אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי
Esa Einai
Psalm 121 — “I lift my eyes to the mountains”
Sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and family. From the family’s recordings of Western Sephardi home singing.
Text & translation
שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת, אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל־הֶהָרִים, מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי.
Shir lama’alot, esa einai el heharim, me’ayin yavo ezri.
A song for ascents. I lift my eyes to the mountains — from where will my help come?
עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יְיָ, עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.
Ezri me’im Adonai, oseh shamayim va’aretz.
My help comes from God, Maker of heaven and earth.
אַל־יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ, אַל־יָנוּם שֹׁמְרֶךָ.
Al yitten lammot raglekha, al yanum shom’rekha.
God will not let your foot give way; your Guardian does not slumber.
הִנֵּה לֹא־יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן, שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Hinneh lo yanum v’lo yishan, shomer Yisrael.
See — the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
יְיָ שֹׁמְרֶךָ, יְיָ צִלְּךָ עַל־יַד יְמִינֶךָ.
Adonai shom’rekha, Adonai tzilkha al yad y’minekha.
God is your Guardian; God is your shade at your right hand.
יוֹמָם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא־יַכֶּכָּה, וְיָרֵחַ בַּלָּיְלָה.
Yomam hashemesh lo yakkekka, v’yare’aḥ ballaylah.
By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon by night.
יְיָ יִשְׁמָרְךָ מִכָּל־רָע, יִשְׁמֹר אֶת־נַפְשֶׁךָ.
Adonai yishmorkha mikkol ra, yishmor et nafshekha.
God will guard you from all harm, will guard your life.
יְיָ יִשְׁמָר־צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ, מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־עוֹלָם.
Adonai yishmor tzetkha uvo’ekha, me’atah v’ad olam.
God will guard your going and your coming, now and for ever.
About this song
Psalm 121, a Song of Ascents, sung by the Spanish and Portuguese at Havdalah, on the seam between Sabbath and week — “I lift my eyes to the mountains.”
The community’s usual setting is by the Victorian composer Charles Verrinder, organist to the West London congregation; the family’s recording keeps its quiet, watchful character.
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.