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I lift mine eyes unto the hills,
And to the boundless sky,
Thro’ all life’s sad and varied ills,
Our help is from on high.
The heavenly King, who e’er shall be,
In might eternal reigns;
When sorrow’s darts encompass me,
He every hope sustains.
The burning rays of noon-tide sun,
Shall smite me not by day;
And while the evil path I shun.
God will protect my way.
On every side He is my shade,
And still preserves my soul;
His greatness ever is displayed
Thro’ years that onward roll.
From this time, and for evermore,
His mercy mildly beams;
Lord! lead me to that heavenly shore.
Where peace eternal gleams.
“I lift mine eyes unto the hills (Psalms 121),” by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1809-1869), first published in 1842, appears under the subject “Hope in God” as Hymn 30 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 33. The hymn was republished in an abridged form (less a stanza) in the Union Hymnal for Jewish Worship (CCAR 1914). –Aharon Varady
Source(s)
“I Lift Mine Eyes Unto the Hills (Psalms 121), a hymn to Hope in God by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
Cordelia Moïse Cohen
Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1810-1869) was born in Charleston, the younger daughter of Cherie (Cherry) Moïse and Esther Moses. She married Dr. Philip Melvin Cohen of Charleston in 1832 and with him had eleven children. In The Moïse Family of South Caroline (1961) Harold Moïse writes that "she is remembered by her gift for poetry. She wrote a series of hymns for Congregation Beth Elohim which supplemented those of her aunt Penina Moïse. Cordelia, keen in wit and repartee, was the center of a brilliant circle of admirers. She suffered bitterly from poverty and anxiety during the Civil War, her physician husband in the service of the Confederacy, her family scattered. They were in Columbia when that city was burned by Sherman." She died in Charleston in 1869.
Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina)
Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Hebrew: קהל קדוש בית אלהים, also known as Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim), founded in 1749 in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The founding members of the synagogue were Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent (Sepharadim), who arrived into Charleston via London, England. Before 1830 Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim was a place of worship for Spanish and Portuguese Jews using Portuguese rituals as done in Portugal before the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. A splinter group animated by the European Reform movement, the Reformed Society of Israelites, formed in 1824. While at first this group did not succeed in reforming Beth Elohim, by the mid 1830s Beth Elohim had reabsorbed its members and its ḥazzan, Gustavus Poznanski (1804–1879), joined the Reform camp in 1840. After the first synagogue building was destroyed by fire in 1838, it was rebuilt two years afterward (in a Greek Revival style designed by Cyrus L. Warner) with an organ to the chagrin of the traditionalists. Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim is recognized as the oldest Reform Jewish congregation in the Americas.
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