https://opensiddur.org/?p=15453אֵל שְׁמֹר הַמַּלְכָּה | God Save the Queen (adapted from the Hebrew translation of Hyman Hurwitz 1831)2017-06-03 16:10:22"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. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Adler">Hermann Adler</a>.Textthe Open Siddur ProjectAharon N. Varady (transcription)Aharon N. Varady (transcription)Hyman HurwitzUnknown Author(s)https://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Aharon N. Varady (transcription)https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/PurimTa'anit EstherUnited Kingdom57th century A.M.British JewryBritish MonarchyConstitutional MonarchyQueensאל שמר El Shemornational anthems19th century C.E.Great BritainBritish CommonwealthQueen VictoriaNeeding Attribution
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God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen!
O Lord our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,[1] Cf. Psalms 68:2.
And make them fall
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On her our hearts are fixed,
O save us all.
Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign!
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!
“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) was originally as translated by Hyman Hurwitz with an added fourth stanza (not included with 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)
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.)
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.
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