relating to the book. The language of the piyyut is characteristic of Qallir. Several words are used to allude to sections of the Book of Esther or midrash. His unique and innovative style includes shortening words (e.g. "הֶגֶן הנגזר" from "הגונה", or "חַל" from "חילל"), attaching pronominal letters to verbs (e.g. כְּחָז as a short form of "כאשר חזה"), and a preference to use literary epithets instead of proper names (e.g., referring to Mordecai as אוֹמֵן, "stepfather," based on Esther 2:7).
The poem rhymes and has a complex structure, containing an acrostic of the composer's full name (), an alphabetical acrostic, and two entire verses from the Book of Esther, where a single word of each appears in each stanza in order. Each of the eighteen verses corresponds to one of the Eighteen Benedictions of the Amidah.
That no verse corresponds to the blessing "" in the Amidah is unsurprising, since this prayer was considered to be part of the Boneh Yerushalayim () prayer in Eretz Israel during the time of the composition of the piyyut. This fact was not always known historically, however, leading to various interpretations of the omission in later Ashkenazi rabbinic literature.
An expanded version of the piyyut was found in some copies of the piyyut found in the Cairo Genizah, which include additional verses in each stanza. These additional verses are written in a simpler style than the main verses, and therefore are probably not part of the original poem. The extra portions were likely added to the kerovah by the author in a later revision, resulting in two distinct versions. The two versions serve as a tool for researchers to analyze different styles of the author's work. In Birkat HaMinim, several long piyyutim were added to the kerovah, but their origins remain unknown.
Historical background The piyyut VaYe'ehav Omen was written in the Land of Israel, during the Byzantine period. The original purpose of the piyyut during this milieu was to diversify and expand on public prayer, and to offer the Hazzan poetic additions to the prosaic prayers. Special piyyutim were also written and added to prayer services on holidays and special religious events (for example, brit milah, fasts or wedding days). These poems typically include content related to these days.
The piyyutim intended for the repetition of the Amidah prayer are called "kerovot" (singular: kerovah). Since the Amidah prayer, on weekdays, consists of eighteen blessings, each with its own concluding signature verse, the structure of the kerovot designed for the Amidah prayers on weekdays includes eighteen sections, one for each blessing. In this way, the fixed wording of the first blessing (Blessing of the Fathers) was replaced with the first section of the piyyut, followed by the signature of the blessing "Blessed are You, O God, the Shield of Abraham." The second section is then said, instead of the fixed wording of the second blessing, followed by the signature of the blessing, and so on until the end of the prayer. This was done so that the sections of the prayer whose recitation was halakhically obligatory (mainly the signatures of the blessings of the Amidah concluding each verse) were left intact.
Special kerovot were also written for Purim, dealing with topics related to the holiday. Since Purim is halakhically defined as a weekday when the Amidah prayer is recited, the kerovot are of the 18-verse type. The remains of at least seven kerovot for Purim were discovered in the Cairo Genizah, but the kerovah VaYe'ehav Omen is the most well-known. Several copies of it were discovered in the Genizah (although the most common kerovah in the Genizah is actually a different one), but the kerovah before us received its fame from becoming a permanent part of the Purim prayer in the Ashkenazic nusach. As a result, it remains in the printed editions of the Purim prayer book and has been the subject of many commentaries.
Language and rhyme The language of the piyyut is a faithful representation of the enigmatic Qaliri style, known to characterize many of the works of Rabbi Elazar HaQalir. This kerovah is sometimes even cited as a preeminent example of this style. Shulamit Elizur lists several factors that characterize the style of the kerovah: the use of certain words to allude to entire sections of the Midrash or Megillah; its poetic language, which includes the innovation of verbs and nouns, the extensive use of abbreviated forms (examples: הֶגֶן derived from "הגונה", "נֶשֶׁם" as an abbreviation for "נשמה," and חַל instead of "חילל") and the affixing prepositional letters to verbs (for example, כְּחָז as an abbreviation for "כאשר חזה"); and the preference for the use of epithets to allude to characters, rather than using their names. All of these characteristics are expressed extensively in the kerovah (and in many Qaliri piyyutim). The use of epithets in the piyyut is very extensive in particular: Shalom Spiegel lists 75 epithets in the basic version, including ten different names for Mordechai (in the first two stanzas: Stepfather, Lion son of a Wolf, Myrrh).
The rhyme in the piyyut conforms to the strict rhyming rules of the classical piyut, called the "Qaliri rhyme" by Benjamin Harshav. These rules require in principle the identity of two of the root consonants between the rhyming words. In this rhyming scheme, similar consonants are permitted to rhyme with each other in some cases, mainly guttural consonants (אהח"ע).
Poetic structure
The poem is notable for containing many intricate patterns within it. The first word of each stanza forms the verse Esther 2:17, and the first words of the sixth line of each stanza forms the verse Esther 8:15. The first letters of lines 2-5 and the first letters of the second words of the first lines each form an alphabetic acrostic, missing the letters צ-ת. The first letter of the second word on the sixth line (i.e., after the words forming Esther 8:15) acrostically spell the composer's name ().
Extended version The manuscripts found in the Cairo Geniza contain many copies of the piyyut VaYe'ehav Omen, and in some of them it appears in an expanded version that includes additional verses that do not appear in the European versions. In the Geniza version, instead of one verse for each blessing of the Amidah, each blessing contains an additional four-line verse that is concatenated to the end of the main verse.It may be the case that the extra versions were meant to be sung by a choir, while the main verses were sung by the Hazzan. The fourth line in each of the additional sections is a verse from the Bible that begins with the name of God, deals with the subject of the blessing, and then moves on to the conclusion of the prayer. The expanded version creates an additional signature of the name of the poet: אלעזר הודיה מקרית ספר, i.e. "Elazar Hodiya"Hodyia" and "Yehuda" appear as part of HaQalir's name in numerous poems. Their meaning is not fully understood. from Qiryat SeferWhile there is a consensus that Qallir lived in Eretz Israel, the meaning of this toponym is not known definitively. Scholars have suggested that Qiryat Sefer may refer to Tiberias (, ) or Sepphoris ." known from other piyyutim.
The stylistic difference between the expanded verses and the main verses is striking. and they are characterized by simpler language. Although the expanded verses remain abstruse, they lack the complicated poetic forms that are found in the main verses and have a reduced reliance on the Midrash. The rules of rhyme are also less strict, and there is no strict requirement for two identical root consonants.
Shulamit Elizur has dealt with the relationship between the two versions of the kerovah, the short and the extended. She concludes that the short version, found in the European tradition and in some fragments from the Genizah, is the original version written by the poet. The evidence for this is mainly the significant stylistic differences that do not allow us to assume that the main and secondary verses were written together. In addition, the care taken to end the main verses with language that reflects the conclusion of the corresponding blessing of the Amidah indicates that the blessing's conclusion came immediately after it. She raises the possibility that the minor verses were written by a later poet, whose style differs from that of Qalir, but ultimately rejects this possibility. Poets are known to have written in more than one style, and even the Qalir one has several poetic styles. Additionally, the expanded verses are signed with his name in an acrostic. However, due to the simpler style of the expanded, Elizur speculates that they were written as a later expansion of the basic text, probably for recitation in a synagogue with a choir.
Lack of verse corresponding to "Tzemakh David" Each verse of the Piyyut VaYe'ehav Omen corresponds to one of the eighteen original benedictions of the Amidah, which were recited in Eretz Israel during the time of the composition. Consequently, there was no verse added for the Amidah prayer, Tzemakh David (; also known by its conclusion, ) which was then considered to be part of the prayer Boneh Yerushalayim (). Indeed, Rabbi Isaiah di Trani wrote as much in his commentary on Tractate Ta'anit."וטעמא דמלתא שהיו כוללים של דוד בבונה ירושלים. וכך אתה מוצא בקריבות שנתקנו על ח"י ברכות בפורים וביום הושענא ובי"ז בתמוז ובי' בטבת, הוא כולל של דוד בבונה ירושלים" (תוספות הרי"ד, מסכת תענית, י"ג ע"א) Similar explanations were given by later commentaries of the Vilna Gaon,שנות אליהו, מסכת ברכות, פרק ד', משנה ג'. of Rabbi Moses Margolies, and of Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim. This explanation was confirmed explicitly by discoveries in the Cairo Geniza, where prayer books of the Eretz-Israel tradition were found with only eighteen benedictions.
In the Ashkenazi tradition, where the recitation of the kerovah has remained, many have understood the lack of a verse corresponding to Tzemakh David as a deliberate omission by the composer, and have tried to understand the reason. The Hasidic Rabbi Abraham Klausner wrote that the reason the poet did not create a verse for Tzemakh David was based on the fact that Mordecai was the son of Yair, son of Shimei ben Gera, the latter of whom was killed by David's command. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to include a verse for the prayer relating to David's kin. Similarly, many others, primarily adherents of the Hasidic movement, wrote that Mordechai was a descendant of King Saul, who fought against and lost his kingdom to David, and therefore it is not appropriate add a piyyut praising Mordecai onto a blessing intended for David. Others argue that since the conflict against Haman was part of the war against Amalek, and the main focus of this conflict involves Rachel's children and not the tribe of Judah, and therefore David does not relate to Mordechai's war with Haman.