Love and Hate

Our eyes are weak with longing for Your love, 
for we are loathed by a hateful foe:
see how afflicted we are within, 
and how, without, we're abhorred—
like Leah, whose suffering You saw, 
as You bore witness to her distress. 
She was hated at home, 
and also despised abroad. 
Not each beloved, however, is loved,
and all who are hated are not hated:
some are hated below, but loved on high. 
Those You despise are despised,
and those You love are beloved. 
We are hated because we love
You who are holy. 

—From Piyutei Yannai (sixth century poet)

seen in Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole