Friday Eve, a poem by Rabbi Alter Abelson (1931)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=23490

Date: 2019-01-25

Last Updated: 2025-03-29

Categories: Ḳabbalat Shabbat, Se'udat Leil Shabbat

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Kohenet, Queens, romanticism, Sabbath Queen

Excerpt: The poem “Friday Eve” by Rabbi Alter Abelson (1931). . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Friday Eve
	An enchantress is my mother, Lo, she lifts a wizard hand; And she is the queen of fairies, And our home is fairyland.
	Like an altar, glows the table— Bread and light and rosy wine; And from all, a golden fable Trails like glories from a shrine.
	Seven knights bedight with silver Lift their banners, brands of flame— Hailing Princess Sabbath’s advent With her retinue of fame,
	With her nurse Repose and Quiet, With her maidens Mirth and Health, With her Governess of Wisdom Guarding all the spirit’s wealth.
	And the Priestess is my mother, Hands uplifted by the light, All she blesses and transfigures Bringing daylight on the night.
	And ethereal snow and fire, Wine and milk of Paradise, Is her haloed countenance, A sheḳinah of smiles and sighs.
	All in Sabbath dress arrayed Shine like Solomon on his throne; And like harps in heaven played, Hymeneal hymns intone.

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The poem “Friday Eve” can be found in Alter Abelson’s collection of poetry, Sambatyon and other Poems, vol. 1 (New York: Ariel Publications, 1931), p. 79.

Source(s)

Friday Eve by Rabbi Alter Abelson (1931)

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Alter Abelson
  Bio: Scholar, poet, and translator Alter Abelson was born in Lithuania on July 17, 1880, and grew up in Manhattan, where he studied John Keats, John Milton, William Shakespeare, and Percy Shelley. In 1903 he received his Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 1920 received a law degree from the New Jersey Law School (now Rutgers). Abelson, who served as a rabbi in synagogues in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, also served as a chaplain for the New York Board of Rabbis from 1947 to his retirement in 1960. Abelson authored four poetry collections, Helen and Shulamith (Whittier Books, 1959), Songs of Labor (Paebar Co. Publishers, 1947), Sonnets of Motherhood (1938), and Sambatyon and Other Poems (The Ariel Publications, 1931), and translated work by the Hebrew poets Judah Halevi and Chaim Nachman Bialik. He died in 1964.
  Website: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/alter-abelson
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/alter-abelson
• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
  Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
  Website: https://aharon.varady.net
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription

Featured Image:

Title: 1024px-William_Blake_Richmond_-_Venus_and_Anchises_-_Google_Art_Project
Caption: "Venus and Anchises" by William Blake Richmond (circa 1889)