THE FAST
OF
TEBETH
Joseph bar Samuel Tob Elem, living in Limoges about 1040 C. E., was a great poet of his time. He wrote numerous Festival poems.
Stanza 1, line 4, Job xvi, 7.
Stanza 2, line 3, "write the law in Greek," Talmud Babli, Megillah 9a; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, xii, 2; line 4, Psalm cxxix, 3.
Stanza 3, line 3, Genesis xlix, 21; line 4, according to tradition, the ninth of Tebeth was the day of Ezra's death.
Stanza 4, line 4, Ezekiel xxiv, 2: "Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day: the king of Babylon drew close unto Jerusalem this selfsame day."
Stanza 5, line 4, Ezekiel xxxiii, 21.
Stanza 6, line 4, Lamentations i, 18.
Stanza 7, line 4, Lamentations iii, 56.
Stanza 8, line 4, Job xxxviii, 11.
