Miqdash me'at / The Little Temple

In the name of the True Helper, may He be blessed and exalted.    Ideas—their number, sum, and total count—        are graven on the lofty throne, in God's own shadow.    Two roots or three of every science I    have gathered from the fields and topmost boughs    and made of them a book, that it may be    a myrrh-sachet to lie between my breasts.

PART 1 The Entrance Hall

Canto 1, containing a prayer for the unique activity; the author's apology for his inadequacy; the causes that stand in the way of success in his time; the name of the book and its parts; and other things that authors have long been accustomed to write in their prefaces.

1     Locus-of-All, Exalted-above-All,        who dwells in mystery, O First and Last:        Be now my rock and fortress, be my shelter;

        give my hands strength as I begin my song,5     as now to You on high I lift my eyes        and spread my palms before the Holy Ark.

        For none is left to cense your inner chamber,        make peace among the people, stir up love,        none skilled to win Your favor for my folk,

10     no prophet with a mind refined of sin,        who apprehends the Lord by His own name,        his soul fixed on the mine whence it was hewn.

        I turn today like a poor mendicant        acknowledging his sins, making his plea15     for what he yearns for most, his heart's desire,

    and set my mind, like one who contemplates        the course his life's to take, upon a lofty plan.        I whet my intellect and brace myself

        to make a book out of the sciences20     established by the ancients and arranged        to be their monument after their death.

        When they composed their words of pearl, they left        eloquence as my sphere, that I might crown        their thoughts with verse, in forms they never dreamed.

25     I pray these verses please my God on high        and these my youths who follow me, who heed        my every word in quest of precious things,

          as now I consecrate my senses five        and purify my thoughts as if with lye30     to build a house among the holy for my fame.

        For I have seen among the Christian folk        a book whose themes are all imagination,        and I have made a covenant with its style.

        Had their tongue suffered exile as has mine35     by God's decree, their silly fantasies        never could have been composed in verse.

        O best among the Jewish people, hear me!        If intellect or eloquence fall short,        recall the doctrine of Maimonides,

40     who took a maxim most enlightening        from the Philosopher's extenuation,        an axiom the wise should keep in mind:

        No one should criticize a mortal man        who strives for truth, according to his wit,45     for holding back from wisdom's mysteries.

        Nor should a man be thought presumptuous,        if, seeking lofty things beyond his grasp,        he reaches only part and not the whole.

        For five impediments are in his way:50     the matter's subtlety and depth;        the seeker's weaknesses in reasoning;

        the lengthy chain of premises he needs—        learning's ladder leading to the goal,        the object that his mind desires to grasp.

55     Next, the training of his character,        that he not be deflected from that moderation        indispensable, in men, for intellection.

        And, finally, concern with food and wealth,        even when moderate, not overdone—60     and all the more, should he exceed just measure.

        Further, in our time there is the weight        of war and hate, so harsh and so oppressive—        to overcome the five seems nearly hopeless.

    For while the sun has caused its sphere to turn65     some seven times, conforming to its course,        the thought has come to mind...