It is fair to question whether a Talmudist is fashioned to be a poet, and whether it is possible for love of discussion and dialectics to accord with poetic sensibility and imagination. Indeed, the liturgical poetry of the Jews of France and Germany has not the least artistic value. It shows neither concern for originality, nor knowledge of composition, and the poets were strangers to the conception of art and beauty. Moreover, they imposed upon themselves rather complicated rules, the most simple forms adopted being rhyme and acrostic. Sometimes they accomplished veritable feats of mental gymnastics, whose merit resided in the mere fact that a difficulty was overcome. Too often a play upon words or alliteration takes the place of inspiration, and ideas give way to factitious combinations. These defects disappear in a translation, which is all the more acceptable for the very reason that it does not reproduce the vivid coloring of the original. The following, recited on the Fast of gedaliah (<H>az terem nimteju (Alef zayin, Mem resh Final_Mem, Nun mem Tav Het Vav)</H>), may serve as an example. Rashi uses certain Midrashim in it which describe the throne of God and the heavenly court. Such poetry as there is - and there is some - is overlaid and submerged by the slow development of the thought and the painfully detailed enumerations, strongly reminiscent of the Bible. It should be said that the language of Rashi is far simpler than that of his contemporaries. Before yet the clouds were gathered in a canopy, Before yet the earth was rounded as a sphere, Thou didst prepare seven in Thy abode: The sacred Law, the splendid throne, the backslider's return, Paradise in all its beauty, and insatiable hell, The atonement place for sacrificial offerings, And the resplendent name of him who delays to come because of all our sins. Two thousand years before our globe were these, Set as jewels in the sky, whence earthward gleamed their light; In the realms above they ready stand round Him enthroned between the Cherubim. Firm established is the heavenly throne for the King supreme Whose glory is shed upon all within His presence: By His right hand the Law engraved with flaming letters He caresses like a child beloved. Toward the south lies the ever-fragrant Garden, Hell with its ever-burning flames to the north, Eastward Jerusalem built on strong foundations, In the midst of it the sanctuary of God, And in the sanctuary the altar of expiation, Weighted with the corner-stone of the world, Whereon is graven the Messiah's holy name Beside the great Ineffable Name. In the centre [center sic] before Him who is the source of all blessings stands Repentance, The healing balm for the suffering and afflicted soul, Appointed to remove each blemish, array the repentant in unsoiled garments, And pour precious oil on the head of sorrowing sinners.