אֱלֹהֵי עֹז תְּהִלָּתִי
Elohei Oz Teḥillati
A baqashah for healing — acrostic “Eliakim”
Sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and family. From the family’s recordings of Western Sephardi home singing.
Text & translation
אֱלֹהֵי עֹז תְּהִלָּתִי, רְפָאֵנִי וְאֵרָפֵא, וְתֵן מַרְפֵּא לְמַחֲלָתִי, לְבַל אָמוּת וְאֶסָּפֶה.
Elohei oz teḥillati, refa’eni ve’erafe, veten marpe lemaḥalati, leval amut ve’esafe.
O God, Your strength I praise, heal me, that I be healed, and grant a cure for my sickness, that I not die and perish.
לְךָ אוֹדֶה בְּעוֹדִי חַי, בְּתוֹךְ רֵעַי וְגַם אַחַי, וְאַרְבֶּה מַהֲלַל שִׂיחִי, בְּקוֹל עָרֵב וְנִיב יָפֶה.
Lecha odeh be’odi ḥai, betoch re’ai vegam aḥai, ve’arbeh mahalal siḥi, bekol arev veniv yafe.
To You I will give thanks while I yet live, among my companions and my family, and I will multiply the praise of my song, with sweet voice and graceful speech.
יְשׁוּעָתְךָ תְּבוֹאֵנִי, וְעַל רַגְלַי תְּקִימֵנִי, בְּשׁוּבִי עוֹד אֱלֵי כַנִּי, לְטוֹבָתְךָ אֲנִי צוֹפֶה.
Yeshu’atcha tevo’eni, ve’al raglai tekimeni, beshuvi od elei kanni, letovatcha ani tzofe.
Let Your salvation come to me, and raise me up upon my feet, when I return once more to my place; for Your goodness I keep watch.
קְשׁוֹב כִּי רַב כְּאֵב לִבִּי, כְּאֵשׁ בּוֹעֵר בְּתוֹךְ קִרְבִּי, וְלֹא נוֹתְרָה נְשָׁמָה בִּי, וְכֹחִי הוּא מְאֹד רָפֶה.
Keshov ki rav ke’ev libbi, ke’esh bo’er betoch kirbi, velo notra neshama bi, vechoḥi hu me’od rafe.
Hearken, for great is the pain of my heart, like a fire burning within me; no breath is left in me, and my strength is utterly spent.
יְהִי נָא חַסְדְּךָ עָלַי, לְסָמְכֵנִי בְּמַעְגְּלַי, וְכָל יָמַי וְגַם לֵילַי, אֲהַלֶּלְךָ בְּנֹעַם פֶּה.
Yehi na ḥasdecha alai, lesamcheni bema’galai, vechol yamai vegam leilai, ahalelcha beno’am pe.
Let Your lovingkindness rest upon me, to uphold me along my paths, and all my days, my nights as well, I will praise You with pleasant speech.
מְחֵה פִּשְׁעִי כְּמוֹ עָנָן, בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָן, וְאֶרְאֶה וְאֶתְבּוֹנָן, מְקוֹם סַפִּיר וְגַם יָשְׁפֶה.
Meḥe fish’i kemo anan, betzel Shaddai yitlonan, ve’era’eh ve’etbonan, mekom sappir vegam yashfe.
Blot out my transgression like a cloud, let it shelter in the shadow of Shaddai, that I may behold and contemplate the place of sapphire and of jasper.
About this song
A baqashah (petitionary hymn) for healing, signed with the acrostic אֱלִיָּקִים (Eliakim) down the opening words of its six stanzas. Listed as anonymous in most catalogues; the acrostic underlies a traditional, unverified attribution to a Rishonim-era “R. Eliakim.”
Sung in several Sephardic and Mizraḥi rites — Iraq, Kurdistan, Morocco, and Persia (where it is also sung in mourning) — and printed among the pre-Shaḥarit baqashot in the Livorno Tefillat ha-Ḥodesh. A persistent tradition holds that the Ari sang it to a fixed melody. It deliberately reuses the rhyme-words of Judah HaLevi’s quatrain Eli refa’eni ve-erafe.
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.