David Hakohen was a late thirteenth-century Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 liturgical poet

Piyyut

A piyyut or piyut is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Piyyutim have been written since Temple times...

 from Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

, who wrote from a Jewish perspective in the troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

esque tradition. His most published work, "Silence and Praise" (Hishtaḥavi u-birkhi), is in the form of a muwashshah

Muwashshah

Muwashshah or muwaššaḥ can mean:...

, a prelude to prayer. Ironically, the ode pledges that the prayer will be silent. It has been translated into English. It opens like this:

Bow down, my soul, and kneel before my rock of refuge;

Praise the Lord and bless Him!

My lips are too low to sing his high praises.

My years are too few to recite his glorious works.

All my days would not suffice to tell his mighty deeds.