"Az Terem"—A Piyyut by Yochanan Hacohen: A Kedushtha for the Shavuʿot Festival Morning

This poem for the Shavuʿot Festival is constructed as a dialogue between a father (God) and his daughter (the Torah). The dialogue attempts to explain why the Torah was given to the people of Israel only 2448 years after the creation of the universe, although the Torah had existed for 2000 years before that. The poet Yochanan HaCohen claims that none of the forefathers of the nation (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) was fit to receive the Torah due to moral defects; only the meekest man, Moses, deserved to accept the Torah. This poem was composed in the seventh century during the transition period when Eretz-Israel was conquered by the Arabs from the Byzantines.