Shabbat Blessing

The meaning of Shabbat is - to celebrate time, not place. For six days we live our life under the repressive hand of things connected to space; On Shabbat we try to connect ourselves to holiness of time. On this day we are called upon to become part of the eternity of time, to turn away from results of production and to exert our attention to the secret of creation; to turn away from the world of creation, and to turn to the creation of the world.

- Heschel

 

Come my Beloved

To greet the bride

Let us welcome the Shabbat

A Peaceful and blessed Shabbat.

 

A Sorrowful Song / Rachel

Do you hear my voice, far one of mine?

Do you hear my voice, wherever you are?

A voice calls fiercely, a voice cries silently

and above time commands blessing.

 

This earth is large and in it there are many paths

meeting narrowly, separating forever.

A man asks, but his legs - too weak,

He will not find what he has lost.

 

The last of my days is close, maybe,

Near is the day of farewell tears

I will wait for you until my life burns out,

as Rachel waited for her love.

 

Blessing Over the Candles

And the Lord said: Let there be light and there was light. And the Lord saw the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness.

And with the light that the Holy-One-Blessed-be-He created on the first day, a person is able to see from one end of the world to the other end of it.

 

When the Holy-One-Blessed-be-He watched humans and saw their deeds were corrupt, he hid it from them.

And the Lord created the small luminary to rule at night with the stars and He positioned them in the firmament of the skies to separate between the light and the darkness. And why was it necessary to separate them? So that man's soul would, from then on, search the great light that was hidden.

 

And where was the light hidden? In the hearts of people. And when they dedicate their hearts to one another, the light will emanate from them once again. When we light the candles, we wish for a week of togetherness, attentiveness and benevolence.

Blessed are you G-d, our Lord, King of the universe, who commanded us to light the Shabbat candles.

- Nir Rubin

​

 

The Melody is Yet Returning

The melody that you abandoned in vain is returning

and the path is still opened to your light

And a cloud in it skies and a tree in its rain

still anticipate you, passerby

 

And the wind shall arise in a flight of seesaws

the lightening shall pass over you

And a lamb and a doe shall witness

that you patted them and continued to walk

 

That your hands are empty and your city – far off

and more than once did you bow down to

a green forest and a woman's laughter

and tree tops with rainy eyelids.

 

 

Grey Blow/Monica Sex

She said, Look 
life is pretty easy 
We will rent a room in south Tel Aviv 
and live like big people 
And we'll live from minute to minute 
and we'll find temporary work - not serious 
And we'll apply for unemployment as well
Maybe you'll find some subject for writing on - too 
Not something deep, something sweet 
a love story 
with lots of metaphors 
with lots of images 
The hero will be drunk

just as you are – in real life.

 

There is a beautiful pain that passes quickly 
when I wish – not to recall 
how I stood there 
how I told her 
This is how you are beautiful
This is what you need 
This is what I want 
And this is how it will be. 

 

It happened last autumn

It descends like a grey blow on the city

I remember her saying

I remember how everything crumbled

Perhaps you recall

What do you say

What are you saying now

Perhaps I'll find some topic for writing

Not something important, something sad

A love story

without metaphors and with no similes

The hero shall be a drunkard

Just as I am – in real life

 

There is a beautiful pain...

 

On Hot Summer Nights

Lyrics: Dan Minster

Music: Matti Caspi

 

On hot summer nights
nothing happens
Maybe a star vanished through
an open window
Maybe a cricket's chirp will be heard afar
But even the clock doesn't tick
On hot summer nights
nothing happens

Under the fruit tree in the village
We sit and talk
read a book with an old smell
Shut (our) eyes and are quiet
Nothing else happens
On hot summer nights
We sit and talk

 

Blessing Over the Wine

When we pour the wine, we sign a treaty between us: a brotherly covenant, a covenant of blood, a circumcision (brit).

When we drink some wine, for a moment we'll become a single entity, a united group – which like wine: is comprised of many and multifarious grapes, who remove their peals and converge into a single unit.

How delightful, wine!

­ - Alpaca Group

 

A Happy Song

Even if our heads droop

and sadness surrounds us-

Let's get refueled

with the joy from within.

 

Hey, hey, let's get filled

with joy, as much as can be seen

Hey, hey, sing rise, rise

rise and burn oh wine!

​

Rise and burn like fire

And ignite within us – power!

too bad for he who despairs,

Tonight you must be happy!

 

Hey! hey! tonight – shall be redeemed

all those who have a soul within them

Hey, hey, any man of Israel

has a spark of comfort in him!

 

Shabbat Morning/ Tirzah Atar and Yoni Rechter

Shabbat morning! Beautiful day,

Mother drinks lots of coffee

Father reads lots of newspaper

and they'll buy me lots of balloon

 

We can go to the Yarkon,

to row in a boat,

or to take a walk until the end of the street

and then - get back,

we can pick flowers,

those that are permitted,

and we can go to the garden

and find out it's closed.

 

Blessing over the Challah

I don't need a thing to fertilize me

perhaps, aside of a handful of wheat kernels

intermingled in a stormy wind

And to the washerwomen who stand at the side of the road

and watch me with doubt

I could show a fresh loaf of bread

I had given birth to - just today.

- Rivka Miriam

 

Tranquility / Avi Koren and Yair Rosenblum

A moon is lit above the army 
base a star shines over the tents
Time stretches like rubber 
it is Friday night, no taste no smell
And the silence tears the heart

 

What calmness and peacefulness we do nothing
What calmness and peacefulness and another week has passed

 

The Shabbat doesn't want to end 
we read all the newspapers already
We sang all the songs we normally sing around the bon fire
We mended the hole in the sock and finished all the cross words

What calmness...

I haven't received any letter from you 
In a minute the commander will arrive
And will probably promise again:
So buy two good tickets 
and I will come soon to my regular time off

 

what calmness...

 

The Valley Song / Nathan Alterman and Daniel Sambursky

Rest has come to the weary
and calm to the toiler.
A pale night unfolds
over the fields of the Jezreel Valley.
Dew below and a moon above
from Beit Alfa to Nahalal.

What, what from night to night?
Silence in the Jezreel.
Slumber valley, wondrous land,
we are your guard.

The sea of grain sways,
the song of the herd rings out,
this is my land and her fields,
this is the Jezreel Valley.
Blessed be my land and gloried
from Beit Alfa to Nahalal.

What, what...

Gloom on Mount Gilboa,
a horse gallops from shade to shade.
A cry rises high,
from the fields of the Jezreel Valley.
Who fired and who fell
between Beit Alfa and Nahalal?

What, what...