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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ALPHABET OF BEN SIRA: THE BIRTH, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "as it is written, he doeth great things past finding out" Last Line: Meat oil & wine & she nourished him Subject(s): "ben Sira (hebrew Scribe, 2d Century Bc);jews;mysticism - Judaism;" Judaism | |||
As it is written HE DOETH GREAT THINGS PAST FINDING OUT, YEA, MARVELOUS THINGS WITHOUT NUMBER (Job 9.10.) Now see how great are the deeds of the Holy One Be Blest for if it says HE DOETH GREAT THINGS PAST FINDING OUT why should it say MARVELOUS THINGS WITHOUT NUMBER & if it says MARVELOUS THINGS WITHOUT NUMBER why should it say HE DOETH GREAT THINGS PAST FINDING OUT? What does it mean? And so our wise men may their memory be blest explained: HE DOETH GREAT THINGS PAST FINDING OUT why this pertains to all the works of creation & MARVELOUS THINGS WITHOUT NUMBER why this pertains to those three born without their mothers lying with a man. And those three were Ben Sira & Rav Papa & Rabbi Zira: all of them total saints & all great wise men. And this is what they say about them. First about Rav Papa & Rabbi Zira: that in all their lives they never carried on an idle conversation: that they never slept in the study house no not even for a cat nap: that no man ever got down to the study house before them nor ever found them sitting quietly but rather sitting studying: that no day passed but that they made it holy & never did they gossip about friends & never did they profit by a friend's misfortune never did friends curse them on their death beds & never did they look upon a crucifix & never took a bribe: for they were like a sturdy mast fulfilling what was written LEADING THOSE WHO LOVE ME & FILLING UP THEIR TREASURES. (Proverbs 8.21.) And how did it happen that their mothers should have given birth without a husband? Here they say: one time they went down to the bath house & a seed of Israel went up into their holes & they were pregnant & they gave birth but the children never knew who was their father. But Ben Sira did know who his father was & how his mother gave birth without a man to do the man's thing. This is what they say about her: she was the daughter of the prophet Jeremiah & once when Jeremiah went to the bath house he spied some rough trade from the tribe of Ephraim all of whom were beating out their own seed making waste of it but the whole tribe of Ephraim in that generation was full of such as these as written: HE HAS DONE THE EVIL THING IN GOD'S EYE. And when Jeremiah saw them he began to call them down & they immediately moved in on him they said: WHY SHOULD YOU CALL US DOWN LIKE THAT? LONG LIVE THE WAY OF BEERSHEBA. And they said: WE WON'T LET YOU GO FROM HERE UNTIL YOU DO IT JUST LIKE US. He said: JUST LET ME BE I SWEAR TO YOU I'LL KEEP IT SECRET. But they said back to him: DIDN'T ZEDEKIAH SEE NEBUCHADNEZZAR EAT A LIVING RABBIT & DIDN'T HE SWEAR TO HIM BY GOD'S DECREE HE'D KEEP IT SECRET & DIDN'T HE THEN GO & BREAK HIS OATH? AND YOU WOULD TOO. BUT NOW IF YOU JUST DO LIKE US WE'LL LET YOU GO BUT IF YOU DON'T WE'LL SODOMIZE YOU LIKE OUR FATHERS DID IT IN THEIR WEIRD RELIGIONS & IF THEY DID THAT MUCH IN THEIR WEIRD RELIGIONS WE'LL DO IT EVEN MORE ON YOU. He was so frightened then so fearful that he did it right off just as they had said but then as soon as he had gotten out of there he cursed his day the way it's written CURSED BE THE DAY WHEN I WAS BORN (Jeremiah 20.12) & went off & fasted 248 fasts one for each part of a man's body. But a drop of this very saint remained until the daughter of this very saint went to the bath house & it got into her hole & after seven months she bore a son equipped with teeth & talking. Once she gave birth she felt ashamed: people she felt would think that she had come to it by whoring. But then the child opened his mouth he said to his mother: WHY DO YOU FEEL ASHAMED FOR PEOPLE? Then he told her: I AM SIRA'S SON. She said to him: WHO IS THIS SIRA? He told her: JEREMIAH. And she asked: WHY CALL HIM SIRA? He said: BECAUSE HE IS A SIRE ABOVE ALL SIRES A PRINCE ABOVE ALL PRINCES: IT IS HE WILL GIVE HIS NAME TO EVERY PRINCE & KING BECAUSE WHEN YOU COUNT UP SIRA & JEREMIAH BY GEMATRIA THEY COME OUT EQUAL. Then she said to him: MY SON SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE BETTER SAID I AM A SON OF JEREMIAH? He said to her: I WOULD HAVE SAID IT BUT THE THOUGHT WAS TOO REPUGNANT SAYING THAT JEREMIAH COVERED HIS OWN DAUGHTER. She said to him: MY SON ISN'T THERE A PROVERB THAT WHAT HAS BEEN IS WHAT WILL BE? (Ecclesiastes 1.9.) YET WHO EVER SAW A DAUGHTER PREGNANT FROM HER FATHER? He said to her: O MOTHER NOTHING IS NEW UNDER THE SUN: AS LOT WAS EVERY INCH A SAINT SO WAS MY FATHER & AS WHAT WAS DONE TO LOT WAS DONE BY FORCE SO WAS IT TO MY FATHER. She said to him: YOU FRIGHTEN ME. HOW DO YOU KNOW THESE THINGS? He said to her: DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED BY ME BECAUSE NOTHING IS NEW UNDER THE SUN. LOOK AT MY FATHER JEREMIAH THIS IS WHAT HE DID TOO WHEN HIS OWN MOTHER BENT TO HEAR HIM YES HE OPENED UP HIS MOUTH HE CALLED HIS FATHER FROM THE BELLY OF HIS MOTHER & SAID I won't come out until they tell me what my name is. THEN HIS FATHER OPENED HIS MOUTH HE SAID: Get out your name is Abraham. HE SAID: That's not my name. HE SAID TO HIM: Your name is Isaac Jacob IN THAT ORDER NAMING ALL THE TRIBES & ALL THE FIGURES OF THAT GENERATION BUT HE SAID That's not my name. UNTIL ELIJAH MAY HIS MEMORY BE BLEST PASSED BY HE SAID: Your name will be called Jeremiah which is Yirmiyahu which is God Will Lift for in your days the Holy One Be Blest will raise an enemy & he will lift his hand against Jerusalem. HE SAID TO HIM: That really is my name & you because you said my name my name will be like yours Elijah which is Eliyahu I will take the Yahu from it for my name of Yirmiyahu which is Jeremiah. AND JUST AS HE CAME OUT SPEAKING I CAME OUT SPEAKING JUST AS HE CAME OUT PROPHESYING FROM THE BELLY OF HIS MOTHER AS THE SAYING GOES: Before I made you in the belly I did know you (Jeremiah 1.5) SO I CAME OUT PROPHESYING. AS HE CAME OUT FROM THE BELLY OF HIS MOTHER WITH A NAME SO I CAME OUT FROM THE BELLY OF MY MOTHER WITH MY NAME. AS HE MADE A BOOK AROUND THE "ALFA-BETA" SO I WILL MAKE A BOOK AROUND THE "ALFA-BETA." SO DON'T BE FRIGHTENED BY MY WORDS. She said to him: MY SON DON'T BRAG THE EVIL EYE MAY OVERPOWER YOU. He said to her: THE EVIL EYE WOULD HAVE NO CAUSE TO OVERPOWER ME SO NOW DON'T GO ON SPEAKING ABOUT ME BECAUSE I'M ONLY DOING WHAT MY FATHER DID. THERE IS A SAYING ABOUT ME THAT AS A SHEEP FOLLOWS A SHEEP A SON'S DEEDS FOLLOW ON HIS FATHER'S. (Talmud: Ketubot.) She said to him: MY SON WHY WOULD YOU STOP MY SPEAKING? He said to her: BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT I'M HUNGRY BUT HAVEN'T GIVEN ME TO EAT. She said: HERE ARE MY BREASTS FOR YOU FOR EATING & FOR DRINKING. He said: NO NO I DO NOT CRAVE YOUR BREASTS GO INSTEAD & SIFT FLOUR FIND A CHICKEN KNEAD FRESH BREAD GET MEAT & OIL & OLD WINE & COME EAT WITH ME. She said to him: HOW CAN I BUY THESE THINGS? He said to her: MAKE CLOTHES & SELL THEM SO THE VERSE WILL BE FULFILLED THROUGH YOU: a sheet she made & sold (Proverbs 31.24) & IF YOU NOURISH ME FOR A YEAR THE OTHER VERSES WILL BE FULFILLED THROUGH YOU: many a valiant daughter but you above them all. (Proverbs 31.29.) So she began to make clothes & sell them & she brought him bread & meat oil & wine & she nourished him a year. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest... |
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