"Were it not for the poetry and song that they recite before me daily, I would not have created the world"

"Were it not for the poetry and song that they [all [sons of] flesh and blood [(כל בני בשר ודם)]] recite before me daily, I would not have created the world [(שאלמלא שירה וזמרה שהם אומרים לפני בכל יום לא בראתי את עולמי)]; and whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed is he, only created the world on account of the poetry and song?  From the verse which says (Psalm 96:6), 'Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.'  That is to say, honor and majesty are before him in heavens, but strength and beauty arise from his sanctuary on earth. . . .  And whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed is he, created the heavens for the matter of poetry?  From the verse which says (Psalm 19:1), 'The heavens declare the glory of God. . . .'  And whence do we know that Adam opened his mouth in a song of praise?  From the verse which says 'A psalm, a poem for the Sabbath day.  It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praise to thy name, O most high!' (Psalm 92:1)."

     Midrash Otiyyot Derabbi Akiba [(מדרש אותיות דרבי עקיבא)] (7th/9th (prob. 9th) cent.), chap. 1, as trans. Harold Fisch, Poetry with a purpose:  biblical poetics and interpretation, Indiana studies in biblical literature (Bloomington & Indianapolis, IN:  Indiana University Press, 1988), 119.  Hebrew from the edition ed. Solomon Aaron Wertheimer (Jerusalem:  1914), 1-2 (beginning from the penultimate line of the text (not apparatus) on p. 1), not vol. 2 of (the still-less-than-fully-critical edition usually given for the Midrash Otiyyot Derabbi Akiba,) Wertheimer's Bate midrashot:  ʻeśrim ṿe-ḥamishah midreshe Ḥazal ʻal pi kitve yad me-Genizat Yerushalayim u-Mitsrayim, ʻim mevoʼot, heʻarot ṿe-tsiyunim (Jerusalem:  Hotsaʼat Ketav-yad ṿe-sefer, 1988 [1950-1953]).  Hat tip:  Brian Lugioyo.  Image:  Rylands Sephardi Haggadah, fol. 28v (Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art and Material Culture).