לְשׁוֹנִי כּוֹנַנְתָּ | Leshoni Konanta (My tongue you have fashioned), a reshut attributed to Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.) translated by Sara Lapidot

Contributor(s):

Sara Lapidot (translation) and Shlomo ibn Gabirol

Shared on:

19 June 2021 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Needing Source Images, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Prayers for Precipitation, רשויות reshuyot

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
לְשׁוֹנִי כּוֹנַנְתָּ אֱלֹהַי וַתִּבְחַר בְּשִׁירִים שֶׁשַּׂמְתָּ בְּפִי טוֹב מִמִּסְחַר	My tongue You have fashioned My Lord, and have chosen Songs that you have placed in my mouth, they are better than any other discourse
וְנֶגְדָּךְ כּוֹנַנְתָּ צְעָדַי מִמִּשְׁחַר וְלִי גָרוֹן תַּתָּה בְּקָרְאִי לֹא נִחַר	And my footsteps you have directed towards you from the first And you have given me a throat that has not gone dry from calling out to you
וְיִצְרִי הִלְבַּנְתָּ כְּמוֹ צֶמֶר צַחַר וְלָכֵן לֹא שַׁתָּה לְבָבִי בִּי סְחַרְחַר	And you have purified my Yetser to be as white as wool Therefore my heart did not stray nor grow dizzy within me
הֱיֵה סִתְרִי עַתָּה כְּאֶתְמוֹל וּכְמָחָר וּמָגִנִּי אַתָּה אֱלֹהַי אַל תְּאַחַר	Be now my protector as yesterday and tomorrow You are my shield My Lord, do not delay

The piyyut, “Leshoni Konanta” is attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058). A reshut (prayer for permission to pray), is sung in Sepharadi communities as part of the Tefilat Geshem and Tal ceremonies.

The English translation was made by Sara-Kinneret Lapidot as published in Invitation to Piyut North America: 18 Piyutim & Mizmorim (2010), p.17. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Sara Lapidot (translation)

Sara Lapidot is a Jerusalem based paralegal.

Shlomo ibn Gabirol

Shlomo ibn Gabirol (also Solomon ben Judah; Hebrew: שלמה בן יהודה אבן גבירול‎, Arabic: أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول‎ Abu Ayyub Sulayman bin Yahya bin Jabirul, Latin: Avicebron or Avencebrol; 1021/22-1058), born in Malaga, Spain was an Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, and satire.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=37692

Associated Image:

Hippo with tongue stuck out (credit: drjfpc, license: PD)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute the work to Sara Lapidot (translation) and Shlomo ibn Gabirol.
Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=37692>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)