תהלים קכ״א | Psalms 121, an “up song” (shir la-ma’alot) translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

Contributor(s):

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and the Masoretic Text

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11 October 2023 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150)

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interpretive translation, שיר Shir, Psalms 121, apotropaic prayers of protection, devotional interpretation

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת	An up song
אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל־הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי׃ עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יְהֹוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃	I scan the hill tops, looking for those who would help me. But my real help comes from YaH, Who constantly creates Heavens and Earth.
אַל־יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ אַל־יָנוּם שֹׁמְרֶךָ׃	Because He never tires, He will not let me falter.
הִנֵּה לֹא־יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל׃	The Protector of Israel is ever alert; He does not fall asleep.
יְהֹוָה שֹׁמְרֶךָ יְהֹוָה צִלְּךָ עַל־יַד יְמִינֶךָ׃	YaH watches over you, like one who shades you from heat; He is right there, at your right hand.
יוֹמָם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא־יַכֶּכָּה וְיָרֵחַ בַּלָּיְלָה׃	For you— not sun madness by day, not lunacy by night.
יְהֹוָה יִשְׁמׇרְךָ מִכׇּל־רָע יִשְׁמֹר אֶת־נַפְשֶׁךָ׃	YaH will shield you from all harm; She will care for your spirit.
יְהֹוָה יִשְׁמׇר־צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־עוֹלָם׃	YaH will protect you, going or coming, From now on and always.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 121 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 215.

Reb Zalman was, in 2009, an early advocate of the Open Siddur Project and generously shared his liturgical and prayer work with the project following his vision of a common “Database Davvenen.” I have set his translation opposite the Masoretic Hebrew text of the psalm according to the phrasing he provided. –Aharon Varady

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“תהלים קכ״א | Psalms 121, an “up song” (shir la-ma’alot) translated 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.

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.

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Works of related interest:

תהלים קכ | Psalms 120, an “up song” (shir la-ma’alot) translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

תהלים קכ״א בלשון לאדינו | Salmo 121 | סאלמו קכא | Psalms 121 in Ladino (Estampado por Ǧ. Griffit, ca. 1852/3)

תהלים י״ח | Psalms 18, a shir by David translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

[valley by night] (credit: n/a, license: CC0)

תהלים צ״א | Psalms 91, a song against evil spirits translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

תהלים קמ״ח | Psalms 148, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

תהלים קמ״ט | Psalms 149, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

תהלים ק״נ | Psalms 150, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

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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