Lekha Dodi (Hebrew: לכה דודי) is a Hebrew-language Jewish liturgical song recited Friday at dusk, usually at sundown, in synagogue to welcome the Sabbath prior to the evening services. It is part of Kabbalat Shabbat.
The refrain of Lekha Dodi means "Let us go, my beloved, to greet the bride/the Sabbath presence, let us welcome" and is a request of Israel's "beloved" (God) to join together in welcoming a "bride" (the sabbath). The phrase "Let us go, my beloved" is taken from Song of Songs 7:12 (7:11 in English bibles), which Abba b. Joseph b. Ḥama interpreted as Israel talking to God.[1] During the singing of the last verse, the entire congregation rises and turns to the west (traditional congregations face Jerusalem for the rest of services)[2] or to the door;[3] some have the custom to exit the sanctuary of the synagogue.[4] The congregation bows at "Come, O bride!" and turns back toward the front of the synagogue; some bow only forwards and others to the sides and then forwards.[5]
It was composed in the 16th century by Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, who was born in Thessaloniki and later became a Safed Kabbalist. As was common at the time, the song is also an acrostic, with the first letter of the first eight stanzas spelling the author's name. The author draws from the rabbinic interpretation of Song of Songs in which the maiden is seen as a metaphor for the Jews and the lover (dod) is a metaphor for God, and from Nevi'im, which uses the same metaphor.[6] The poem shows Israel asking God to bring upon that great Shabbat of Messianic deliverance.[7] It is one of the latest of the Hebrew poems regularly accepted into the traditional liturgy.
Already in the early 20th century, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn recorded hundreds of different tunes used for Lekha Dodi.[8]
Among some Sephardic congregations, the hymn is sometimes chanted to an ancient Moorish melody, which is known to be much older than the text of Lekha Dodi. This is clear not only from internal evidence, but also from the rubric in old siddurim directing the hymn "to be sung to the melody of Shuvi Nafshi li-Menukhayekhi, a composition of Judah Halevi, who died nearly five centuries before Alkabetz. In this rendering, carried to Israel by Spanish refugees before the days of Alkabetz, the hymn is chanted congregationally, the refrain being employed as an introduction only.
In some very old-style Ashkenazic synagogues the verses are ordinarily chanted at elaborate length by the hazzan, and the refrain is used as a congregational response, but in most Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogues it is sung by everyone together to any of a large number of tunes. This includes the Orthodox Synagogues who employ this element and Synagogues under the Modern-Orthodox umbrella.
At certain periods of the year, many northern congregations discard later compositions in favor of two simple older melodies singularly reminiscent of the folk-song of northern Europe in the century succeeding that in which the verses were written. The better known of these is an air, reserved for the Omer weeks between Passover and Shavuot, which has been variously described, because of certain of its phrases, as an adaptation of the famous political song "Lillibullero" and of the cavatina in the beginning of Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro." But resemblances to German folk-song of the end of the seventeenth century may be found generally throughout the melody.
Less widely utilized in the present day is the special air traditional for the "Three Weeks" preceding Tisha b'Av, although this is characterized by much tender charm absent from the melody of Eli Tziyyon, which more often takes its place. But it was once very generally sung in the northern congregations of Europe; and a variant was chosen by Benedetto Marcello for his rendition of Psalm 19 in his "Estro Poetico-Armonico" or "Parafrasi Sopra li Salmi" (Venice, 1724), where it is quoted as an air of the German Jews. Cantor Eduard Birnbaum discovered the source of this melody in a Polish folk-song, "Wezm ja Kontusz, Wezm",[9] given in Oskar Kolberg's "Piesni Ludu Polskiego" (Warsaw, 1857). An old melody, of similarly obvious folk-song origin, was favored in the London Jewry a century ago, and was sung in two slightly divergent forms in the old city synagogues. Both of these forms are given by Isaac Nathan in his setting of Byron's "Hebrew Melodies" (London, 1815), where they constitute the air selected for "She Walks in Beauty", the first verses in the series. The melody has since fallen out of use in English congregations and elsewhere.
The full version of the song (note that many Reform congregations omit verses 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 which make reference to messianic redemption),[10] while Sephardic congregations based in the Jerusalem and Aleppo rites omit verse 4 and verses 6 through 8, as they make reference to agony:[11]
| English translation | Hebrew | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chorus: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline1 | 1 | valign=top | Let’s go, my beloved, to meet the bride, | valign=top | Lekha dodi liqrat kallah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 2 | valign=top | Let us welcome the presence of Shabbat. | valign=top | p'ne Shabbat neqabelah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 1: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 3 | valign=top | "Safeguard" and "Remember" in a single utterance, | valign=top | Shamor v'zakhor b'dibur eḥad | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 4 | valign=top | We were made to hear by the unified God, | valign=top | hishmiʿanu El hameyuḥad | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 5 | valign=top | God is one and God’s Name is one, | valign=top | Adonai eḥad ushemo eḥad | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 6 | valign=top | In fame and splendor and praiseful song. | valign=top | L'Shem ul'tiferet v'lit'hilah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 2: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 7 | valign=top | To greet Shabbat let’s go, let's be gone, | valign=top | Liqrat Shabbat lekhu v'neLekha | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 8 | valign=top | For she is the wellspring of blessing, | valign=top | ki hi m'qor haberakhah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 9 | valign=top | From the start, from ancient times she was chosen, | valign=top | merosh miqedem nesukhah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 10 | valign=top | Last made, but first planned. | valign=top | sof maʿaseh b'maḥashavah teḥilah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 3: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 11 | valign=top | Sanctuary of the king, royal city, | valign=top | Miqdash melekhʿir melukhah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 12 | valign=top | Arise! Leave from the midst of the turmoil; | valign=top | Qumi tz'i mitokh ha-hafekhah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 13 | valign=top | Long enough have you sat in the valley of tears | valign=top | Rav lakh shevet b'emeq habakha | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 14 | valign=top | And He will take great pity upon you compassionately. | valign=top | v'hu yaḥamol ʿalayikh ḥemlah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 4: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 15 | valign=top | Shake yourself free, rise from the dust, | valign=top | Hitnaʿari me'afar qumi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 16 | valign=top | Dress in your garments of splendor, my people, | valign=top | Livshi bigde tifartekh ʿami | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 17 | valign=top | By the hand of Jesse’s son of Bethlehem, | valign=top | ʿAl yad ben Yishai bet ha-laḥmi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 18 | valign=top | Draw near to my soul; redeem it. | valign=top | Qorvah el nafshi g'alah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 5: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 19 | valign=top | Rouse yourselves! Rouse yourselves | valign=top | Hitʿoreri hitʿoreri | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 20 | valign=top | Your light is coming, rise up and shine. | valign=top | Ki va orekh qumi ori | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 21 | valign=top | Awaken! Awaken | Utter a song, | valign=top | ʿUri ʿuri shir daberi | valign=top dir=rtl | |
| valign=top id=textline2 | 22 | valign=top | The glory of the Lord is revealed upon you. | valign=top | K'vod Adonai ʿalayikh niglah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 6: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 23 | valign=top | Do not be embarrassed! Do not be ashamed | valign=top | Lo tevoshi v'lo tikalmi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 24 | valign=top | Why be downcast? Why groan? | valign=top | Mah tishtoḥaḥi umah tehemi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 25 | valign=top | All my afflicted people will find refuge within you | valign=top | bakh yeḥesu ʿaniye ʿami | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 26 | valign=top | And the city shall be rebuilt on her hill. | valign=top | v'nivnetah ʿir ʿal tilah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 7: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 27 | valign=top | Your despoilers will become spoil, | valign=top | V'hayu limshisah shosayikh | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 28 | valign=top | Far away shall be any who would devour you, | valign=top | V'raḥaqu kol mevalʿayikh | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 29 | valign=top | Your God will rejoice concerning you, | valign=top | Yasisʿalayikh Elohayikh | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 30 | valign=top | As a groom rejoices over a bride. | valign=top | Kimsos ḥatan ʿal kalah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 8: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 31 | valign=top | To your right and your left you will burst forth, | valign=top | Yamin usmol tifrotzi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 32 | valign=top | And the Lord will you revere | valign=top | V'et Adonai taʿaritzi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 33 | valign=top | By the hand of a child of Peretz, | valign=top | ʿAl yad ish ben Partzi | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 34 | valign=top | We will rejoice and sing happily. | valign=top | V'nismeḥah v'nagilah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| Verse 9: | ||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 35 | valign=top | Come in peace, crown of her husband, | valign=top | Boi v'shalom ateret baʿalah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 36 | valign=top | Both in happiness and in jubilation | valign=top | Gam b'simḥah uvetzoholah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 37 | valign=top | Amidst the faithful of the treasured nation | valign=top | Tokh emune ʿam segulah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 38 | valign=top | Come O Bride! Come O Bride | valign=top | Boi khalah boi khalah | valign=top dir=rtl | ||
In the Sephardic rite and Chasidic tradition the last section is replaced with:
| English translation | Hebrew | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verse 9: | |||||||||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 35 | valign=top | Come in peace, crown of her husband, | valign=top | Boi v'shalom ateret baʿalahh | valign=top dir=rtl | |||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 36 | valign=top | Both in song and in jubilation | valign=top | Gam b'rinah uvtzaholah | valign=top dir=rtl | |||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 37 | valign=top | Amidst the faithful of the treasured nation | valign=top | Tokh emune ʿam segulah | valign=top dir=rtl | |||
| valign=top id=textline2 | 38 | valign=top | Come O Bride! Shabbat Queen | valign=top | Boi khallah Shabbat malketa | valign=top dir=rtl |
Hebrew book with English introduction: Reuven Kimelman, The Mystical Meaning of ‘Lekha Dodi’ and ‘Kabbalat Shabbat’, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, and Cherub Press, 2003