Perek Shira (Hebrew פרק שירה, lit. "Chapter of Song") is an ancientJewish text. There are a number of versions extant, some associated with theAshkenazic tradition, some with theSephardic, and some with theMizrahi Jews tradition.[1] It was first printed, with a commentary, inMoses ben Joseph de Trani'sBet Elohim (1576), but it is mentioned as early as the 10th century.[2] It contains 85 sections, in each of which elements ofcreation, beginning with the celestial and ending withdogs, use biblical and rabbinic verses in order to sing God's praises. Use of Perek Shira used to be prevalent in the daily liturgy and medieval philosopherJoseph Albo wrote that whoever recites Perek Shira is guaranteed a place in theWorld to Come.[3]
Though Perek Shira means "Chapter of Song", the book is actually organized into six chapters. Some of the utilized verses make mention of the speaker. For example, the song begins with the heavens who say, "the heavens speak of the glory of God, and of His handiwork the skies tell." (Psalms 19:2) Others describe some characteristic or activity of the speaker, e.g., the book ends with the dogs who say "come, let us prostrate and bend our knees, and kneel before God our maker" (Psalms 95:6).
The vast majority of the verses of Perek Shira are biblical, and most of these are from the book ofPsalms, but there are also a few verses from theBabylonian Talmud, at least one fromKabbalistic literature, and a very few whose source is unknown.[4] Some of the birds and animals listed are difficult to identify.[5] It appears that all the creatures named are found in the Holy Land, the only exceptions perhaps being the elephant (whose song isPsalms 92:6) - but elephants were brought into the Holy Land by foreign armies, as mentioned, for example, in the First Book of Maccabees; and the leviathan (whose song isPsalms 136:1), presumably a mythic sea beast mentioned in the Bible.
In modern times, Perek Shira does not often appearliturgically. However, there are many publishers who publish Perek Shira as a separate entity, anywhere from awallet-sized booklet to full-sizedcoffee table books complete with pictures illustrating each of the characters speaking to God.
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