שבת-המלכה | Shabbat ha-malka | Sabbath Queen (1912)
Artist: Abraham Zvi Idelsohn (1882-1938)
Lyrics: Haim Nahman Bialik
Tune: Pinchas Minkovski (1859-1924)
The well-known Hebrew poet Haim Nahman Bialik wrote this song in Odessa between 1900-1903, when he worked as a teacher and edited Hebrew literary anthologies for a Hebrew school. The song is based on a Jewish piyyut for the Sabbath, "Shalom Alekhem" [Welcome!], which is sung in the home on Friday evenings after men return from the synagogue and before the family's Sabbath meal. The piyyut is based on ancient Jewish sources that imagine two angels accompanying those who return from synagogue on Friday evening.
The first verse of Shabbat ha-malka depicts the unification of nature and humankind with the coming of the Sabbath at sundown on Friday night. The second verse turns to the home: the singing and blessings around the Sabbath table, the candlelight, and the angels who protect these special moments of change from weekday to holy day.
In Sefer Ha-Shirim, Idelsohn included only two of the four verses that make up the song. Shabbat ha-malka is sung in synagogues, especially liberal ones, until today.
The melody was composed by Cantor Pinchas Minkovski (1859-1924), who worked mainly in Odessa. Minkovski was a friend of Bialik and part of the Jewish intellectual circle of Odessa at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The melody is in a major key, for two voices.
Included in
Scores
Original (PDF) Modernized (PDF)
Transliteration
