← Western Sephardic Liturgical Classics
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ
Tsur Mishelo
“The Rock of whose food we have eaten” — a sung grace
Text & translation
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַלְנוּ בָּרְכוּ אֱמוּנַי, שָׂבַעְנוּ וְהוֹתַרְנוּ כִּדְבַר יְיָ.
Tsur mishelo akhalnu barekhu emunai, savaʿnu v’hotarnu kidvar Adonai.
The Rock of whose food we have eaten — bless God, my faithful ones; we have eaten our fill and have food to spare, as God has spoken. (refrain)
הַזָּן אֶת עוֹלָמוֹ רוֹעֵנוּ אָבִינוּ, אָכַלְנוּ אֶת לַחְמוֹ וְיֵינוֹ שָׁתִינוּ, עַל כֵּן נוֹדֶה לִשְׁמוֹ וּנְהַלְלוֹ בְּפִינוּ, אָמַרְנוּ וְעָנִינוּ אֵין קָדוֹשׁ כַּיְיָ.
Hazzan et olamo roʿenu avinu, akhalnu et laḥmo v’yeino shatinu; al ken nodeh lishmo un’hal’lo b’finu, amarnu v’aninu ein kadosh ka-Adonai.
The One who feeds the world, our Shepherd, our Maker — we have eaten of its bread and drunk of its wine; therefore we thank God’s Name and praise it aloud, saying and answering: none is holy like God.
The refrain returns after each stanza.
About this piece
A poetic grace after meals, anonymous and medieval, whose four stanzas mirror the four blessings of the Birkat Hamazon.
It is sung at the Sabbath table across the communities; here from Amsterdam and New York.
Recordings — Daniel Halfon
Amsterdam
New York
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.