Emet ve-emunah (Truth and Faith)

Abraham Jacob Paperna

1863

There is a certain Ḥayah [angelic being] in the firmament, who bears the sign of truth upon its forehead during the daytime, whereby the angels know that it is day, and in the evening, it bears the sign of faith upon its forehead, whereby they know that it is night.

Truth and faith are as the moon is to the sun,
From times of yore they have been compared to each other.
Truth shines its light like the sun,
And as for faith—its face exults for joy like the moon.
Truth is as elevated above us as is the sun in its loftiness
But faith is as close to us as the moon.
It drops down healing and kindness, daily it disperses rays of life and brightness,
And for the moon which constantly longs for it,
It enwraps itself in a mantle of light, binding a headdress of purity,
And consecrates it to minister in its stead
To illuminate the earth, to banish its dark places.
So likewise does truth gaze out from the skies,
Dispensing precious light to the earth below,
With rays at her side for the yearning soul,
Bestowing of her glory upon her only sister,
Upon faith, that majestic sister of hers,
To serve in her stead in absent locations.
The sun and truth march on daily with strength
Around the earthly sphere with splendor, grandeur, and might;
The moon and faith proceed in darkness,
With torches in their hands to drive away the darkness of the night.
Let us go, I pray you, my brothers, toward the light of these two
Lest we be destroyed, and stumble, in the “night” of life!
The light of the moon and of faith are beneficial to the eyes,
The eye of flesh and spirit rejoices at the magnitude of their light;
But in the light of the sun in its position at noontide,
Every eye grows dim, becomes darkened by its fiery flame.
Such, alas, is the light of truth! We do not realize our lowliness,
We do not perceive the brightness of its rising—save through the thick darkness.
Many are our daily adversaries under the sun,
By its light we see only violence and slaughter,
Beleaguerment and distress and anguish that never depart;
But in the brightness of the moon there is eternal delight
In the shadow of the wings of sleep we find repose,
We do not see perversity, nor indeed the spread of violence.
They who see the light of truth, great is their suffering on earth,
Falsehood lurks on the outside, and a sufficiency within,
Causing hurt and pain until the onset of destruction.
But he who befriends faith shall blossom like the olive tree,
And in the shadow of innocence, tranquil and secure, he shall take refuge;
He shall experience neither mental confusion nor a shattering of his spirit.
The moon and faith are close to us,
Many are the sages of the world who have seen them, yea, examined them,
But the sun is too lofty for us,
And the generation yet to be born will not discover its source of light,
And wise men have grown weary over the past two thousand years
In the exploration of its wonders, but have met with no success.
Thus it is with truth, the sun of our spirit;
It lies concealed, alas, amidst the assembly of the heavenly hosts;
We toil and weary ourselves throughout our lives
To discover its pathways, but they remain hidden for eternity;
Hundreds of years have passed, yea, millennia have elapsed,
But the hiding places of truth have still to be laid bare.

Translated by
David E.
Cohen
.

Credits

Abraham Jacob Paperna, “Emet ve-emunah,” ha-Karmel (Vilna), vol. 3, no. 2 (July 25, 1862): 13, National Library of Israel Newspaper Collection, https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/hcl/1862/07/25/01/page/5.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Abraham Jacob Paperna

1840–1919

A poet and literary critic, Abraham Jacob (Avraham Ya‘akov) Paperna was born and raised in Kapyl, present-day Belarus, and embraced the Haskalah from an early age, though he came to observe the movement critically and allegorically in his writings. In the 1860s, he studied at rabbinical seminaries in Zhitomir and Vilna, and then spent his career teaching at the Jewish government school in Zakroczym, Poland, and at the government secondary school in Plock. An integral member of the Russian Haskalah, he wrote poems, both lyrical and satirical. Paperna died in Odessa, where he had fled during World War I.

Related Guide

Poetry, 1750–1880

Jewish poets throughout Europe and the Americas created in the languages of their native tongues. From folk-song lyrics to wedding riddles and synagogue hymns, poetry, even in translation, allows us access to voices and moments, particular and collective, that we would otherwise not hear. 

You may also like

Against Social Injustice

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan On the hill of Samaria— Who defraud the poor, Who rob the needy; Who say to your husbands, “Bring, and let’s carouse!” My Lord God swears by His…
View Source

The Cadi and the Jewish Merchant

Toward the end of the reign of Moulay Hassan, there was a cadi whose avarice was so great that he was likened to a tomb, for the tomb, ever receiving, never gives anything back. The cadi accepted…
View Source