לְכָה דוֹדִי | Lekhah Dodi, the piyyut for Ḳabbalat Shabbat by Shlomo haLevi Al-Qabets (translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi)

Contributor(s):

Shaul Vardi (translation), Levi Weiman-Kelman (translation) and Shlomo haLevi Al-Qabets

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8 February 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Ḳabbalat Shabbat

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Alphabetic Acrostic, לכה דודי Lekhah Dodi, שבת shabbat, acrostic, פיוטים piyyutim, 16th century C.E., 54th century A.M.

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
לְכָה דוֹדִי לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה. פְּנֵי שַׁבָּת נְקַבְּלָה.	Beloved, come to meet the bride – let us welcome Shabbat.
שָׁמוֹר וְזָכוֹר בְּדִבּוּר אֶחָד הִשְׁמִיעָנוּ אֵל הַמְיֻחָד, יהוה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד לְשֵׁם וּלְתִפְאֶרֶת וְלִתְהִלָּה.	“Keep” and “Remember” in a single utterance, The one El caused us to hear. YHVH is One, God’s name is One; For honor and glory and praise.
לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת לְכוּ וְנֵלְכָה, כִּי הִיא מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה, מֵרֹאשׁ מִקֶּדֶם נְסוּכָה, סוֹף מַעֲשֶׂה בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה תְּחִלָּה.	Let us go to meet Shabbat, For it is the source of blessing. Cast from the earliest time, Last created, first imagined.
מִקְדַּשׁ מֶלֶךְ עִיר מְלוּכָה, קוּמִי צְאִי מִתּוֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָה רַב לָךְ שֶׁבֶת בְּעֵמֶק הַבָּכָא וְהוּא יַחֲמֹל עָלַיִךְ חֶמְלָה.	Royal shrine, city of kings Rise up and leave your ravaged state. You have dwelt long enough in the valley of tears Now God will take pity on you.
הִתְנַעֲרִי מֵעָפָר קוּמִי, לִבְשִׁי בִּגְדֵי תִפְאַרְתֵּךְ עַמִּי, עַל יַד בֶּן יִשַׁי בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי קָרְבָה אֶל נַפְשִׁי גְאָלָהּ.	Lift yourself up! Shake off the dust! My people, array yourself in beautiful garments! Through Yishai’s son of Beit Leḥem, My soul’s deliverance draws near.
הִתְעוֹרְרִי הִתְעוֹרְרִי כִּי בָא אוֹרֵךְ קוּמִי אוֹרִי, עוּרִי עוּרִי שִׁיר דַּבֵּרִי, כְּבוֹד יהוה עָלַיִךְ נִגְלָה.	Awake, awake, Your light has come! Arise, shine, Wake up and sing: YHVH’s glory dawns upon you.
לֹא תֵבוֹשִׁי וְלֹא תִכָּלְמִי, מַה תִּשְׁתּוֹחֲחִי וּמַה תֶּהֱמִי, בָּךְ יֶחֱסוּ עֲנִיֵי עַמִּי, וְנִבְנְתָה עִיר עַל תִּלָּהּ.	An end to shame and degradation; Forget your sorrow; quiet your groans. The poor of my people find shelter in you, And a city is built on its ancient ruins.
וְהָיוּ לִמְשִׁסָה שֹׁאסָיִךְ, וְרָחֲקוּ כָּל מְבַלְּעָיִךְ יָשִׂישׂ עָלַיִךְ אֱלֹהָיִךְ כִּמְשׂוֹשׂ חָתָן עַל כַּלָּה.	The scavengers are scattered, Your devourers have fled; Your elo’ah will take joy in you. As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאל תִּפְרֹצִי, וְאֶת יהוה תַּעֲרִיצִי עַל יַד אִישׁ בֶּן פַּרְצִי וְנִשְׂמְחָה וְנָגִילָה.	Burst out to the left and to the right Adore YHVH Through the son of Perets We will exalt, we will sing for joy!
נוהגים לפנות לעבר המערב/הדלת לקבל פני שבת המלכה	It is customary at this point to rise and face the west/entrance.
בּוֹאִי בְשָׁלוֹם עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ גַּם בְּשִׂמְחָה וּבְצָהֳלָה תּוֹךְ אֱמוּנֵי עַם סְגֻלָּה, בּוֹאִי כַלָּה. בּוֹאִי כַלָּה.	Enter in peace, crown of God; Enter in gladness, enter in joy. Come to your cherished faithful people Enter, O bride! Enter, O bride!

This translation of the piyyut for Shabbat by Shlomo Al-Qabets can be found in HaAvodah SheBaLev – the Service of the Heart (Kehilat Kol HaNeshama, Jerusalem, 2007). “Adonai” is used as a circumlocution for the Tetragrammaton in the English translation. I have replaced ‘Adonai’ with ‘YHVH,’ God with ‘El,’ and ‘our God’ with ‘our elo’ah.’ –Aharon Varady.

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“לְכָה דוֹדִי | Lekhah Dodi, the piyyut for Ḳabbalat Shabbat by Shlomo haLevi Al-Qabets (translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Shaul Vardi (translation)

Shaul Vardi is a freelance translator and editor living in Jerusalem and active in the Reform community Kol HaNeshama (KKH). Among other liturgical projects, Shaul devised the transliteration methods used in KKH’s bilingual Siddur and in the bilingual accompaniment to the new Israeli Reform Siddur Tefilat Ha-Adam. He also composed the first Hebrew-language “mi she-berakh” for LGBTQI+ Pride Shabbat.

Levi Weiman-Kelman (translation)

Levi Weiman-Kelman is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Haneshama, a Reform community in Jerusalem devoted to prayer, study and social action. He is a founding member of Rabbis for Human Rights and teaches at the Hebrew Union College.

Shlomo haLevi Al-Qabets

Shlomo haLevi Al-Qabets (Hebrew: שלמה אלקבץ, also, al-kabetz, Alqabitz, Alqabes; ca. 1500 – 1576) was a rabbi, kabbalist and poet perhaps best known for his composition of the song Lekha Dodi. Alkabetz studied Torah under Rabbi Yosef Taitatzak. In 1529, he married the daughter of Yitzhak Cohen, a wealthy householder living in Salonica. Alkabetz gave his father-in-law a copy of his newly completed work Manot ha-Levi. He settled in Adrianople where he wrote Beit Hashem, Avotot Ahava, Ayelet Ahavim and Brit HaLevi. This latter work he dedicated to his admirers in Adrianople. His students included Rabbi Shmuel Ozida, author of Midrash Shmuel on Avot, and Rabbi Avraham Galante, author of Yareach Yakar on Zohar. His circle included Moshe Alsheich and Yosef Karo, as well as his famous brother-in-law Moshe Cordovero. Following the Tiqūn Leil Shavuot, Rabbi Shlomo and Rabbi Joseph Karo stayed awake all that night learning and during the recitation of the required texts, Rabbi Karo had a mystical experience: The Shekhinah appeared as a maggid, praising the circle and telling them to move to the Land of Israel. When they stayed up again the second night of Shavuot, the Shekhinah was adamant about their moving to the land of Israel. The account was recorded by Al-Qabets. He settled in Safed in 1535. His works written in Adrianople center on the holiness of the people Israel, the Land of Israel, and the specialness of the mitsvot. Al-Qabets accepts the tradition that Esther was married to Mordekhai before being taken to the king's palace and becoming queen, and even continued her relationship with Mordekhai after taking up her royal post. The view of midrash articulated by Al-Qabets and other members of the school of Joseph Taitatsak represents an extension of the view of the authority of the oral law and halakhic midrash to aggadic midrash and thus leads to the sanctification and near canonization of aggadic expansions of biblical narrative.

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Works of related interest:

sabbath princess (A. Irma Cohon 1921) - cropped

לְכָה דוֹדִי | Princess Sabbath, three stanzas of l’Khah Dodi by Shlomo al-Qabets (English adaptation by Angie Irma Cohon (1921)

Detail of the piyyut Lekha Dodi found in Seder haYom (Moshe ibn Makhir 1599)

לכה דודי (נוסח אחר)‏ | A different version of Lekhah Dodi found in R’ Moshe ibn Makhir’s Seder haYom (1599)

יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, a piyyut transmitted by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (ca. 16th c.) translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi

תהלים כ״ט | Psalms 29, translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi

תהלים צ״ב | Psalms 92, abridged translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul Vardi

Image: Pomegranite in Michal and Michael's garden by davi55king (License: CC-BY 2.0)

שָׁלוֹם לְךָ (לְבֶן) דּוֹדִי | Shalom Lekh (l’Ven) Dodi, by Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.)

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בְּרַח דּוֹדִי | A B’raḥ Dodi for Pesaḥ Sheni, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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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