Solomon Ibn Gabirol (שחר אבקשך) – זמרת אנוש (שלמה אבן גבירול)

זמרת אנוש

…

song by Yehuda Shenef / יהודה שנף

based on the 11th century poem
שחר אבקשך
by Solomon ibn Gabirol

recorded 2026

.

שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶּשְׁךָ צוּרִי וּמִשְׂגַּבִּי
אֶעְרֺךְ לְפָנֶיךָ שַׁחְרִי וְגַם עַרְבִּי

לִפְנֵי גְדֻלָּתְךָ אֶעְמֹד וְאֶבָּהֵל
כִּי עֵינְךָ תִּרְאֶה כָל מַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבִּי

מַה זֶּה אֲשֶׁר יוּכַל הַלֵּב וְהַלָּשׁוֹן לַעְשׂוֹת
וּמַה כֹּחַ רוּחִי בְּתוֹךְ קִרְבִּי

הִנֵּה לְךָ תִּיטַב זִמְרַת אֱנוֹשׁ עַל כֵּן
אוֹדְךָ בְּעוֹד תִּהְיֶה נִשְׁמַת אֱלֹהַּ בִּי

.

Shlomo ben Yehuda Gabriel (also known as Solomon ibn Gabirol) lived in the 11th century (probably between 1022 and 1070) in Muslim-occupied Spain. He composed poems in his native Hebrew at the age of sixteen. Among his patrons was Shmuel ha-Nagid (993-1056), himself a significant Hebrew poet, whose son was crucified in the Muslim massacre of Granada in 1066. This was the first anti-Jewish pogrom on European soil, 30 years before the first Christian war, in which up to 4,000 Jews were murdered. It is possible that “Ibn Gabirol” also perished in this massacre. All that is known is that there is no further information about him after the 1060s.