The recipient had a wonderfully detailed East Kingdom Wiki Page. Proclaiming his persona to be that of a “Sephardic Jew who hails from the city of Salonica in Ottoman-controlled Greece during the reign of Kanunî Sultan Süleyman (Suleiman the Magnificent).”
A quick stop at wikipedia garnered Suleiman the Magnificent and the dates of the 1520s through the 1560s.
From there I looked at History of the jews in the Ottoman empire: History of Judaism in Greece. Which garnered a lot of information on the kinds of Judaisim in Greece and how it got there. It did not, however, show any kind of verse form or writing style unique to the era.
I changed direction and started to look earlier at Ancient Jewish History Poetry
With the tantalizing note of:
“The Jews expelled from Spain and their descendants continued to foster the Spanish style in their countries of refuge. The influence of the Hebrew-Spanish style had, however, extended beyond the Spanish borders long before – at the time secular poetry flourished in Spain. From the 12th century onward it was taken up by Jewish communities throughout the Muslim world (Egypt, Babylonia, Yemen, etc.), but it also influenced Jews in the Christian world (Italy, to some extent Germany, northern France, and especially Provence). The expulsion from Spain led to a new flourishing of the Hebrew-Spanish style in such widely dispersed Jewish communities as Turkey, Greece, North Africa, Ereẓ Israel, and Holland. The period extended from the 16th to the 18th centuries.”
I took a brief foray into Jewish Prayer, enough to discover that was absolutely not the direction I wanted to go. The search was for poetry not prayer. With that I turned to song and music and found Piyyut:
And The medieval Spanish school
In the later Middle Ages, however, Spanish-Jewish poets such as Judah Halevi, Ibn Gabirol, Abraham ibn Ezra and Moses ibn Ezra composed quantities of religious poetry, in correct Biblical Hebrew and strict Arabic metres. Many of these poems have been incorporated into the Sephardic, and to a lesser extent the other, rites, and may be regarded as a second generation of piyyut.
Which seemed to be a bridge between poetry and prayer, but I was not satisfied with that.
Though I did look up the Lekha Dodi
“a Hebrew-language Jewish liturgical song”
In the end, I abandoned this line of research to go back and see if I could find anything more appropriate in the recipient's time period.
Continuing the search I found: More generalities on the influences to Jewish writings and culture
But there was nothing concrete.
At the same time looking down this rabbit hole of Shalom Shabazi (1619 – c. 1720), out of period and from a different country, but I was casting a wide net into the internets to see what I could find.
Honing things down a bit, this was found Jewish Poets, Greek Poetry: Contextualizing Jewish-Greek Poetry as Post-Classical Literature, With information all a bit earlier than the recipient’s persona.
Such as Ezekiel the Tragedian and Some Notes on the "Exagoge" of Ezekiel, but he was too early for the recipient’s persona.
I looked into Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, a Jewish poet from the Ottoman Empire, but no particular verse forms were listed in relation to him.
The Long Journey Gracia Menedes Chapter 7. The Ottoman Empire and the Jews yielded this nugget of information:
“However, for the Jews, newly arriving from different parts of Europe, the change in lifestyle was monumental.”
With this wide range of different paths I had searched, I was beginning to suspect that there was no unique Jewish poetry particular to the Ottoman Empire in Greece.
This was largely confirmed in the Ottoman Poetry Class written by Lady Eilon bat Miriam, a SCAdian.
I made the command decision to go earlier to find a poet or poem that would inspire this scroll.
I quickly found Yehudah Halevi and with a different spelling (one of many) Judah Halevi. What stuck out to me the loudest was that he had written riddles! More searching garnered Hebrew Riddles and a photo of Yehuda’s riddle.
The idea of riddles really grabbed me and the lecture about Yehuda haLevi was fascinating. He also included a lecture for the Muwaššaḥ ( form I have attempted before) Both are invaluable for my understanding of these poetry forms.
Of the 5 poems in the lecture I focused on this one.
Looking through Yehuda Levi’s many riddles I focused on this one:
What’s thrown on the ground, where it dies?? 8
And is buried naked with dung?, 8
Then comes to life where it lies, 7
And gives birth to fully clothed young? 9
It appeared to be the only one with a direct reference to a food and the recipient’s award is specifically for their efforts in cooking and researching recipes.
Of the five riddles focused on in the lecture they all appeared to be translated, more or less, to an ABAB rhyme scheme.
I went through several iterations of the scroll where I tried to finagle in the extant riddle; in the end to no avail. In the end a riddle about grain did not really suit the recipient and why they were receiving the award.
As such I decided to create my own riddle where the answer would be the recipient.
How to make up Riddles
Riddle Tips
1. Come up with an answer. …
2. Describe your answer. …
Like the author above, getting started was the hardest part. Using his times I determined that the answer was to be the recipient. The descriptions of the answers came from the Recommendation. Following the rhyme scheme I had determined above I came up with:
What fits one who scurries on a web like a spider?
What fits one who holds classes with no one present?
Who can transform words into food with fire,
And is today adorned with a brooch argent?
All I had left was to add in the required bits of information and of course, provide an answer to the riddle. The following is what I sent to
Their Royal Majesties, Matthias & Feilinn present this riddle to the assembled people of the East here at Birka at Barony Stonemarche
What fits one who scurries on a web like a spider?
What fits one who holds classes with no one present?
Who can transform words into food with fire,
And today is adorned with the Brooch argent
The answer to this puzzle is Perez ben Meir Gershon
Newest member of the Order of the Silver Brooch!
Done today on 17 Shevat 5784
Wordcount 84
This is what I sent off to Dame Leonet de Covenham (Lynette Nusbacher) for translation into Hebrew and transliteration.
הוד מלכותם מתתיהו ופאילין מציעים את החידה הבאה
לעם המזרח שהתאספו כאן בבירקה בברונית סטונמארץ׳.
מה מתאים לאדם שרוקד על רשת כמו עכביש?
מה מתאים למי שמלמד שיעור שאף אחד לא מגיע אליו?
מי יכול להפוך מילים לאוכל באמצעות אש?
והיום הוא מעוטר בסיכת הכסף.
התשובה לחידה הזו הוא פרץ בן מאיר גרשון
שהוא החבר החדש ביותר במסדר סיכת הכסף:
נעשה בפקודת המלוכה שלנו
היום יום י"ז בשבט בשנת ה׳תשמ״ד
They also provided alternate wording that is closer to the way a period Hebrew/Aramaic charter would have been worded.
ביום שבת קודש יום י"ז בשבט בשנת ה׳תשמ״ד
למניין אשר מונים כאן בברונית סטונמארץ׳
ליד הנהר הגדול נהר מרימאק
הוד מלכותם מתתיהו המלך ופאיילין המלכה מציעים את החידה הבאה
לעם המזרח שהתאספו כאן.
מה מתאים לאדם שרוקד על רשת כמו עכביש?
מה מתאים למי שמלמד שיעור שאף אחד לא מגיע אליו?
מי יכול להפוך מילים לאוכל באמצעות אש?
והיום הוא מעוטר בסיכת הכסף.
התשובה לחידה הזו הוא פרץ בן מאיר גרשון
שהוא החבר החדש ביותר במסדר סיכת הכסף:
נעשה בפקודת המלוכה שלנו:.
On the holy Shabbat day, the 17th of Shevat in the year 5784
By the reckoning we use to count the days here in the barony of Stonemarche, on the banks of the mighty Merrimack river,
Their majesties Mattityahu the King and Feilinn the Queen offer the following riddle to the Eastern nation gathered here.
What fits one who scurries on a web like a spider?
What fits one who holds classes with no one present?
Who can transform words into food with fire,
And today is adorned with the Brooch argent?
The answer to the riddle is Peretz son of Meir Gershon!
Who is the newest member of the Order of the Silver Brooch.
Done by Our royal command.
Word count 120
Transliteration (all ch digraphs are gutturals)
Beyom Shabbat kodesh yom shva esrei beshvat bishnat chamishim elef shva meyot arbayim ve-arba
Leminyan asher monim cahn babaroniat Stonemarche
Le-yad ha-nahar ha-gadol nehar Merrimack
Hod malchutam Matityahu hamelech uFeilinn hamalkah metziyim et ha-chidah ha-ba’ah le’am ha-mizrach she-hitasefu cahn.
Mah mat’im le-adam she-rokaid al reshet kemo achvish?
Mah mat’im lemi shemelamed shi’ur she-af echad lo magiya alav?
Mi yachol le-hafor milim le-echol ba-emtzaut esh?
Ve-hayom hoo me-oter be-sichat hakesef.
Ha-teshuva la-chidah ha-zoo hoo Peretz Meir Gershon
She-hoo he-chaver he-chadash be-yoter be-misdar sichat hakesef.
Na-asseh be-pekudat ha-melucha shelanu.
And with that Here is the breakdown of the words:
On the holy Shabbat day, the 17th of Shevat in the year 5784
As with my version and this one used, I had specifically looked up the Current Year on the Jewish Calendar. The inclusion certainly helped the language and sound being conveyed in the scroll.
By the reckoning we use to count the days here in the barony of Stonemarche, on the banks of the mighty Merrimack river,
Birka, the event where this award was presented, is literally on the shores of the Merrimack River. Tying the words to a real world locale is found in many charters in the medieval and renaissance eras. Honestly, I am a little put out that I didn’t think of it in the first place. This is definitely a phrasing style that I want to look closer at.
Their majesties Matthias the King and Feilinn the Queen offer the following riddle to the Eastern nation gathered here.
In the end Fiona and I changed Mattityahu back to Matthias. Under the logic that a person’s name in the Society supersedes complete historical accuracy. Due to time constraints I did not have the luxury of time to reach out to His Royal Highness to confirm or deny it.
What fits one who scurries on a web like a spider?
The recipient’s recommendation emphasized the amount of online research that they accomplished. For the classes they teach, and how his recipes are shared. In the East Kingdom we already associate the spider with the web ministry:
So the image evoked in the language should be clear to those hearing it.
What fits one who holds classes with no one present?
The recipient is credited with sharing his research by holding on-line classes. This developed into the above question that I felt was fairly clever. While the online presence is a part of the Society, I did want to hedge around an outright mention of it.
Who can transform words into food with fire,
This started with a search for a rhyme with spider. While fire is not a perfect rhyme, it does sound correct and will certainly read as correct in court,
Before this line, there was no direct reference to cooking. I wanted to specifically include one as the main part of the recommendation concerned food and the various ways the recipient pursued the culinary arts. “Who can transform words into food” was what I wanted to use, but the rhyme did need to occur.
And today is adorned with the Brooch argent
There I got throwing in some Latin into a scroll that I know is going to be translated into a completely different alphabet! However, argent rhymed well enough with present and it allowed the end of the riddle to state the award that was being bestowed upon the recipient.
The answer to the riddle is Peretz son of Meir Gershon
The answer statement here is the same as my original, save that “ben” has been directly translated to “son of.” Which subtly turns these words more toward how an original piece would be written,
Who is the newest member of the Order of the Silver Brooch.
While this sentence essentially reiterates what was said in the riddle, that was in the form of a question. The point of this scroll was to answer the riddle definitively and welcome the new recipient into the Order!
Done by Our royal command.
In my original version, I had ended the scroll with the date. With this version it needed one more phrase to emphasize their Majesties giving out the award.
I poured quite a bit of my time and energy into this scroll. The adventure-journey to get to the point where I could compose my own riddle was both equally frustrating and equally fun. At one point I even explored the website of the Jewish Museum of Greece to see if they had any examples of 16th century poetics. It was a bit humbling to discover how little exemplars the museum had.
This Silver Brooch was truly an fascinating experience. I learned composing the words, and that is the best part.
I love to celebrate the opportunities I have to explore the multitude of cultures and countries represented the East Kingdom and this game we play together.
ETA: The translator made a scribal error, writing מ (40) instead of פ (80), giving the wrong year in the Hebrew calendar.' It definitely feels more period this way!
