“Yedid Nefesh” is a piyyut first published in the Sefer Haḥaredim (1588) of Rabbi Elazar Moshe Azikri (1533-1600). The authorship of the piyyut is not completely certain. A version of the piyyut “with noteworthy text, spelling and pointing” may be found on folio 146 (verso) of Samuel b. David b. Solomon’s Commentary On the Book of Numbers (ca. 1437 CE).^[1] Find Stefan C. Reif’s The Hebrew Manuscripts at Cambridge University Libraries: A Description and Introduction Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, page 93. Reif attributes Yedid Nefesh to Azkiri. Presumably, the text must have been added to the 15th century manuscript sometime after the publication of Sefer Haḥaredim. It would be very nice to see a digitized image of this manuscript page from the CUL collection!  Yedid Nefesh also appears in Moscow – Russian State Library, Ms. Guenzburg 320 as the last of “a polyglot of at least 24 different items written in different stages” (find Dr. Ezra Chwat, גילוי מילתא בעלמא Giluy Milta B’alma). Yedid Nefesh appears there under the following headline: ד’ בתים של שם בן ד’ ב”ה ששמענו מפי קדוש מכבוד החכם השלם מהר”ר גדליה בן לגאון המושלם המקובל [הא]לקי כמהר”ר משה קורדוברו זצק”ל”. Ezra Chwat: “This doesn’t necessarily qualify that Gedalia Cordovero (1562–1625, son of Moshe Cordovero, ReMaK), is the author. To be precise, it attributes to him the oral transmission.” Meir Benayahu in Yosef Behiri, 1991, p.544, “asserts that this witness must have heard the poem from Gedalia Cordevero after his descent [from Safed] to Italy in 1583. This would be a full five years before Ḥaredim was written (and 17 years before [it was] published). Having been transmitted orally for some time might explain some of the variants. In any case Gedalia Cordevero and Elazar Azkari are likely to have been well acquainted.” The piyyut has appeared with a number of variations in various siddurim.

This is a faithful transcription of Yedid Nefesh translated into Arabic from סדור פרחי سدور فرحي Siddur Farḥi (nusaḥ Sefaradi, minhag Egypt 1913, 1917) by Hillel Farḥi (1868-1940). (A copy of Siddur Farhi can be ordered from the Farḥi Foundation here.) Transcription of the Arabic was made by Wikisource contributor Avigdor24, here. Please help to proofread and improve this transcription. Join us in the digital transcription of Siddur Farḥi on Hebrew Wikisource.

Source

Yedid Nefesh (JTSA MS3541, fol.5v)

Yedid Nefesh (Moscow – Russian State Library, Ms. Guenzburg 320, page spread 283)

yedid nefesh – sefer haḥaredim 43a (Venice 1597)

“יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) Arabic translation by Hillel Farḥi (1913)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Elazar ben Moshe Azikri

Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (אלעזר בן משה אזכרי‎‎‎, also Elazar Azkari) (1533–1600) was a Jewish kabbalist, poet and writer, born in Safed to a Sephardic family who had settled in the Land of Israel after the expulsion from Spain. Rabbi Elazar studied Torah under Rabbi Yosef Sagis and Rabbi Jacob Berab, and is counted with the greatest Rabbis and intellectuals of his time: Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, Yosef Karo, Moshe Cordovero, Isaac Luria, Israel Najara, etc. In 1588 Rabbi Elazar founded the "Sukat Shalom" movement who acted to arouse in Jews the devotion to religion. Rabbi Elazar died in 1600 and was buried in Safed. Rabbi Elazar's Book, the Sefer Ḥaredim (ספר חרדים), printed after his death in 1600, is considered as one of the main books of Jewish deontology. The famous piyyut (liturgical poem) Yedid Nefesh (ידיד נפש) was first published by Rabbi Elazar in Sefer Ḥaredim. He also wrote a commentary on Tractate Bezah and Berachot of the Jerusalem Talmud. (via wikipedia)

Dr. Hillel Farḥi (translation)

Born in Damascus, educated in Beirut and London, Dr. Hillel Yaacob Farḥi (1868-1940) was a well-known Cairo physician who treated the poor free of charge. He was also a considerable scholar, grammarian and poet who wrote and translated many books - both religious and secular. Besides his siddur, he published maḥzorim in Arabic for the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as well a number of editions of the Passover Haggadah with his own running commentary.

Wikisource Contributors (transcription)

Wikisource is a collaborative transcription site and part of the family of user-generated content sites administered by the Wikimedia Foundation. The Open Siddur Project uses Wikisource for collaborative transcription by taking advantage of the Proofread Page MediaWiki extension installed as a feature for public use. For detailed attribution information for any text, please refer to the "View History" link on specific Wikisource pages.

Works of related interest:

 

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) translation by Nina Salaman (1897)

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) translated by Rabbi Sam Seicol

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) translated by Sara Lapidot

📖 סידור פרחי (מנהג הספרדים)‏ | Siddur Farḥi, a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic prayerbook by Dr. Hillel Farḥi (1913)

אוֹדֶה לָאֵל | Odeh la-El Levav Ḥoqer B’ran Yaḥad Kokhvei Boqer, a morning piyyut by Rabbi Shamayah Ḳosson (ca. 16th c.) translation by Len Fellman

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