Do not be rash — Do not let words come out of your mouth before Him in His house rashly. And let your heart not be quick — unless you understand them, for the heart is as if it were lost and straying after worldly engagements. Thus the anointed of the LORD said: Your servant has found it in his heart (II Samuel 7:27). And know that God stands over you and sees you and years your words, for He is in heaven in the highest of the high heights, and you are on earth, and nothing is lower than you. Thus let your words be little so as not to endanger yourself, like the high priest on the Day of Atonement who would pray a short prayer (M. Yoma 5:1) and leave.

Abraham the author said: behold, I have started to speak! Since the honor of the Place fills every place, and nobody can be on guard in every place, a fixed place was set for one's prayer, and he must honor it. Also, a person must thank and praise his God every minute, for His mercy is with him at all instances of each minute, to enliven him to enjoy his senses. Since a person is engages in worldly engagements, a time was set for him to pray, and these known times are evening and morning and afternoon; for anyone who has eyes knows the time of sunrise, the time of azimuth, and the time of sunset. Thus a person must pray, to guard the openings of his mouth and think with his heart that he stands before the King, whose hand grants life and death. Thus it is forbidden for a man to pray and enter into his prayer poems whose meaning he doesn't know, nor should he rely on the author's original intent — for no man does not sin — or the copiers sinned.

And a general rule I will state — there are in the poems of Rabbi Eliezer haKalir, may he rest in glory, four difficulties. The first thing is that most of his poems are riddles and allegories. And I will use one of his poemsnote as an example — and it is: לראי יקפיל, וחדשים יכפיל, ליום זה פור הפיל, ומציון ימלוך Some interpret that the first word has a yod (ליראי) which would refer to the Messiah — before whom He will fold (יקפיל) the earth. וחדשים יכפיל would mean that He would halve the months of the year and speed his coming. But some say that it is without a yod (לראי), which means it is about taking away — as in "See(ראי)your way in the valley" (Jeremiah 2:23). וחדשים יכפיל — to remove. These are the new (חדשים) images that recently came.

And the wise of the generation interpret: לראי יקפיל —that God will remove the heavens, which are compared to a cast mirror (ראי). And וחדשים יכפיל — these are the new heavens. But this is also incorrect, for there is only one possible meaning of it in that case: God will remove the mirror and double the new mirror. Maybe they're really thick — twice as thick — so it's hard to strike them!note Should a person say "no animal is as wise as a wild ass," since a wild ass refers to a man, as is written and a wild-ass onager is born a man (Job 11:12)? Or should he say "happy is the people who worships fire and bows to the sun" since fire is the glorious and awesome Name as is written for the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a zealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24), as is the sun as is written for sun and shield is the LORD (Psalm 84:12)? Certainly, since those are written without a kaph, unlike strong like a mirror (Job 37:18). So the verse only compared the heavens to a mirror because mirrors are so strong! Should a person pray "Blessed are You, o Lion" since it is found regarding the Place "like a lion He will roar" (Hosea 11:10)? Will that seem good in the LORD's eyes? And why not learn from Solomon? For none was as wise as him after him; and behold, his prayer that he prayed (I Kings 8:22-53) is known, and all who know the holy tongue understand it, without riddles or allegories. And so too the prayer of Daniel (Daniel 9:4-19) who loosened knotty problems (Daniel 5:12). Behold, they only prayed with understandable matters, and they were wise. All the more so, one who prays for many people, many of whom are not wise! Thus all prayer for weekdays and holidays that the Early Sages ordained are without riddles and allegories. And what is the meaning of saying that God would double the new heavens? Will there be two heavens?

And to say of the Place ליום זה פור הפיל — "For this day He cast lots" is incorrect; for one who sets up lots does not know the outcome. And he ought to have fled from the phrase "he cast lots" since you can only find it in the context of an enemy (Esther 3:7). And what's more, after God removes the heaven and earth, how will He מציון ימלוך — reign from Zion? That's part of the earth!

One of the sages of the generation answered and said, that to rhyme with יקפיל he needed to say פור הפיל. I responded to him, that we never find the prophets in all of their prayer engaging in rhyme! And what's more, he could have used another rhyme! Why ride on an elephant, and then throw it down to the ground?note And if he saw in a dream that he had to make a rhyme with פיל, and then was complled upon waking to effectuate the dream, he could sayלוחץ יעפיל, להתנשא יפיל, ורמי לב ישפיל, ומציון ימלוך — "The oppressor He will endarken, the haughty He will throw down, the self-righteous He will cast down, and from Zion He will reign."

And the second thing, is that his poems are mixed with Talmudic language. And it is known that there are many languages in the Talmud, not all of which are the Holy Tongue. And thus they said, the language of Scripture is itself and the language of Talmud is itself (Avodah Zarah 58b:4). And who brought upon us this stress, to pray in foreign languages? Didn't Nehemiah rebuke those speaking Ashdodian (Nehemiah 13:24)? All the more so praying in it! And why not learn from the set prayers, which are entirely written in pure words of the Holy Tongue? And why would we pray in the languages of Media and Persia and Christendom and Islam?

And the third thing, even the words which are in the holy tongue have great mistakes in them, as inאנסיכה מלכי לפניו. This matter is found herein — ואני נסכתי מלכי as for me, I established my King(Psalm 2:6). But that is in the qal form, in the structure of נפלתי "I fell" and נדרתי "I vowed," so the future form is אסוך or אנסוך "I will establish", as in אפול "I will fall" or אדור "I will vow." And from the causative form of הפיל "he made to fall," the future is אפיל "I will make to fall," and thus הסיך "he made a libation" becomes אסיך or אנסיך "I will make a libation" when the nun appears, as in ולנפיל ירך to make the thigh fall (Numbers 5:22). Thus, the interpretation of אנסיכה מלכי would be "I will make him into a libation" — as in let me not make a libation of their bloody libations (Psalm 16:4). And some interpret נסכתי מלכי as "I anointed," but if that interpretation is true, there is a mistake.note Secondly, why not say "I will exalt my King" or "I will praise and thank" or "I will sanctify?" He wanted a word that would show off his wisdom to those listening!

And we are required to know the grammar of the language well, so as not to err, like blessing in the grace after meals with זְנֵנוּ, because they didn't know that זְנֵנוּ comes from the root of זנה (whore after) — just as עֲנֵנו is from ענה — and not from זן, Rather, that would be זוּנֵנוּ, just as in Return us(שׁוּבֵנוּ), God of our salvation (Psalm 85:5).

And there are times where he uses צו as a past-tense, though it is an imperative, as many say on fast-days: "that the humble one entreated שֶחָל Your face." Now it is known that the שֶ is equivalent to the relativizer, as is written that which was is that which will be (Eccl. 1:9). But חל is a future-tense imperative, as in Entreat(חל), please the face of the LORD(I Kings 13:6). More correct would be to say שֶׁחִלָּה, as in "he entreated the face of the LORD" (II Chronicles 33:12).

And what's more, the Holy Tongue in the hand of Rabbi Eliezer (may he rest in Eden) is an open city without a wall, for he makes masculine words feminine and vice versa. He saysnote, שושן עמק אויימה "A frightened lily of the valley." And it is known that the the hei in the word שושנה indicates it's feminine, and when in construct form it's written with a tav — "שושנת העמקים" lily of the valleys (Song of Songs 2:1). When the hei or tav is dropped it is masculine, as in צדקה versus צדק. So how is the שושן lily (male) — אויימה frightened (female)? And why did he flee from the verse and say שושנת עמק אויימה? And what's more, how is a lily described as frightened? Are lilies known for being fearful? What other adjectives for lilies but "cut," "fresh," or "dry?"

One of the sages of the generation said: "he had to say אויימה to make the rhyme richnote. I responded, if this is a rich rhyme, them many of his poems are so poor they're begging door-to-door! He paired the hei הר with the ḥet of נבחר! If that's because both are guttural letters, he should also rhyme aleph and 'ayin with them! And regarding bet and vav — for he rhymes לוי with נביא — he should also rhyme mem and pei with them! There should be five kinds of rhyming for the five phonetic points of articulation! If his reasoning for pairing hei and ḥet is that they look similar when written, he should pair resh and dalet. In fact, we see דעואל (Numbers 1:14) and רעואל (Numbers 2:14), דודנים (Genesis 10:4) and רודנים (I Chronicles 1:7). He ought to pair משפטים with פתים, since they have the same points of articulation — and the ṭet is found in place of tav in words like נצטדק, הצטיידנו, and ויצטירו. And he paired ויום with פדיון and עליון, which is also not correct. Even though we find mem and nun interchanged — as in חיין (Job 24:22) and חטין (Ezekiel 4:9), how can the mem of יום, a root letter, be paired with the nun of פדיון and עליון, which are from עלה and פדה, and thus not a root letter? And what's more, why rhyme? Is it just because it sounds nice when one ending seems like another? Maybe he had a sixth sense that mem sounds like nun even though they don't have the same point of articulation! He also paired עושׁר with עשׂר תעשׂר, which is certainly not correct unless the person praying is an Ephraimite.note

Some say we do not refute a lion after its death (Gittin 83b:6). The response: The spirit of God made us, all of us, and from clay were made those before us, like us, and the ear tests arguments (Job 12:11). And we all know that Daniel was a prophet, and a master over all the magicians and scholars of Babylon, but behold, the sages of blessed memory say Daniel erred in his calculations (Megillah 12a:2); and calculation is a simple matter. What's more, Jeremiah the prophet was in the time of Daniel! And after our sages provided proof of his error, did anyone say to him that if Daniel were alive he would say those who said he erred erred? And others said, the Merciful One desires the heart. If so, why do we need to say anything? Doesn't he know the feelings of the heart? And didn't the earlier ones ordain to say on Yom Kippur: "Be with the mouths of the emissaries of your people the house of Israel, that they not slip with their tongues?"

And the fourth thing: all of his poems are full of midrash and aggadah, and our sages said "the scripture never loses its plain meaning" (Shabbat 63a:14). If so, one should pray in a simple manner, not in a mystical one, or an allegorical one, or in a way not in keeping with halakha, or in a way interpretable in many ways. Don't we know from the Midrash Shir haShirim that every "Solomon" is said to be the Holy One — "the king in whom is peace?" Is it correct for a person to say in his prayer, "Save me, King Solomon!?"

Behold we have found in Scripture that people said, What is theמשאof the LORD?(Jeremiah 23:33). We know that the word משא can mean prophecy, so when they said What is the משא of the LORD? to Jeremiah the prophet the prophet didn't know what they meant — they were referring to the usage of each man his burden(משא) (Numbers 4:49). The Knower of hidden things told the prophet to say to them: each man's word will be hisמשא*, and would you pervert the words of [the living God?]* Thus, say "what is the word of the LORD, or what is the answer of the LORD" (see Jeremiah 23:35-36), for in such words is no doubt of the matter. And similarly, you will no longer call me בעלי [= my Master, but rather אישי = my Man] (Hosea 2:18) — But isn't בעל נעורים referring to a man? Thus, since there's doubt as to whether the noun בעל might refer to the Baal, i.e. an idol, the prophet said, even the word which has doubt as to the matter of an idol you will no longer call me, but rather אישי.

And the sage Rav Saadia watched for these four things in his two petitions. And no author ever authored like him — and he used the language of Scripture and the grammar of the language, without riddles or allegories or midrash. But there was a sage in France, who also wrote a petition that began "My words hear, LORD" — and there are incorrect things in it! Some examples: he said "You spread out worlds without bounds" — something without bounds could not be created! "For Your Name is in You and in You is Your Name" — if he knew the interpretationnote of "name," he wouldn't even consider in his heard to write such a thing. What's more, after he said "For Your Name is in You" doesn't that entail "in You is Your Name?" What's the difference between "peace be upon you" and "upon you be peace," "Reuven are you" and "you are Reuven," "take them alive" and "alive take them," "bless you the LORD" and "the LORD bless you?" This isn't the way to pray, it's the way to mock! Another sage paired two words into one, like אברמל — meaning אבאר מלה "I will explain a word" or אברר מלה "I will clarify a word." But he did the opposite of what he said, because he didn't clarify the word, nor say anything clearly! Rather, he confused the Holy Tongue with his language.

And I cannot explain even one of the thousands of mistakes of the poets. It seems good to me not to pray with them, but rather with the set prayer, that our words be short and not punished in judgment.