[HANASHIR:8873] Eli Eli - English Verse

[Jeff Klepper <jeffklepper...>]

> The words to Eli, Eli were written by Hannah Senesh.  It was set to music by
> David Zahavi.  Not sure who wrote the English words.

The English translation that we sing is by Rabbi Sam Cook z'l, the first
director (maybe even the founder, not sure) of NFTY.  (His wife, Ray, was a
composer who wrote Jewish children's songs, her most enduring being the
Adonai Oz - the major key version - sung at the end of Birkat Hamazon*, but
I digress.)  The story told to me is that one day, while singing the song at
camp he got the idea for the English verse and came up with the first line,
"Oh Lord my God, I pray that these things never end."  The rest of the lyric
was easy.  The song was a huge hit in NFTY and camp in the late 60s.

*Speaking of Birkat Hamazon leads me to one more ethnomusicological
digression.  The familiar children's tune beginning, "Hamotzi lechem min
ha'aretz," was written by composer and Eastman professor Dr. Samuel Adler,
son of Cantor Hugo Adler, and if my memory serves me right, the original
words were something on the order of, "Our voices rise in joyful chorus as
our prayer is humbly said."  Times change, don't they...

I thought this info might be useful to Judah Cohen and all the other
ethnomusicologists among us ;->

Jeff Klepper

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