LEKHA DODI
Go, my Beloved
The original song Lekha dodi in Hebrew לכה דודי Go my beloved is the 3rd original composition of the psalmist Sheinrose.
This famous canticle of the Jewish liturgy is sung in the synagogue on Friday evening at nightfall in order to welcome the "Shabbat bride" before the evening service.
It was written in the 16th century in Safed, then part of the Ottoman Empire, by one of the greatest kabbalists and mystical poets of his time, Shlomo Alkabetz, a Sephardic Jew from Salonica.
This piyyout, a Jewish liturgical poem, speaks of the sufferings of the Jewish people and their aspirations for redemption.
Shlomo Alkabetz understood his poetic invitation - Lekha Dodi - "Go my beloved" to greet "the bride" - as an inspiring act of meditation.
In his commentary on Song of Songs 7:12, the poetic phrase Lekha Dodi is titled: "Let's go to the fields": "This verse specifies here the necessary condition for prophetic inspiration, namely the need for self-imposed solitude. (hitbodedout).
The dialogue of lovers and the royalty implicit in the metaphors open us up to the mystical world of song.
LYRICS
Hebrew/French
לכה דודי לקראת כלה
Lekha dodi likrat kallah
Go, my beloved, to meet the bride
פני שבת נקבלה
Pnei Shabbat nekabelah
Let's welcome Shabbat
לקראת שבת לכו ונלכה
Likrat Shabbat lechu ve-nelechah
Meet Shabbos
Let's hurry
כי היא מקור הברכה
ki hi mekor haberachah
Because he is the source
Of every blessing
התנערי מעפר קומי
Hitna'ari me-afar kumi
Shake off the dust, get up!
(Isaiah 52-1:2)
התעוררי התעוררי
Hitoreri hitoreri
Wake up, wake up!
(Isaiah 51:17)
כי בא אורך קומי אורי
Ki va oreich kumi ori
Rise, my light, and illuminate
(Isaiah 60:1)
עורי עורי שיר דבי
Uri uri shir dabeiri
Awaken, awaken
Sing a song
(Judges 5:12)