קבר רחל | Kever rahel | Rachel's Tomb (1912)
Artist: Abraham Zvi Idelsohn (1882-1938)
Lyrics: Aba K. Shapira
Tune: Ben-Yehuda
This song was written by Aba Konstantin Shapira (1839-1900), a poet and photographer of the Hibat Zion movement, in St. Petersburg in 1887. It was published in Shire Yeshurun, in a section dedicated to the seasons. The original song has four verses. For Sefer Ha-Shirim, Idelsohn selected verses 1, 2, and 4, omitting verse 3.
In Kever rahel, the Jewish foremother, Rachel, emerges from her grave in Bet-Lehem and goes East to the Jordan River. She cries for her missing children (as described in Jeremiah), and her tears blend soundlessly with the waters of the river.
The poem received several melodies. Idelsohn (Ben-Yehuda) composed his own melody, for two voices, in a minor key.
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