בֶּנְדִּיגָמוֹס
Bendigamos
“Let us bless” — the Spanish grace of the Western Sephardim
Sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and family. From the family’s recordings of Western Sephardi home singing.
Text & translation
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
al Señor que nos crió,
démosle agradecimiento
por los bienes que nos dió.
Let us bless the Most High,
the One who raised us,
let us give thanks
for the good things we’ve received,
Alabado sea su Santo Nombre,
porque siempre nos apiadó.
Load al Señor que es bueno,
que para siempre su merced.
Praised be the Holy Name,
for the mercy shown to us;
praise the One Who is good,
for mercy everlasting.
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
por su Ley primeramente,
que liga a nuestra raza
con el cielo continuamente.
Let us bless the Most High,
first for the Torah
which connects us
with Heaven continually.
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
por el pan segundamente,
y también por los manjares
que comimos juntamente.
Let us bless the Most High,
secondly for the bread,
and also for the food
which we have eaten together.
Pues comimos y bebimos alegremente,
su merced nunca nos faltó.
Load al Señor que es bueno,
que para siempre su merced.
For we have eaten and drunk happily;
Divine mercy has not failed us.
Praise the One Who is good,
for mercy everlasting.
Bendita sea la casa esta,
el hogar de su presencia,
donde guardamos su fiesta
con alegría y permanencia.
Blessed be this house,
the home of the Divine presence,
where we keep the festivals
with happiness and permanence.
הוֹדוּ לַיְיָ, כִּי טוֹב, כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ.
Hodu la-Adonai, ki tov, ki l’olam ḥasdo. (×2)
Give thanks to God, who is good; whose love endures for ever. (×2)
Sung in Spanish, closing on the Hebrew refrain Hodu la-Adonai.
About this song
The great table-song of the Western Sephardim, sung — uniquely in their repertoire — in Spanish. It is widely thought to have originated among the Marranos of Bordeaux, and remained unknown in the other Spanish and Portuguese communities until the mid-twentieth century.
Hacham Solomon Gaon brought it from New York to London in the late 1950s, where it became a kind of communal anthem, sung around the Grace after Meals. It closes on the Hebrew verse Hodu la-Adonai ki tov; an extra beat at the head of each line lends it an Andalusian lilt.
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.