ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH

Talmud Suite – mvt #5

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Cypress Choral Music · Advent of the Messiah – Talmud Suite mvt 5 – by Sid Robinovitch

LYRICS

An enumeration of the woes which will precede the coming of the Messiah. Some scholars believe that this poem
alludes to events that actually happened at the time of the Hadrianic persecutions, after Bar Kochva’s unsuccessful
revolt (132-135 CE).

B’ikvot M’shichah
yoker ya-amir.
Hagefen titen piryah
v’hayayin b’yoker.
B’ikvot M’shichah
Chutspah yisgei,
v’chochmat sofrim tisrach
v’yirei chet yima-eisu.
B’ikvot M’shichah
haGalil yishom,
v’anshei hag’vul
y’sov’vu me-ir l’ir
v’lo y’chonanu.
B’ikvot M’shichah
n’arim p’nei z’keinim
yalbinu;
z’keinim ya-amdu
mipnei k’tanim.

Ben m’nabel av,
bat kamah v’imah
kala bachamotah.

Oivei ish anshei veito,
v’chamalchut tei-hafech l’minut
v’ein tochachat;
beit va-ad yiyeh liznut.

P’nei hador kifnei hakelev,
haben eino mitbayesh mei-aviv.
V’al mi yesh lanu l’hisha-ein?
Al Avinu shebashamayim.

Come the great Messiah
The cost of life will soar;
the vine will increase its fruit
yet our wine will cost ten times more.
Come the great Messiah
conceit will thrive,
and no one will believe
God-fearing men ever were alive.
Come the great Messiah
the Galil will decay,
and the people who live there
will roam about from town to town
with only their pain to bear.
When he comes – the sublime Messiah–
Youngsters will dishonour their elders;
they will disgrace them
and lead them to the grave.
Learned men will bow down
before crafty rogues,
before dishonest cads.

Sons have no sense of awe;
daughters repudiate all law;
and brides neglect their wifely chores.
Enemies are found at ev’ry turn.
The state will fall into mad villainy
and no one will care.
Our scholars will turn to whores.
Times are grim and times are ugly
when a son blasphemes
from the day he is born.
Then in whom can mortals have confidence?
In our Father who dwells in Heaven!

Notes on Pronunciation
In the transliteration of the Hebrew text, most of the sounds are pronounced as in English while taking note of the following:

– ch is pronounced as in Scottish loch, e.g. n’fachtah
– The apostrophe(‘) is used to indicate a reduced vowel similar to the e in courtesy, e.g. n’shamah
– Both a and ah are pronounced as in Italian, mano, e.g., atah
– ai as in sky, e.g. Elohai
– ei as in they, e.g. seifer
– e and eh as in tent, e.g., mimeni
– i as in feet, e.g., b’kirbi
– o as in for, e.g., t’horah