Wednesday 14 May 2014

Bendigamos!

Hi All, 

This is a song which is traditionally sung, by Sephardi Jews, after meals. Whilst I personally only do so during Shabbat, it is a lovely song to sing & I am determined to maintain as much of the tradition of the Sepharadim as possible (our family survived Iraqi ethnic cleansing, so it is something worth preserving). Find it being sung on this link here .

Below is the Ladino and then the  English translation : 
Bendigamos
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
Al Señor que nos crió,
Démosle agradecimiento
Por los bienes que nos dió.
Alabado sea su Santo Nombre,
Porque siempre nos apiadó.
Load al Señor que es bueno,
Que para siempre su merced.
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
Por su Ley primeramente,
Que liga a nuestra raza
Con el cielo continuamente,
Alabado sea su Santo Nombre,
Porque siempre nos apiadó.
Load al Senor que es bueno,
Que para siempre su merced.
Bendigamos al Altísimo,
Por el pan segundamente,
Y también por los manjares
Que comimos juntamente.
Pues comimos y bebimos alegremente
Su merced nunca nos faltó.
Load al Señor que es bueno,
Que para siempre su merced.
Bendita sea la casa esta,
El hogar de su presencia,
Donde guardamos su fiesta,
Con alegría y permanencia.
Alabado sea su Santo Nombre,
Porque siempre nos apiadó.
Load al Señor que es bueno,
Que para siempre su merced.
.הוֹדוּ לַיָי כִּי־טוֹב. כּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ

Let us bless

Let us bless the Most High
The Lord who raised us,
Let us give him thanks
For the good things which he has given us.
Praised be his Holy Name,
Because he always took pity on us.
Praise the Lord, for he is good,
For his mercy is everlasting.
Let us bless the Most High
First for his Torah,
Which binds our nation
With heaven continually,
Praised be his Holy Name,
Because he always took pity on us.
Praise the Lord, for he is good,
For his mercy is everlasting.
Let us bless the Most High,
Secondly for the bread
And also for the foods
Which we have eaten together.
For we have eaten and drunk happily
His mercy has never failed us.
Praise the Lord, for he is good,
For his mercy is everlasting.
Blessed be this house,
The home of his presence,
Where we keep his feast,
With happiness and permanence.
Praised be his Holy Name,
Because he always took pity on us.
Praise the Lord, for he is good,
For his mercy is everlasting.
Give thanks to the L-rd, for He is good. His love is eternal 
 .


5 comments:

  1. I thought Jews spoke Yiddish, but this seems like Spanish to me? Iraq's in the middle east, so they speak arabic, not Latino of new mexico!!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Marcus,

      It is called Ladino, the international language of Sephardi Jews, which is a mixture of classical Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and a few other European languages . Iraq is in the middle east, 10 out of 10 for geography. And yes Arabic was my family's first language, after Hebrew, Ladino & English.

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  2. Love the hat ( & the song!). Reminds me of Welsh for some reason.

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  3. It's a good cultural tradition to keep. We sing a lot don't we? Such is the Jewish way, I guess.

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  4. Yep!! In fact, I think even when our people were being slaughtered, they went to die singing The Hope...

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