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Lekha Dodi (Hebrew: לכה דודי)[a] is a Hebrew-language Jewish liturgical song recited Friday at dusk, usually at sundown, in synagogue to welcome the Sabbath prior to the evening services. It is part of Kabbalat Shabbat.
The refrain of Lekha Dodi means "Let us go, my beloved, to greet the bride/the Sabbath presence, let us welcome" and is a request of Israel's "beloved" (God) to join together in welcoming a "bride" (the sabbath). The phrase "Let us go, my beloved" is taken from Song of Songs 7:12 (7:11 in English bibles), which Abba b. Joseph b. Ḥama interpreted as Israel talking to God.[1] During the singing of the last verse, the entire congregation rises and turns to the west (traditional congregations face Jerusalem for the rest of services)[2] or to the door;[3] some have the custom to exit the sanctuary of the synagogue.[4] The congregation bows at "Come, O bride!" and turns back toward the front of the synagogue; some bow only forwards and others to the sides and then forwards.[5]
It was composed in the 16th century by Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, who was born in Thessaloniki and later became a Safed Kabbalist. As was common at the time, the song is also an acrostic, with the first letter of the first eight stanzas spelling the author's name. The author draws from the rabbinic interpretation of the Song of Songs, suggested as linguistically originating in the 3rd century BCE, in which the maiden is seen as a metaphor for an ancient Jewish population residing within Israel's biblical limits, and the lover (dod) is a metaphor for God, and from Nevi'im, which uses the same metaphor.[6] The poem shows Israel asking God to bring upon that great Shabbat of Messianic deliverance.[7] It is one of the latest of the Hebrew poems regularly accepted into the traditional liturgy.
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- ^ b. Eruvin 21b
- ^ "Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 242:40". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ "Mishnah Berurah 262:10". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ "Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 262:5". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ "Lecha Dodi- turning and bowing in Bo'ee BiShalom | Rabbi Ari Shvat | Ask the rabbi | yeshiva.co". Yeshiva Site. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ Hoffman, Lawrence A. Kabbalat Shabbat: (Welcoming Shabbat in the Synagogue). My People's Prayer Book.
- ^ Hammer, Reuven. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom For Shabbat and Festivals. 21.