יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל
Yom Zeh LeYisrael
“This day, for Israel…” — a Sabbath hymn
Sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and family. From the family’s recordings of Western Sephardi home singing.
Text & translation
יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה, שַׁבַּת מְנוּחָה.
Yom zeh l’Yisrael orah v’simḥah, Shabbat menuḥah.
This day, for Israel, is light and joy — a Sabbath of rest. (the refrain)
צִוִּיתָ פִּקּוּדִים בְּמַעֲמַד סִינַי, שַׁבָּת וּמוֹעֲדִים לִשְׁמֹר בְּכָל שָׁנַי, לַעֲרֹךְ לְפָנַי מַשְׂאֵת וַאֲרוּחָה, שַׁבַּת מְנוּחָה.
Tzivita pikkudim b’ma’amad Sinai, Shabbat umo’adim lishmor b’khol shanai, la’arokh l’fanai mas’et va’aruḥah, Shabbat menuḥah.
At Sinai You commanded Your precepts: to keep the Sabbath and the festivals through all my years, to set before me a banquet and a meal — a Sabbath of rest.
חֶמְדַּת הַלְּבָבוֹת לְאֻמָּה שְׁבוּרָה, לִנְפָשׁוֹת נִכְאָבוֹת נְשָׁמָה יְתֵרָה, לְנֶפֶשׁ מְצֵרָה תָּסִיר אֲנָחָה, שַׁבַּת מְנוּחָה.
Ḥemdat hal’vavot l’ummah sh’vurah, linfashot nikh’avot n’shamah yeterah, l’nefesh metzerah tasir anaḥah, Shabbat menuḥah.
Desire of hearts to a broken people, to aching souls an added soul; from the embittered soul it lifts the sigh — a Sabbath of rest.
קִדַּשְׁתָּ בֵּרַכְתָּ אוֹתוֹ מִכָּל יָמִים, בְּשֵׁשֶׁת כִּלִּיתָ מְלֶאכֶת עוֹלָמִים, בּוֹ מָצְאוּ עֲגוּמִים הַשְׁקֵט וּבִטְחָה, שַׁבַּת מְנוּחָה.
Kiddashta berakhta oto mikkol yamim, b’sheshet killita m’lekhet olamim, bo matz’u agumim hashket uvitḥah, Shabbat menuḥah.
You sanctified and blessed it above all days; in six days You completed the work of the worlds; in it the grieving found quiet and trust — a Sabbath of rest.
The refrain Shabbat menuḥah returns after each verse; its opening word and the three stanzas spell the acrostic Yitzḥak — Isaac Luria, the Ari.
About this song
A Sabbath hymn whose stanzas spell the acrostic יִצְחָק — traditionally ascribed to Isaac Luria, the Ari (Safed, 16th century).
The Western Sephardim sing it to a festival Kaddish melody of the London community — a tune that, curiously, shares its contour with a Swiss song of 1793, Freut euch des Lebens, and surfaces across German-Jewish singing as well.
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.