David Hakohen (also haKohen or Ha-Kohen) was a late thirteenth-century

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

liturgical poet from Avignon, who wrote from a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

perspective in the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

esque tradition. His most published work, "Silence and Praise" (''Hishtaḥavi u-birkhi''), is in the form of a ''

muwashshah ''Muwashshah'' ( ar, موشح ' literally means " girdled" in Classical Arabic; plural ' or ' ) is the name for both an Arabic poetic form and a secular musical genre. The poetic form consists of a multi-lined strophic verse poem writt ...

'', a prelude to prayer. Ironically, the ode pledges that the prayer will be silent. It has been translated into English.The standard edition, in T. Carmi, ed. (1981), ''The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse'' (New York: Viking Press), 396–97, has been partly revised in Paden and Paden, 231–32, and Ettin, 37. It opens like this: :Bow down, my soul, and kneel before my rock of refuge; :Praise the Lord and bless Him! :My lips are too low to sing his high praises. :My years are too few to recite his glorious works. :All my days would not suffice to tell his mighty deeds.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:David Hakohen Jewish poets 13th-century French Jews 13th-century French poets Writers from Avignon