Eleazar Kallir

(ha-Kallir; fl. c. 600-630). One of the earliest Jewish liturgical poets, reputedly the greatest and certainly the most prolific. Details as to when and where he lived are still unclear, hence the various legends woven around his personality. There is, however, reason to suppose that he was the foremost cantor and paytan (liturgical poet) of Tiberias shortly before the Muslim conquest in 636. Kallir's works abound in midrashic references and allegorical expression; they are also steeped in Jewish mysticism. He specialized in a type of Piyyut (liturgical poetry), widely imitated by his successors, that emphasized rhyme, linguistic compression, and the use of alphabetical acrostics (sometimes reversed, sometimes incorporating his name). Such features, together with the writer's predilection for an archaic Palestinian Hebrew, tend to make his poetry rather abstruse and even aroused criticism in the Middle Ages. A large proportion of the 200 or more poems attributed to Kallir nevertheless found their way into the Ashkenazi rite. Others came to light in the Cairo Genizah. Notable examples include hymns (e.g., Yotserot) for the Morning Service and other occasions; High Holiday prayers such as Addiré Ayummah and the Teki'ata sequences read on the New Year; penitential Seliḥot; and Kinot (elegies) for the fast of Tishah Be-Av. Best known of all, perhaps, are the Prayer for Dew (tal) recited on Passover and the Prayer for Rain (geshem) chanted on Shemini Atseret.

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