AḤOT KETANA – LITTLE SISTER A cry from the heart of Spanish Jewry during the age of the Crusades, as Christians fought Muslims for control of the Holy Land, massacring Jews on the way both in Europe and in Jerusalem itself. The poem, composed in the thirteenth century by Rabbi Abraham Ḥazan of Gerona, is a plea for Rosh HaShana to mark a turning point in the fate of Jewry. Little Sister: a phrase taken from Song of Songs (8:8), here meaning the Jewish people. The psalm is said morning and evening from the beginning of Elul until Shemini Atzeret. Its connection with this time of the year is based on the rabbinic interpretation: The Lord is my light on Rosh HaShana, and my salvation on Yom Kippur. He will keep me safe in His pavilion [besukko] – this refers to Sukkot (Vayikra Raba).