Who Is the “Little Sister” of a Medieval Rosh Hashanah Prayer?

She comes from the Song of Songs. But what is she doing there?

The little sister says her prayersAnd performs all her devotions.May’st Thou, Lord, her ailments mend.Let the year and its ills end.

אחות קטנה תפילותיה
.עורכה ועונה תהילותיה
,אל נא רפא למחלותיה
.תכלה שנה וקללותיה

So—no doubt puzzlingly to many—starts the well-known piyyut or liturgical poem that is commonly sung or recited in synagogues before the evening prayer that ushers in Rosh Hashanah. The piyyut has nine stanzas, the first eight of which have the identical refrain while the ninth contrasts with them, thus:

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