Lekha Dodi

lechah dodi

לְכָה דוֹדִי

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

In some congregations the following is said:

Hebrew

אָנָּא, בְּכֹחַ גְּדֻלַּת יְמִינְךָ, תַּתִּיר צְרוּרָה.
קַבֵּל רִנַּת עַמְּךָ, שַׂגְּבֵנוּ, טַהֲרֵנוּ, נוֹרָא.
נָא גִבּוֹר, דּוֹרְשֵׁי יִחוּדְךָ, כְּבָבַת שָׁמְרֵם.
בָּרְכֵם, טַהֲרֵם, רַחֲמֵי צִדְקָתְךָ תָּמִיד גָּמְלֵם.
חָסִין קָדוֹשׁ, בְּרֹב טוּבְךָ נַהֵל עֲדָתֶךָ.
יָחִיד גֵּאֶה, לְעַמְּךָ פְּנֵה, זוֹכְרֵי קְדֻשָּׁתֶךָ.
שַׁוְעָתֵנוּ קַבֵּל וּשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתֵנוּ, יוֹדֵעַ תַּעֲלוּמוֹת.
בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

Israeli

ana, b'choach g'dulat yeminecha, tatir tz'rurah.
kabel rinat amecha, sagvenu, taharenu, nora.
na gibor, doreshei yichudcha, k'vavat shamerem.
barechem, taharem, rachamei tzidkatcha tamid gamelem.
chasin kadosh, b'rov tuvcha nahel adatecha.
yachid ge-eh, le-amecha p'neh, zochrei k'dushatecha.
shavatenu kabel ushma tza-akatenu, yodea ta-alumot.
baruch shem k'vod malchuto le-olam va-ed.

On Yom Tov, Motza'ei Yom Tov and Shabbat Hol HaMo'ed, recite only the opening two and closing two stanzas of "Come, my Beloved."

Hebrew

לְכָה דוֹדִי לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה, פְּנֵי שַׁבָּת נְקַבְּלָה.
לְכָה דוֹדִי לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה, פְּנֵי שַׁבָּת נְקַבְּלָה.
שָׁמוֹר וְזָכוֹר בְּדִבּוּר אֶחָד
הִשְׁמִיעָנוּ אֵל הַמְּיֻחָד
יהוה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד
לְשֵׁם וּלְתִפְאֶרֶת וְלִתְהִלָּה.
לְכָה דוֹדִי לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה, פְּנֵי שַׁבָּת נְקַבְּלָה.

Israeli

lechah dodi likrat kalah, p'nei Shabat nekablah.
lechah dodi likrat kalah, p'nei Shabat nekablah.
shamor vezachor b'dibur echad
hishmi-anu El hameyuchad
Adonai echad ushmo echad
leshem uletiferet velithilah.
lechah dodi likrat kalah, p'nei Shabat nekablah.

Commentary

שָׁמוֹר וְזָכוֹר בְּדִבּוּר אֶחָד "Observe" and "Remember" in one act of speech: This refers to two versions of the Ten Commandments. In the first (Ex. 20:8), Israel was commanded to "Remember" the Sabbath; in the second (Deut. 5:12), to "observe" it. According to the sages, both were uttered at the same time. "Observe" refers to the negative commandment of Shabbat, the prohibition against work, while "Remember" refers to the positive commandment, to sanctify it in word and deed. The idea that both were spoken simultaneously …

אָנָּא, בְּכֹחַ Please, by the power: A hymn in seven lines, each of six words, whose initial letters spell out a mystical 42-letter name of God. It is attributed to Rabbi Neḥunya ben haKanah (second half of the first century CE).

לְכָה דוֹדִי Come, my Beloved: This song – the one original composition introduced into this service by the Safed kabbalists – was written by Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz. It is a work of surpassing beauty, speaking in turn of Shabbat, Jerusalem, the Jewish people, and the Messiah, before returning in its last verse to the Shabbat again. Artfully woven from biblical quotations, many of them drawn from Isaiah's prophecies of consolation, together with Talmudic and midrashic ideas, its first eight verses form an acrostic, spelling out the name of its author, Shlomo HaLevi.