“Save me from the pit of despair, from the plague”

"הצילני מפח יקוש, מדבר"

Abstract

“In your hands my times, save me from the pit of despair, from the plague” is a piyyut sung by the Jews of Thessaloniki and included in their piyyutim books for over one hundred and fifty years. In this article, the author traces the path of the piyyut, about which the author and the circumstances of its writing are known very little, and seeks to go into depth. 
This piyyut, of a request for protection, echoes the Psalm 91: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,” which is considered a “song of (protection from) injuries” and of rescuing from lesions, pests and plagues, and the Jewish conception that transitional moments in life are more prone to damage or injury. The piyyut is signed with the words: “God will save you from all evil and will save your soul.”