[HANASHIR:16026] Re: Desperately seeking Maoz Tzur

[Andy Curry <acurry...>]

At 05:57 PM 12/2/2003 -0500, Elliot wrote:
>Chaverim:
>
>Can anyone email me the Hebrew and English lyrics to Maoz Tzur?   I need 
>it right away, and I really appreciate it!
>
>Thanks very much.
>
>Elliot Pilshaw
>Miami, Florida

Dear friends:

Although the English words provided by others here for Maoz Tzur lend 
themselves to singing, they are not a translation!

For an in-depth discussion of the piyut, see Dr. Ron Wolfson's essay at:

http://hillel.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Hanukkah/TO_Hanukkah_Home/Wolfson_Candles_686/Wolfson_Maoz_761.htm

The Hebrew text is available in any siddur I have seen.

Below is a much more accurate translation of Maoz Tzur, from the OU web site:

Stanza One
O mighty stronghold of my salvation,
to praise You is a delight.
Restore my House of Prayer
and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.
When You will have prepared the slaughter
for the blaspheming foe,
Then I shall complete with a song of hymn
the dedication of the Altar.

Stanza Two
My soul had been sated with troubles,
my strength has been consumed with grief.
They had embittered my life with hardship,
with the calf-like kingdom's bondage.
But with His great power
He brought forth the treasured ones,
Pharaoh's army and all his offspring
Went down like a stone into the deep.

Stanza Three
To the holy abode of His Word He brought me.
But there, too, I had no rest
And an oppressor came and exiled me.
For I had served aliens,
And had drunk benumbing wine.
Scarcely had I departed
At Babylon's end Zerubabel came.
At the end of seventy years I was saved.

Stanza Four
To sever the towering cypress
sought the Aggagite, son of Hammedatha,
But it became [a snare and] a stumbling block to him
and his arrogance was stilled.
The head of the Benjaminite You lifted
and the enemy, his name You obliterated
His numerous progeny - his possessions -
on the gallows You hanged.

Stanza Five
Greeks gathered against me
then in Hasmonean days.
They breached the walls of my towers
and they defiled all the oils;
And from the one remnant of the flasks
a miracle was wrought for the roses.
Men of insight - eight days
established for song and jubilation

Stanza Six
Bare Your holy arm
and hasten the End for salvation -
Avenge the vengeance of Your servants' blood
from the wicked nation.
For the triumph is too long delayed for us,
and there is no end to days of evil,
Repel the Red One in the nethermost shadow
and establish for us the seven shepherds.




Andy Curry
7990 W 114th Terrace
Overland Park KS 66210

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