One of the standard Friday night zemirot, and the one that argues rather than praises. Its claim is that the Sabbath is evidence — that the people who keep it and remember it are witnesses to how the world was made, and that the day itself is the testimony. Five stanzas, each rhyming on one sound throughout, and the acrostic of the first letters spells a name that is no longer certain.
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♪ TuningE A D G B E
Key: Am · 3 chords used ·Am · Dm · E
108 BPM · 4/4 · one of the brisk Friday night zemirot · five stanzas of four lines, and each stanza rhymes on a single sound · to reset the chord panel:
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Those who keep it and those who remember it, they are the witnesses
כִּי
ki
for, because
לְשִׁשָּׁה
le-shi-SHA
in six
כֹּל
kol
all
בְּרוּאִים
bru-IM
created things
וְעוֹמְדִים
ve-om-DIM
and they stand
|E|Am|
that in six days all things were created, and they stand.
שׁוֹמְרָיו (shom-rav) and וְזוֹכְרָיו (ve-zoch-rav) are the two verbs of the two versions of the fourth commandment — keep it, in Deuteronomy, and remember it, in Exodus. The poem does not choose between them either; it makes the people who do both into witnesses, which is a legal word, and מְעִידִים (me-i-dim) is the legal term for testimony.
The inventory runs from the top of the sky to the animals, and the last line names the maker. בְּיָהּ (byah) is a short form of the divine name, the one that appears at the end of halleluyah, and putting it next to the full name in יְהֹוָה (a-do-nay) is deliberate.
keep it, to make it holy, from its coming in to its going out.
שַׁבָּת
sha-BAT
Sabbath of
קֹדֶשׁ
KO-desh
holiness
יוֹם
yom
day
חֶמְדָּתוֹ
chem-da-TO
His delight
|Dm|Am|
The holy Sabbath, the day of His delight,
כִּי
ki
for, because
בוֹ
vo
on it
שָׁבַת
sha-VAT
rested
אֵל
el
God
מִכָּל
mi-KAL
from all
מְלַאכְתּוֹ
mlach-TO
His work
|E|Am|
for on it God rested from all His work.
מִבֹּאוֹ (mi-bo-o) and צֵאתוֹ (tze-to) mark the boundaries of the day by sunset rather than by clock — its coming in and its going out — which is still the ordinary Hebrew for when Shabbat starts and ends. This is the practical stanza: the previous two argue, this one instructs.
By the commandment of the Sabbath God will strengthen you;
קוּם
kum
rise! (2ms)
קְרָא
kra
call! (2ms)
אֵלָיו
e-LAV
to Him
יָחִישׁ
ya-CHISH
He will hasten
לְאַמְּצָךְ
le-am-TZACH
to strengthen you
|Am|E|
rise, call out to Him, He will hurry to make you strong.
נִשְׁמַת
nish-MAT
the soul of
כָּל
kal
every
חַי
chai
living thing
וְגַם
ve-GAM
and also
נַעֲרִיצָךְ
na-a-ri-TZACH
we will revere You
|Dm|Am|
The soul of every living thing, and also we will revere You.
אֱכֹל
e-CHOL
eat! (2ms)
בְּשִׂמְחָה
be-sim-CHA
in joy
כִּי
ki
for, because
כְבָר
che-VAR
already
רָצָךְ
ra-TZACH
He has favoured you
|E|Am|
Eat in joy, for He has already accepted you.
אֱכֹל (e-chol) is an imperative — eat — and the reason given is that the acceptance has already happened. The poem is being sung at a table with food on it, and this is the line that gives permission to enjoy it, which is the ordinary theology of the Sabbath meal stated in five words.
With a double portion of bread and the great kiddush,
בְּרוֹב
brov
with abundance of
מַטְעַמִּים
mat-a-MIM
delicacies
וְרוּחַ
ve-RU-ach
and a spirit
נְדִיבָה
ne-di-VA
generous
|Am|E|
with abundance of delicacies and a generous spirit,
יִזְכּוּ
yiz-KU
they will merit
לְרַב
le-RAV
great
טוּב
tuv
good
הַמִּתְעַנְּגִים
ha-mit-an-GIM
those who take delight
בָּהּ
bah
in it
|Dm|Am|
those who take delight in it will merit great good,
בְּבִיאַת
be-vi-AT
at the coming of
גּוֹאֵל
go-EL
a redeemer
לְחַיֵּי
le-cha-YEI
for the life of
הָעוֹלָם
ha-o-LAM
the world
הַבָּא
ha-BA
the coming
|E|Am|
at the coming of the redeemer, for the life of the world to come.
בְּמִשְׁנֶה (be-mish-ne) is the two loaves on the table, named as the poem is being sung over them. It closes on הָעוֹלָם (ha-o-lam) and הַבָּא (ha-ba) — the world to come — so the last stanza runs from the bread in front of you to the end of history in four lines.
♫ Singing notes
Brisk. Around 108 BPM, faster than Tzur Mishelo, and it works well early in the meal while people still have energy.
Every line of a stanza rhymes with every other. If a line does not land on that sound, you have skipped one.
There is no refrain, which is what makes this one harder for guests than Tzur Mishelo — a table that does not know it will not join in halfway.
The last line of each stanza is where the melody resolves. Let it sit before starting the next.
♦ About this song
The argument
The song's claim is unusual for a table song: that Sabbath observance is evidence for creation, and that the observers are witnesses in the legal sense. It states the claim in the first stanza, produces the inventory of what was made in the second, and only then gets to the practicalities.
Keep and remember
Exodus says remember the Sabbath day; Deuteronomy says keep it. The difference has been discussed for two thousand years, and this poem simply uses both in one line and moves on.
Authorship
The acrostic spells a name, and which Moshe it refers to is not settled. Unlike Dror Yikra, whose author signed it and is known, this one carries a signature that no longer identifies anybody with certainty.
Hebrew: Siddur Ashkenaz, Shabbat, Shabbat Evening, Zemirot for Shabbat Evening, Menucha VeSimcha · The Metsudah siddur, 1981 · CC-BY, via Sefaria, pinned in this repo at content/songs/source/009.json.
English gloss lines authored for this site; the source translation is used as raw material only. Transliteration generated by this site's own engine (assets/translit.js).