The traditional Jewish liturgy, as it has come down to us, consists not only of the standard prayers ordained in the Talmud and the ritual codes, but also contains poetic embellishments of all kinds. Such poetic embellishments take the form of hymns to be sung prior to, and after, the standard prayers, and of poetic inserts in the standard prayers themselves. Thus, for example, there are occasions when each of the first three benedictions of the Sabbath or Festival ‘Amidah is interrupted by one or more poems. The same can happen to the first two benedictions before the Shema', and to the benediction after the Shema’ in the n1orning service, or to the two benedictions after the Shema’ in the evening service.

Technically, such poetic embellishments and inserts are known as piyyutim (singular: piyyut), a word which comes from the same Greek root that gives us the English words ‘poet’ and ‘poem.’ Some of the piyyutim are mere elaborations on the themes of the standard prayers. If, for example, a prayer mentions the celestial choirs praising the Lord, a poem inserted into that prayer may go into detailed descriptions of how the angels are organized, how they are taking turns in singing, etc. But very often a piyyut will bring in extraneous matter. Thus, into the standard benedictions of the ‘Amidah it may introduce a poetic treatment of the Torah and Haphtarah readings of that particular day, elaborating on the legal (halakhic) and homiletical (aggadic) interpretations of the biblical texts.

The origins of the piyyut are still a matter of scholarly debate. For a long time, scholars have been particularly intrigued by two twelfth-century reports. One is by Judah ben Barzillai AlBargeloni, who makes the point that, originally, piyyutim had been introduced during times of persecution: