Behold the Lord, my soul, lookup to Him

Joseph Tsarfati

Early 16th Century

Behold the Lord, my soul, look up to Him
Who made you, give Him worship due,
Lest you be lost when He be wroth with you—
For your sin, O wayward one, your grievous sin.
On wisdom’s wing, ascend to realms of light,
And let your gleaming lamp the dark undo.
But think that man not fit to tie your shoe
Who finds in earthly pleasures his delight.
The intellect will lift you out of hell
And get you grace and blessing from the Lord—
Why should you be in doubt, why feel alone?
The merest taste of Eden will excel
The pleasures this age, this world can afford,
This wicked world where for a time you roam.

Translated by
Raymond P.
Scheindlin
.

Credits

Joseph Tsarfati, “Behold the Lord, My Soul, Look up to Him” (poem, Rome, early 16th century) [Hebrew]. Published in: Mivḥar ha-shirah ha-ʻivrit be-Italyah= Anthologie der hebräischen Dichtung in Italien, ed. Jefim Schirmann (Berlin: Schocken, 1934), 232.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Joseph Tsarfati

d. 1527

Joseph ben Samuel Tsarfati, also known as Giuseppe Gallo, was a physician, poet, mathematician, and linguist. Tsarfati lived in Rome and attended to a highly fashionable clientele, including cardinals. The pope extended to Tsarfati the same privileges that his father had been accorded, including the right to treat Christian patients, an exemption from wearing the Jewish badge, and papal protection. Tsarfati hosted David ha-Reuveni during the latter’s stay in Rome (1524–1525). Tsarfati wrote many poems, three of which were published in his lifetime, as well as a translation of Fernando de Rojas’s La Celestina into Hebrew, of which only his introductory poem has survived. He died during the Sack of Rome in 1527.

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