Eleazar Ben Killir

Eleazar ben Killir (c. 570—c. 640) was a Hebrew poet whose classical liturgical verses, known as piyut, have continued to be sung through the centuries during significant religious services, including those on Tisha B'Av [cite book |last= Carmi |first= T. |pages= p.227 |chapter= To the Tenth Century |title= Hebrew Verse |year= 1981 |location= Fairfield, Pennsylvania |publisher= Penguin Books |language= English, Hebrew] and on the sabbath after a wedding.

Biographical details

Although his poems have had a prominent place in printed ritual and he is known to have lived somewhere in the Near East, documentation regarding details of the life of Eleazar ben Killir has been lost to history, including the exact year and circumstances of his birth and death. He is said to have been the disciple of another 6th century composer of piyut, Yannai who, according to legend, grew jealous of Eleazar and caused his death by inserting into his shoe a scorpion whose sting proved to be fatal. [cite book |last= Carmi |first= T. |pages= p. 88 |chapter= Table of Poems |title= Hebrew Verse |year= 1981 |location= Fairfield, Pennsylvania |publisher= Penguin Books |language= English, Hebrew]

Poetic style

The "Kallir style" had a profound influence on the poets who succeeded him in Palestine and in the Near East. He made radical innovations in diction and style, while employing the full range of post-biblical Hebrew. It may be that the stories of Yannai growing jealous of him are based in fact, for the patterns of rhyme, acrostic, repetition, and refrain in his piyut are much more complex than those of his master.

His use of neologisms and other oddities has earned him a reputation as an enigmatic writer, to the point where some have criticized him for being obscure, and having a corruptive influence on the Hebrew language. Ben Kallir, however, was capable of writing in simple and direct language, as poems like his "Epithalamium" [http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/B/benKallirEle/Epithalamium.htm] [ [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:aa0Yh8mWRvEJ:www.poetry-chaikhana.com/B/benKallirEle/index.htm+Poetry+Chaikhana+ben+Killir&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1 Eleazar ben Killir (Kallir) at Poetry-Chaikhana] ] demonstrate.

References

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=nVCImEO-ef0C&pg=PA374&lpg=PA374&dq=%22ben+killir%22&source=web&ots=IwGMOax2RH&sig=9i5pe-uffOW_laHkyBGgtuhdAek Safrai, Shemuel (2006). "The Literature of the Sages" {brief tribute to the accomplishments of Eleazar (Elazar) ben Killir}]