Hashkiveinu, for bass-baritone and piano (2010)
Duration: 4’
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Score excerpt
Commissioned by:
Cantor Zev Sonnenstein
Temple Beth El, Ormond Beach, FL
Premiere:
Cantor Zev Sonnenstein, baritone
Temple Beth El, Ormond Beach, FL
February 26, 2011
Performers in audio recording:
Russell Nadel, bass-baritone; Alice Maxfield, piano
Maplewood Park Place Retirement Community, Bethesda, MD
May 15, 2011
Text:
English translation taken from The Complete Artscroll Siddur,
Rabbis Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz, editors, published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., ©1990. Transliterations of the Hebrew are my own.
Hashkiveinu Adonai eloheinu l’shalom, v’ha-amideinu malkeinu l’chayim;
Ufros aleinu sukat sh’lomecha,
V’tak’neinu b’eitza tova mil’fanecha,
V’hoshieinu l’ma-an sh’mecha.
V’hagein ba-adeinu, v’haseir mei-aleinu, oyeiv, dever, v’cherev, v’ra-av, v’yagon;
V’haseir satan mil’faneinu umei-achareinu,
Uv’tzeil k’nafecha tastireinu –
Ki Eil shom’reinu umatzileinu ata;
Ki Eil melech chanun v’rachum ata.
Ushmor tzeiteinu uvo-einu – l’chayim ulshalom mei-ata v’ad olam.
Ufros aleinu sukat shlomecha.
Baruch ata Adonai, haporeis sukat shalom,
V’al kol amo Yisrael v’al Y’rushalayim.Lay us down to sleep, Lord our God, in peace, raise us erect, our King, to life;
And spread over us the shelter of Your peace.
Set us aright with good counsel from before Your presence,
And save us for Your Name’s sake.
Shield us, remove from us foe, plague, sword, famine, and woe;
And remove spiritual impediment from before us and behind us,
And in the shadow of Your wings shelter us –
For God Who protects and rescues us are You;
For God, the Gracious and Compassionate King, are You.
Safeguard our going and coming – for life and peace from now to eternity.
And spread over us the shelter of Your peace.
Blessed are you, God, Who spreads the shelter of peace upon us,
Upon all of His people Israel and upon Jerusalem.
Program Notes:
My setting of the famous Hashkiveinu text found in the Friday night Jewish prayer liturgy was inspired mostly by the text itself – the lullaby-like text of the first sentence, the increasingly impassionate pleas for safety and peace in the following sentences, and the closing benediction that to me revives the lullaby-like feel. Of course, I also owe a debt of gratitude to Janowski, Lewandowski, Davidson and other notable Jewish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, whose music I enjoy singing in my synagogue’s Choir, and whose sounds reverberated in my ears and helped to inspire me while I composed this setting.
This setting was requested by Cantorial Intern Zev M. Sonnenstein, of Temple Beth El in Ormond Beach, FL, in July 2010 at the ACC/GTM Conference in Memphis. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to compose an original work for him, and I appreciate his encouragement and support and the support of his congregation.
— August 2010