The Rose Ensemble, Jordan Sramek, Founder/Artistic Director
Singers: Matthew Dean (soloist), Jordan Sramek, Mark Dietrich, Jake Endres
Instrumentalists: David Burk ('ud), Ginna Watson (rebec), Tim O'Keefe (darabuka)
SOURCE:
Our performance is based on a field recording provided by Or-Shalom, the Center for the preservation of Libyan Jewish
Heritage, Bat-Yam, Israel.
PROGRAM NOTES:
Et Sha’are Ratzón is a moving and dramatic piyyut (para-liturgical poem) written by Judah Samuel Abbas (ca. 1100). It is sung on Rosh Hashanah after the reading of the Haftarah, and preceding the blowing of the shofar. The poem contains the Midrashic version of the binding of Isaac (Midrash is the designation of a particular genre of rabbinic literature containing
anthologies and compilations of homilies). As the cantor sings the last verse, which refers to the ensuing blowing of the shofar, his voice imitates the tremolo of the teruah (a particular sound on the shofar). In some Oriental-Sephardic synagogues, this hymn is also chanted in Ladino.
HEBREW:
Et shaaré ratzón
le hipateach
yom eheye chapay
leEl shoteach
ana zechor na li
beyom hokheach.
(Ref.)`Oked vehane`ekad
vehamizbeach.
Beacharit nusa
besof ha`asarah
haben asher nolad
lecha misarah
im nafshecha bo `ad
meod nikshara
kum ha`alehu li
le`olah barah
`al har asher kavod
lecha zoreach
`oked vehane`ekad
vehamizbeach.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
At the time the gates of favor
are about to be opened;
on this day I spread forth
my hands to Thee, O God.
On this day of judgment,
(Ref.) Remember, in my favor, Abraham,
who was bound; Isaac, and the altar.
At the last of Abraham’s trials,
The last of the ten, [God said to him],
‘The son that Sarah hath borne unto thee—
that son to whom thy soul is bound—
go, and offer him up
as a pure burnt offering,
on the mount
where my glory shall appear unto thee
with shining splendor.’
Remember, in my favor…
