Pleading at the Gates of Heaven

Eight-hundred years have passed and still this poem retains its uncanny ability to move readers in profound ways. R. Abraham Hazzan of Girona (northern Spain) – scholar and kabbalist - whose piyyutim (religious poems) so deeply impacted Ramban (R. Moshe ben Nahman) that he envisioned them to being recited before the Holy One by angels on high, left posterity only a single work: Ahot Ketana. What explains this piyyut’s ability to bring supplicants to places so deep and so emotionally charged? What is the source of Ahot Ketana’s power? ‘Pleading at the Gates of Heaven’ unpacks the piyyut and discovers the brilliance of R. Abraham’s magnum opus and its roots in Torah, Nakh and even Talmudic and Halakhic works. If you want to understand and experience the depth and power of Rabbinic poetry and piyyut read this book!