← Western Sephardic Liturgical Classics
דְּרוֹר יִקְרָא
Deror Yikra
“Freedom shall be proclaimed” — Dunash ben Labrat
Text & translation
דְּרוֹר יִקְרָא לְבֵן עִם בַּת, וְיִנְצָרְכֶם כְּמוֹ בָבַת, נְעִים שִׁמְכֶם וְלֹא יֻשְׁבַּת, שְׁבוּ נוּחוּ בְּיוֹם שַׁבָּת.
D’ror yikra l’ven im bat, v’yintzorkhem k’mo vavat; n’ʿim shimkhem v’lo yushbat, sh’vu nuḥu b’yom Shabbat.
Freedom shall be proclaimed for daughter and for son, and God will keep you as the apple of the eye; pleasant is your name and shall not cease — sit, rest, on the Sabbath day.
דְּרֹשׁ נָוִי וְאוּלָמִי, וְאוֹת יֶשַׁע עֲשֵׂה עִמִּי, נְטַע שׂוֹרֵק בְּתוֹךְ כַּרְמִי, שְׁעֵה שַׁוְעַת בְּנֵי עַמִּי.
D’rosh navi v’ulami, v’ot yeshaʿ ʿaseh ʿimmi; n’taʿ sorek b’tokh karmi, sh’ʿeh shavʿat b’nei ʿammi.
Seek out my dwelling and my hall, and work for me a sign of deliverance; plant a choice vine within my vineyard, and heed the cry of my people’s children.
About this piece
One of the oldest of all Sabbath table-hymns, by Dunash ben Labrat (tenth-century Spain and Fez); its stanzas spell the poet’s name.
A song of Sabbath rest braided with a longing for redemption.
Recordings — Daniel Halfon
Amsterdam
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.