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וְשָׁמְרוּ
V’shamru
“They shall keep the Sabbath” — Exodus 31
Text & translation
וְשָׁמְרוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּת לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּת לְדֹרֹתָם בְּרִית עוֹלָם
V’shamru v’nei Yisrael et haShabbat, laʿasot et haShabbat l’dorotam b’rit olam.
The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath through their generations as an everlasting covenant.
בֵּינִי וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹת הִוא לְעֹלָם כִּי־שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים עָשָׂה יְיָ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שָׁבַת וַיִּנָּפַשׁ
Beini uvein b’nei Yisrael ot hi l’olam, ki sheshet yamim ʿasah Adonai et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz, uvayom hash’viʿi shavat vayyinnafash.
Between Me and the children of Israel it is a sign for ever, that in six days God made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day God ceased and rested.
About this piece
Two verses from Exodus, declaring the Sabbath an everlasting covenant and sign — sung in the Friday-evening and Sabbath-morning services.
Here in several settings, including an old Spanish melody.
Recordings — Daniel Halfon
London
Naumbourg · New York
Old Spanish
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.