Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of “Yehi Kh’vod” in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). To the best of my ability, I have set his translation side-by-side with the verses comprising the piyyut.

“Yehi Kh’vod,” composed of remixed biblical verse, is first referenced in Masekhet Soferim 17:11 and appears in full in the Siddur Rav Amram Gaon. Seligman Baer notes that the piyyut contains the divine name 21 times — the same number as is found in Psalms 145. Given that “Yehi Kh’vod” immediately precedes Ashrei (Psalms 145 with its own introductory verses) in the Psukei D’zimrah/Zemirot section of the Shaḥarit service, this association between the two prayers appears significant.

In her article, “Biblical Texts in Jewish Prayer” (in Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship, ed. Albert Gerhards & Clemens Leonhard, Brill 2007, p.70), Ruth Langer uses the term “centos” to describe a novel remix of verses, where “one complete, unaltered biblical verse follows immediately after another, ordered according to the message of the new composition.” Shlomo Tal calls this a “Leket Psukim” (gleaning of verses). In My People’s Prayer Book vol. 3, Marc Brettler calls this prayer a “catena” (latin: chain) — “a chain of verses connected to one another thematically” however this term is more often used to refer to a form of Chrisitian biblical commentary. Besides “Yehi Kh’vod” in the Pesukei D’zimrah, examples of this form include the introductory verses to Psalms 145 (Ashrei), “va’anahnu lo neda” in Taḥanun, and the collection of verses found at the end of the Birkat Hamazon. Ruth Langner writes:

These biblical centos communicate in three different ways….The second method is characteristic of these centos in their most sophisticated forms. As in yehi khavod and va’anahnu lo neda, the verses generally relate one to the next by interlinking identical words or similar concepts from one verse to the next (underlined in the tables). It is the resulting chain of concepts that communicates the meaning of the composition. This technique has apparent precedent in the biblical period. Reuven Kimelman (‘Psalm 145: Theme, Structure, and Impact’, JBL 113, 1994) demonstrates that Psalm 145 also uses such chaining to communicate its message while organizing the verses according to its alphabetical acrostic. However, nothing suggests that Psalm 145 consists of verses culled verbatim from other compositions. In our prayers, this interlinking of concepts makes it impossible to construct an adequate narrative paraphrase of the cento’s message. However, the underlined words [see below PDF: Table B. Yehi Khavod] suggest that yehi khavod begins with a praise of God’s constant exaltation not only by the physical world, especially the heavens themselves, but also by all its inhabitants, over whom God reigns eternally. But because of God’s special redemptive relationship with Israel, this divine sovereignty over the nations results in God’s frustrating their plans, in favor of Israel’s protection.

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Source(s)

“יהי כבוד | Yehi Kh’vod, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.

Unknown Author(s)

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.

the Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Tanakh for Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism. It was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah.

Works of related interest:

 

יוֹצֵר אוֹר | Yotser Ohr, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

תהלים ס״ז | Psalms 67 (interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר | Barukh She’amar, interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l

ברוך ה׳ לעולם | Barukh Hashem l’Olam :: Bless Yah Always, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

קדיש יתום | Mourner’s Ḳaddish, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

שְׁמַע | The Shema, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

אֲשֶׁר יָצַר | Asher Yatsar, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

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