🆕 שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַֽיִם | Shesh Kenafim — an ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit by Shlomoh ben Yehudah haBavli

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Shlomoh ben Yehudah ha-Bavli

Shared on:

8 October 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Tags:

10th century C.E., 47th century A.M., Acrostic signature, Minhag Polin, ofanim, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation, פרשת בראשית parashat Bereshit

This is the ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit by Shlomo haBavli, with English rhyming acrostic translation and a new rhyming acrostic translation in English. Less commonly recited in Minhag Polin, It is found in Sefer haMinhagim of R. Isaac Tyrnau.

Note: This translation also uses the plural pronouns They/Their/Them to refer to God as a pluralis majestatis, and to avoid the implications of God being assigned a gender. (Find Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Genesis 1:1 for a discussion of the pluralis majestatis when referring to God.) All divine referents (pronouns, epithets, names) are rendered in unicase.

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַֽיִם כְּנוּפִים לוּט אַרְבַּעְתָּן עֲנוּפִים לְעוֹפֵף בִּשְׁתַּֽיִם מִתְנוֹפְפִים לְבוּשׁ חִוָּר מַצְנִיפִים׃ קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת׃ (ישעיה ו:ג)	Sixfoldly winged by wing, Of them four are veiled covering, Lifted up with two hovering, Clad in light as wrapping. Holy, holy, holy is the Cause of Forces! (Isaiah 6:3)
לְמִנְיַן שְׁחָקִים נִקְצָבוֹת מַחֲנוֹת בְּמִקְדָּשׁוֹ נִצָּבוֹת מִסְפַּר כֻּלָּם רְבָבוֹת מַחֲנֶה הָאַחַת נוֹבְבוֹת קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת׃ (ישעיה ו:ג)	Like the number of spheres instituted, On Their sanctuary camps are rooted. Myriad their number constituted, Declaims the camp of the One undisputed: Holy, holy, holy is the Cause of Forces! (Isaiah 6:3)
מִטַּטְרוֹן הַפּוֹסֵק פִּטּוּר הָאוֹטֵם חוֹבוֹת שִׁטּוּר הַסּוֹגֵר תַּכְלִית אִטּוּר הוֹמֶה הֶגְיוֹן הַטּוּר קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת׃ (ישעיה ו:ג)	Metatron who decrees permission, On writs of debt sealing for remission, Nearing the end of prohibition, Utters the utterances of the row in position: Holy, holy, holy is the Cause of Forces! (Isaiah 6:3)
הַמַּלְאָךְ סַנְדַּלְפוֹן נִפְתָּר הַקּוֹשֵׁר נֶֽזֶר נֶעְתָּר הַמַּשְׁבִּיעוֹ וּמֵאֵלָיו נִכְתָּר תָּג לִמְקוֹמוֹ נִסְתָּר קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת׃ (ישעיה ו:ג)	The angel Sandalphon, it is explained, Ties a tiara in which prayer is contained. The One who makes him swear from him has a crown gained, a diadem to a place unascertained. Holy, holy, holy is the Cause of Forces! (Isaiah 6:3)

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also authors his own original works and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic text, adding niqqud and t'amim as needed.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

Shlomoh ben Yehudah ha-Bavli

Shlomoh ben Yehudah ha-Bavli (שלמה הקטן, "Solomon the Lesser"; fl. 10th c.), possibly from Rome, was a paytan. He was the first to add to his signature words, and sometimes sentences, of an invocative nature, such as "Hazak," or "Yigdal be-Torah." He was also the teacher of Meshullam ben Qalonymus, and together with Simeon the Great of Mayence and Qalonymus (Meshullam's father), he was declared to have been of the generation which preceded Rabbeinu Gershon. In spite of the title "ha-Bavli" ("the Babylonian") given him by RaSHI and others, he was not a native of any Muslim country. S.Y. Rapoport held that the medieval rabbis included Rome under the designation "Babylon"; this being so, Shlomo may have been a native of Rome -- this according to Rabbi Michael Sachs in his translation of the Maḥzor (vii. 89), albeit without any further justification.

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The first chapter of B’reshit, or Genesis, written on an egg, in the Jerusalem museum. (credit: Sputnikcccp~commonswiki, license: CC BY)

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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)

🆕 שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַֽיִם | Shesh Kenafim — an ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit by Shlomoh ben Yehudah haBavli

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