“God Save the Queen” is an adaptation of “God Save the King,” a work by an unknown author, first circulated in three stanzas during the reign of Britain’s King George Ⅱ, circa 1745. This Hebrew translation was published in a pamphlet circulated by New Road (Whitechapel) Synagogue in 1892 “on the 73rd Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,” an event attended by then chief rabbi of the British Empire, Rabbi Dr. Hermann Adler​. The wording in the Hebrew is different in one line compared to its publication at the Queen’s Jubilee celebration in 1887. The first queen of Great Britain was Queen Anne Ⅰ (1665-1714) who reigned from 1702-14.

The Hebrew translation of “God Save the King,” (El Shemor haMelekh) as translated by Hyman Hurwitz is slightly shorter. (A few lines are added to the last stanza in God Save the Queen). God Save the King was first published in Hurwitz’s The Etymology and Syntax of the Hebrew Language (1831), pp. 276-279, during the reign of King William Ⅳ (1765-1837).

We are grateful to the Jewish East End of London website for providing a page images of the ephemeral document containing the lyrics in 1892. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Service of Prayer and Thanksgiving – Jubilee of Queen Victoria 1887, pp. 14-15

God Save the Queen (Hebrew, New Road Whitechapel Synagogue, 1892)

God Save the King (English, The Gentleman’s Magazine 1745-10-15)

“אֵל שְׁמֹר הַמַּלְכָּה | God Save the Queen, an adaptation of Hyman Hurwitz’s Hebrew translation of “God Save the King” for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Celebration (1887)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Hyman Hurwitz

Hyman Hurwitz (1770–1844) was a learned Jew who became first professor of Hebrew at University College, London. He was born in Poznań, Poland in 1770, came to England about 1797 and conducted a private academy for Jews at Highgate, where he established a close friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and corresponded with him. Coleridge once described Hurwitz as "the first Hebrew and Rabbinical Scholar in the Kingdom." In 1828, on Coleridge's recommendation, he was elected professor of the Hebrew language and literature at University College, London. His inaugural lecture was published. He died on 18 July 1844. Hurwitz was buried in the Brady Street Cemetery near Whitechapel in London's East End.

Unknown

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Aharon N. Varady (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 naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)

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Anne Ⅰ, queen of Britain (1702)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17