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By Babel’s streams thy children wept;
Then mute, oh! Israel, was thy choir;
While as thy weary exiles slept,
And on the Willow hung thy Lyre,
A Seraph’s voice soft as the dew,
Fell on their dream with נחמו (naḥamoo.)
No song makes glad that mournful voice;
No ease is for that bruised breast;
‘Till He who led thee to rejoice,
Sends forth on Zion his behest!
Firm as thy faith in Him is true,
Like Manna falls the נחמו (naḥamoo.)
The stranger hath usurp’d the seat,
Where crown’d with glory blaz’d thy Fane,
“The flow’ry brooks, thy hallow’d feet
Still wash,” oh! Zion, still remain,
To mark the ruin, and renew
The mem’ry of the נחמו (naḥamoo.)
Thy mercy shines, a ling’ring beam,
The Pilgrim on his path to light–
From Sinai’s brow, from Jordan’s stream,
From off’rings of the heart contrite,
Thy promise all our hopes imbue,
And blessed is thy נחמו (naḥamoo.)
“Naḥamu (Comfort Ye!),” by an unknown author known only by their initials, J.C.L., was published in 1842, and appears as Hymn 2 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 7. The hymn was one of three original hymns offered at the consecration of the new synagogue building in 1842. The identity of J.C.L. remains undetermined. –Aharon Varady
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.
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 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.)
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