TOWARDS AN APPRECIATION OF ADONOLAM
Hereare six brief points regarding this amazing poem:
1. Thepoem was probably composed by Shelomo ibn Gabirol, (1035-1058) one of theleading Hebrew poets who lived during the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in MuslimSpain.
2. Thepoem is written in perfect rhyme and almost perfect meter.
Rhyme: every even-numbered line endsin “rah”.
Meter: The short-long vowel order isalmost consistently “short-long-long-long”. (According to Medieval Spanishpoetics, “short” vowels are 1. Sheva; 2. Chataf [i.e., a sheva with anyvowel] 3. shuruk [i.e., a vavwith a dot which makes it into an “oo-as-in-soon]. All the other vowels are “long”.)
3. The second stanza declares that “when everything willbe over, the Awesome One will reign alone”. This assertion is patently anti-Maimonidean,insofar as it presupposes that the universe which Hashem created willultimately stop existing. Aristotle had posited that the world is co-eternalwith G-d. Matter was never created; it always had existed and always willexist. Rambam, in contrast, argues (based upon his own philosophical analysisas well as a straightforward reading of Bereshis) that Hashem created the worldex nihilo. Nevertheless, he does agree with the Aristotelian notion thatthe universe which Hashem created - including the transcendental, angelic realm- will exist forever. The author of Adon Olam clearly takes issue on thispoint.
4. Thepower of the poem’s content, I believe, lies in the poet’s ability to embrace,with enthusiastic faith, two concepts regarding Hashem which many philosophershave considered to be are mutually exclusive:
a. Hashemis the exclusive source and the awesome Master of all existence – the entirecosmos; and yet, at the same time:
b. He is personally engaged in the welfare –physical and spiritual – of every individual human being. The poet speaks forhimself, in the first person, as he asserts this second point, thereby reinforcinga sense of intimacy, of basking in a life-long, loving relationship with theSource and Master of the entire universe.
5. RavSoloveitchik ZT”L pointed out that the first stanza of Adon Olam alludes to twodifferent aspects of Hashem’s Kingship (Malchus). The first two lines refer to Hisactual, intrinsic supremacy over the universe, by dint of his having created it.The second two lines indicate that there exists an aspect of His Malchus thatdepends upon our recognition and acceptance of Hashem as our King.
6. Likemany parts of our liturgy, the poem contains no reference – explicit orimplicit – to Torah, Israel, or Judaism. Adon Olam is thus a prayer that any Gentilemonotheist who believes in a personal God may recite with passion and integrity.