אָמֵן אָמֵן שֵׁם נוֹרָא
Amen Amen Shem Norah
A piyyut in praise of the Torah
Sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and family. From the family’s recordings of Western Sephardi home singing.
Text & translation
אָמֵן אָמֵן אָמֵן שֵׁם נוֹרָא, אָמֵן אָמֵן אָמֵן.
Amen, amen, amen, shem nora, amen, amen, amen.
Amen, amen, amen — God’s awesome Name — amen, amen, amen!
אֵל אַדִּיר נוֹרָא וְאָיוֹם, לְעַמְּךָ תְּנָה פִדְיוֹם, וִיבָרֵךְ אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם, וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן.
El adir nora ve-ayom, le-ʿammekha tena fidyom, vivarekh etkhem ha-yom, ve-amar kol ha-ʿam amen.
God, You are mighty, awesome, and great, grant Your people a redemptive fate, so that they bless You this day — and let all the nation answer: Amen!
אֵל אַדִּיר וְנוֹרָא, יַגְדִּיל וְיַאְדִּיר הַתּוֹרָה, וְיִפְתַּח לָנוּ שַׁעֲרֵי אוֹרָה בִּמְהֵרָה, וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן.
El adir ve-nora, yagdil ve-yaʾdir ha-Torah, ve-yiftaḥ lanu shaʿarei orah bi-mherah, ve-amar kol ha-ʿam amen.
God, great Sovereign that You are, exalt and glorify the Torah, and speedily open for us the Gates of Light — and let all the nation answer: Amen!
נָא אֵל דַּל שׁוֹאֵל שַׂמֵּחַ, כִּי עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ, בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר וְלַמְנַצֵּחַ, וּבִירוּשָׁלַיִם אָמֵן.
Na El, dal shoʾel, sammeaḥ, ki ʿaleinu le-shabbeaḥ, be-shir mizmor ve-lamnatzeaḥ, u-virushalayim amen.
O gladden the poor souls who now beseech You, and may our prayerful praise rise to greet You, for ’tis our duty to hymn and entreat You — in Jerusalem — Amen.
וְאָשִׁיר בְּשִׁיר וְשֶׁבַח, בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר וְלַמְנַצֵּחַ, וְנֹאמַר עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ, וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן.
Ve-ashir be-shir va-shevaḥ, be-shir mizmor ve-lamnatzeaḥ, ve-nomar ʿaleinu le-shabbeaḥ, ve-amar kol ha-ʿam amen.
And I myself shall sing out in song and in praise, with the words of Psalms and “to the Chief Singer,” and with Aleinu Leshabbeaḥ — and let all the nation answer: Amen!
Singing translation by Marc Michael Epstein.
About this song
An anonymous strophic piyyut in praise of the Torah, found in several Sephardic rites and customarily sung on Simḥat Torah; this vocalized text follows the National Library of Israel Piyut and Tefillah edition.
It survives in both Western Sephardic (Amsterdam / London / New York) and Italian (Ancona) musical traditions; the stichographic line-division varies slightly by source.
In the living tradition
These are not museum pieces. The same songs are 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.