A Liturgical Poem for the Sabbath Preceding Passover: Miracles that Occurred at Night

Greco-Roman Period
The following is a section of a poem composed by Yannai for the Sabbath preceding Passover. It is based on the Rabbinic view that “all the miracles which were wrought for Israel, and the punishment of the wicked on their behalf, took place in the night” (Numbers Rabbah 20-12). This particular section of Yannai’s composition has become so popular that it was incorporated into the Ashkenazic version if the Passover Haggadah for recitation on the first Seder night. The first letters of each line form a complete alphabetical acrostic; each line ends with the word “night.” The accompanying notes
show how heavily these poems rely on biblical allusions.

And so it came to pass l66 in the middle of the night.

It was then You worked many miracles at night.

At the beginning of the watches 167 on this night,

You gave victory to the convert 168 when

divided was the night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

You sentenced the king of Gerar 169 in a dream of the night

You terrorized the Aramean 170 in the yester night.

And Israel 171 with an angel fought and overcame him at night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

You crushed the firstborn seed of Pathros l72 in the middle of the night.

They found their strength gone when they rose at night.

The lord of Harosheth’s l73 host were levelled by the stars 174 of night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

The blasphemer 175 thought to ravage Your chosen; 176

You rotted his corpses l77 at night.

Bel 178 and his pedestal fell in the middle of the night.

To the greatly beloved man 179 was bared the

secret vision of night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

He who grew drunk from the sacred vessels 180

was slain 181 on that very night.

He who was saved from the lion’s den 182

interpreted dread dreams of night.

The Agagite nurtured hate, and wrote scrolls 183 at night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

You began to overpower him when sleep fled 184 at night.

You will trample down the winepress 185 for him 186

who asks, “Watchman, what of the night?”

He will sing out like a watchman, saying,

“The morning cometh and also the night. l87

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

O bring near the day that is neither day nor night. 188

O, Most High, announce, yours the day is, yours the night. 189

Set watchmen 190 to watch your city 191 all the day and all the night.

Brighten, like the light of day, the dark of night.

And so it came to pass in the middle of the night.

165. Trans. J. Sloan in, Heinemann and Petuchowski, Literature of the Synagogue, pp.
223-5. The footnotes, based on the commentary of E. D. Goldschmidt, are by N. N.
Glatzer, and appear in his edition of The Passover Haggadah (New York- Schocken
Books, 1953).

166. Cf. Ex. 12-29.

167. The night is divided into three watches.

168. Abraham, during the battle against the four kings (Gen. 14-15).

169. Abimelech, who “sent and took” Sarah after “Abraham said of Sarah, his wife- ‘She
is my sister’” (Gen. 20-2-3).

170. Laban, whom God told “yesternight” not to harm Jacob (Gen. 31-29).

171. Jacob whose name was changed to Israel (Gen. 32-29; Hos. 12-5).

172. Egypt. The firstborn sons were killed in the Tenth Plague (Gen. 10-14; Jer. 44-1).

173. Sisera, the Canaanite general who “dwelt in Harosheth-goiim,” and was defeated by
Deborah and Barak (Jud. 4-13).

174. “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera” (Jud. 5-20).

175. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who sent a messenger “to taunt the living God”
(Kings 19-4, 22).

176. Zion, the chosen city (Ps. 132-13).

177. “The angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians…” (2
Kings 19-35).

178. The idol in the book of Daniel.

179. Daniel to whom the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was revealed (Dan.
2-19).

180. Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, who “made a great feast for a thousand of his
lords” (Dan. 5-1) at which he drank from the vessels of the Temple in Jerusalem (Dan.
5-2-4).

181. Dan. 5-30.

182. Daniel (Dan. 6-20).