לְכָה דוֹדִי
Lekha Dodi
“Come, my Beloved” — welcoming the Sabbath bride
Kabbalat Shabbat · Solomon Alkabetz
Music · The Western Sephardi Rite
נְעִימוֹת הַתְּפִלָּה
Western Sephardic Liturgical Classics
The liturgical music of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews — psalms, piyyutim, and the great prayers of Sabbath, festival, and the Days of Awe — recorded by Hazzan Daniel Halfon.
About this collection
If At the Sephardi Table gathers the songs of the Western Sephardi home, this companion gathers the music of the synagogue: the psalms, piyyutim, Kaddishim, and great prayers of Sabbath, festival, and the Days of Awe, in the rite of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam, London, and New York.
The recordings are the work of Hazzan Daniel Halfon, who in his Multitrack Recordings project sings every line himself — melody and harmony — and layers them into a single chorus of one voice. There are 268 recordings here, across more than a hundred and seventy pieces and their community variants. They are offered freely, in the public domain; we present them with full credit and deep gratitude. A selection carries some representative Hebrew text, transliteration, and a non-gendered English translation; the rest are here to be heard.
The Hazzan
Hazzan Daniel Halfon
Born in London in 1955, Daniel Halfon grew up in the city’s historic Spanish and Portuguese community and trained under the hazzanim Abraham Beniso, Halfon Benarroch, and Eliezer Abinun. A classical baritone — he studied voice in New York with Neil Semer and was coached by Kenneth Newbern, and in Jerusalem with Jay Shir — he moved to New York in 1978 to serve as assistant hazzan at Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America.
For eighteen years he was hazzan of the Yad Harav Nissim Synagogue in Jerusalem, and in 2004 he founded the Kolot HaEsnoga Singers, which he still conducts. He is among the foremost interpreters, teachers, and documentarians of the Western Sephardi liturgical tradition. danielhalfon.com
On record
Kamti Le-Hallel
Halfon’s commercially available double album of the Western Sephardi rite: fifty pieces in new arrangements by Raymond Goldstein, sung with male chorus and chamber ensemble under Azi Schwartz, and issued by the Feher Jewish Music Center in Tel Aviv with a 200-page bilingual booklet of essays, texts, and composer biographies. Disc one carries the Sabbath and Rosh Hashanah; disc two, Yom Kippur and the Pilgrimage Festivals.
Banner: Solomon Alexander Hart, The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy, 1850.
Classics, with texts
A selection presented in full — Hebrew, transliteration, and a non-gendered translation. Press play to listen, or open any for its text.
יָהּ רִבּוֹן
Yah Ribon
“God, Sovereign of all worlds” — an Aramaic table-hymn
Sabbath table · Israel Najara
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ
Tsur Mishelo
“The Rock of whose food we have eaten” — a sung grace
Grace after meals · anonymous, medieval
דְּרוֹר יִקְרָא
Deror Yikra
“Freedom shall be proclaimed” — Dunash ben Labrat
Sabbath table · Dunash ben Labrat
כִּי אֶשְׁמְרָה שַׁבָּת
Ki Eshm’rah Shabbat
“If I keep the Sabbath” — Abraham Ibn Ezra
Sabbath table · Abraham Ibn Ezra
מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת
Mizmor Shir l’Yom haShabbat
Psalm 92 — “A song for the Sabbath day”
Psalm 92 · the Sabbath psalm
יְיָ רֹעִי
Adonai Roʿi
Psalm 23 — “God is my shepherd”
Psalm 23 · the third Sabbath meal
מִמַּעֲמַקִּים
Mima‘amakim
Psalm 130 — “Out of the depths”
Psalm 130 · a Song of Ascents
שָׂמַחְתִּי
Samaḥti
Psalm 122 — “I rejoiced”
Psalm 122 · a Song of Ascents
וְשָׁמְרוּ
V’shamru
“They shall keep the Sabbath” — Exodus 31
Exodus 31:16–17 · the sign of the Sabbath
וַיְכֻלּוּ
Vaykhulu
“And the heavens were completed” — Genesis 2
Genesis 2:1–3 · the Friday-evening sanctification
The complete archive
All 268 recordings, by piece (with their community and melody variants). Press any button to listen.
A
Abarekh Et Shem Hashem
Ach Tob Vachesed
Achot Ketanah
Adir Vena'or
Adon OlamOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Adon Olam Medley
Amar Ribi Elazar
Amen Shem NoraOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Amidah
Ana Keʾab Zedoni
Anenu Elohei Abraham
Aseh Lema'an
Ashamnu Bagadnu
Ashamnu Mikol Am
Ashrei Ha'am Yode'ei Teru'ah
Atanu Lechalot Panekha
Azharot
B
Bameh Madlikin
Barekhi Nafshi
Barekhu
Barukh HabaOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Barukh She'amar
Bemakhelot
Ben Adam
BendigamosOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Betset Yisrael Mimitsrayim
Birkat Kohanim
C
Chatan Na'im Aleh
Chishki Chizki
D
Deror YikraText & translation →
E
El Adon
El Dio Alto
El Melekh
El Nora Alilah
Eleh Mo'adei Hashem
Elekha Hashem
Elohei Oz TehilatiOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Elohim Eli Ata
Elohim Tseba'ot
En KelohenuOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
En Kelohenu Great Kaddish
Eshal
Essa EnaiOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Et Sha'arei Ratson
G
Gadelu-Romemu
H
Ha'el Lemosha'ot
Habu Lashem
Hadlakot Nerot Hanukkah
Hallel
Hallel (Hallelu)
Hallel (Hallelu) Pesach
Hallel (Hallelu) Rosh Hodesh
Hallel (Hallelu) Shabbat Rosh Hodesh
Hallel (Hallelu) Shabou'ot
Hallel (Hallelu) Sukkot
Hallel 1 (Hallelu)
Hallel 2 (Hallelu)
Hallel 3 (Hallelu)
Hallel 4 (Hallelu)
Hallel 6 (Hallelu) (Despedida)
Hallel d'Italia (Hallelu)
Halleluyah
Halleluyah _ Moss
Hama'arib Arabim
Hamabdil
Hamesiach Ilemim
Hanerot Hallalu
Hasdei Hashem
Hashem Aseh Lema’an Shemekha
Hashem Chonenu Vahakimenu
Hashem Hu Ha-Elohim
Hashem Malakh
Hashem Melekh
Hashem Mi Yagur Be'aholekha
Hashem Ro'iText & translation →
Hashem Tseba'ot Imanu
Hashibenu
Hashkibenu
Hodu Lashem Kiru Bishmo
Hosha'anot
I
Im Tashib
Ish Yehudi
K
Kaddish
Kaddish Le'ela
Kaddish Titkabal
Kaddish Yehe Shelama
Kal Nidrei
Kamti Lehallel
Keter
Ki Ba Sus Par'o
Ki Eshmera ShabbatText & translation →
Ki Lashem Hamelukha
Kohanekha
Kol Sasson
L
La'el Asher Shabat
La'el Barukh
Lamnatseach Binginot
Lekh Leshalom Geshem
Lekha DodiText & translation →
Lekha Dodi 1
Lekha Dodi 2
Lekhu Venashuba
Lema'ankha Elohai
Leshoni Bonanta
M
Ma She'akhalnuOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Maher Vehabe Alenu
Maoz Tsur
Me'en Sheba
Meyuchad
Mi Khamokha
Mizmor Shir Hanukat Habayit
Mizmor Shir Leyom HashabbatText & translation →
Moshe Ubnei Yisrael
Musaf (Part 1)
N
Nakdishakh
Nakdishakh (Ki Eshmera Shabbat)
Nishmat Kol Chai
O
Ochila La'el
Oseh Shalom
P
Pesach a la Mano
Pitchu Li
R
Ra'u Banim
Rachamana
S
Shehecheyanu
Shema Koli
Shezufat Shemesh
Shir Hama'alot Hineh
Shir Hama'alot Mima'amakimText & translation →
Shir Hama'alot SamachtiText & translation →
Shira Chadasha
Shirat Hayam
Shofet Kol Ha'aretz
Shomer Yisrael
Shuba Lim'onakh
Sos Assis
T
Te'anu VeTe'ateru Min Hashaamayim
Tehilat
Tehilat (Birkat Hamazon 1)
Tehilat (Birkat Hamazon 2)
Tehilat (Birkat Hamazon) Rosh Hashana Amsterdam
Tehilat ii
Tehilat iii
Todot ElOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Tsur MisheloText & translation →
U
Uba Letsiyon Go'el
Ubyom Simchatkhem
V
Va'ani Tefilati
Vaya'abor
VaykhuluText & translation →
Vehineh Bo'az
Vehu Rachum
VeshameruText & translation →
Vezot Hatorah
Y
Ya Vendra El Señor
Yah Ayom
Yah RibonText & translation →
Yah Shema
Yehallelu Et Shem Hashem
Yehe Shemeh
Yehi Chasdekha
YigdalOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Yigdal (Three Weeks)
Yigdal Medley
Yigdal Sukkot
Yimlokh
Yitgadal
Yitro
Yodukha Rayonai
Yom Zeh LeyisraelOn “At the Sephardi Table” →
Yonati
Yotser
Z
Zakhur Letob
In the living tradition
This music is the prayer of a living rite. It is sung today at Kehillah Kedoshah Zikhron Zvi, the egalitarian Western Sephardi congregation of the Hudson Valley — the community at the endpoint of the Program’s Sephardi Liturgy project.