Baruch El Elyon is a

piyyut A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim, ; from ) is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and most follow some p ...

attributed to

Baruch ben Samuel Baruch ben Samuel (died April 25, 1221), also called Baruch of Mainz to distinguish him from Baruch ben Isaac, was a Talmudist and prolific '' payyeṭan'', who flourished in Mainz at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Writings He was a pu ...

of Mainz ( – 1221). The poem is acrostically signed "BaRUCH HaZaQ". Among

Ashkenazic Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language t ...

communities, it is a traditional

zemer Zemer (, ) is an Arab local council in the Central District of Israel. It is located in the Arab Triangle area, between Baqa al-Gharbiyye and Bat Hefer on Road 574. Zemer is the result of a merger of four villages – Bir al-Sika, Ibtan, Marj ...

for

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

lunch. Though one manuscript lists it at the end of the order for the Sabbath, Israel Isserlein (1390-1460) already sang it on Sabbath morning. The poem's theme is singing praises to God, who gave complete physical and mental rest to his people. The payytan describes the joy of Shabbat and its dignity, which is glorified with delicious food and festive clothes, the enormous reward that the keeper of the Sabbath will receive both now and in heaven, the powerful human experience of the Sabbath, the feelings it evokes, and the importance of Shabbat to God. According to the piyyut, the Sabbath breaks the natural routine of the weekdays and in the process elevates the Jew to another level. The piyyut also recalls that God will redeem his people because of the Sabbath: "

Yohanan Yohanan ('), sometimes transcribed as Johanan, is a Hebrew male given name that can also appear in the longer form of ('), meaning "YHWH is gracious". The name is ancient, recorded as the name of Johanan, high priest of the Second Temple around ...

said that Shimon ben Yochai said, 'If Israel kept two Shabbats appropriately, we would immediately be redeemed'".

Text

The piyyut contains seven verses, each four lines with 12 syllables per line. The first and last verses rhyme on an ABABABAB pattern, while the middle five verses follow an ABABABCD pattern, where C rhymes with A (4x) or B (1x) and D rhymes with the first verse. One 13th-century manuscript of

Machzor Vitry Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry (; died 1105) was a French Talmudist of the 11th and 12th centuries, pupil of Rashi, and the compiler of ''Machzor Vitry''. He lived in Vitry-le-François. ''Machzor Vitry'' ''Machzor Vitry'' contains decisions and ru ...

contains verses 1, 2, and 4, spelling ברך. One 14th-century fragment includes verses 6-7. Another manuscript of Machzor Vitry contains all seven verses. MS Schocken 22, a machzor for the Jews of

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

, also includes the piyyut.

Hagadol version

An early alternative version of the last verse is found in NLI Ms. Heb. 8°844, a 15th-century

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...

, where it is marked as a " pizmon for

Shabbat Hagadol Special Shabbatot are Jewish Shabbat (Hebrew, שבת ''shabbath'') days on which special events are commemorated. Variations in the liturgy and special customs differentiate them from the other Shabbats (Hebrew, שבתות ''Shabbatot'') and each ...

". The piyyut mentions the commandment to eat matza and the Exodus.

References

{{reflist Sabbath Jewish music Jewish liturgical poems Zemirot