This is one of my favourite Sukkot piyyutim, not least because of the wonderful and easily singable call-and-response melody! The seven verses each highlight one of the seven traditional ushpizin [mythic guests], and a few years ago [in 2012] I wrote an additional seven verses for the seven female ushpizata according to the order of Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org).

The original lyrics for El Ram Ḥasin Yah, and a recording of the traditional melody, can be found at the Piyut archive hosted by the National Library of Israel.

“אל רם חסין יה | El Ram Ḥasin Yah, a piyyut for Sukkot by Shlomo haPaytan (egal adaptation by Noam Sienna, 2012)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Noam Sienna

Noam Sienna is a Hebrew calligrapher, scholar, and manuscript artist, with degrees in religion, anthropology, education, and history from Brandeis University, the University of Toronto, and currently in progress at the University of Minnesota. His work explores the relationship between text, image, colour, and light, inspired by the tradition of Jewish books throughout the centuries, and with a particular focus on Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. He has taught about Hebrew calligraphy and Jewish manuscript illumination to groups and individuals of all ages in both academic and hands-on settings. His graduate work in Jewish History and Museum Studies provides his art with deep roots and a commitment to seeing the past come alive again in the process.

Shlomo haPaytan

Shlomo "Ḥazaq Amats" (שלמה חזק אמץ, Solomon "for strength and courage") was a paytan and author of a beloved piyyut for Sukkot, "El Ram Ḥasin Yah" (G!D on High, Mighty Yah) on which he added his signature as an acrostic. Unfortunately, little else is known of him. As the piyyut was popular in Afghanistan and is thematically concerned with the archetpal Ushpizin of kabbalistic lore and mystical sukkot custom, we may cautiously assume that Shlomo was a paytan in Afghanistan in the 17th or 18th century, after which the piyyut spread to other communities.

Stable Link:    https://opensiddur.org/?p=21822

Associated Image:   

Forli siddur Add MS 26968 (f. 316v)

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

Source Data:    XML | JSON

Re-formatted:    HTML | ODT

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

1. Properly attribute the work to Noam Sienna and Shlomo haPaytan.
2. 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.)
3. Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=21822>.
4. 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 "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