Friday, December 27, 2013

A shir with Ofir

I just found another video of Ofir Ben-Shitrit singing on The Voice.  I know this shir/song, "Katonti," from Israeli folk dancing, and Ofir herself is swaying to the music.  Enjoy!

Saturday, December 28, 2014, 9:37 PM update:
The interesting thing about watching this video was that, without the folk dance to distract me, I paid much closer attention to the song's lyrics than I usually do--given my limited Hebrew comprehension, I have enough trouble just trying to figure out the dance steps.  And a couple of phrases jumped out at me, even with my limited Hebrew--"sh'nei machanot, two camps," and "hatzileini na, rescue/deliver/save me (pick your preferred translation), please."  Hmm, they sounded familiar.  Sh'nei machanot?  Isn't that how Yaakov/Jacob ended up, the night before his reunion with his brother, Esav/Esau?  Was it possible that the lyrics were a biblical quotation?  So I turned back a few parashiot (weekly readings) in my trusty Chumash (Five Books of Moses), and sure enough, here are the lyrics (which end after the first two words of version 12):

B'reshit/Genesis, chapter 32


יא  קָטֹנְתִּי מִכֹּל הַחֲסָדִים, וּמִכָּל-הָאֱמֶת, אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ, אֶת-עַבְדֶּךָ:  כִּי בְמַקְלִי, עָבַרְתִּי אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן הַזֶּה, וְעַתָּה הָיִיתִי, לִשְׁנֵי מַחֲנוֹת.11 I am not worthy of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two camps.
יב  הַצִּילֵנִי נָא מִיַּד אָחִי, מִיַּד עֵשָׂו:  כִּי-יָרֵא אָנֹכִי, אֹתוֹ--פֶּן-יָבוֹא וְהִכַּנִי, אֵם עַל-בָּנִים.12 Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children.

2 Comments:

Blogger The Reform Baal Teshuvah said...

Yes, it's hard to focus on the lyrics of a song when someone is saying "rock,rock,brush; rock, rock, touch, double cherkessia, etc."

Also, I know that Ophir Shtrit's enunciation is better than the guy who sings Katonti on my rokdei ha'am groups recording.

Sun Dec 29, 01:19:00 AM 2013  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Ah, another veteran of the "Yemenite left, Yemenite right" crew. :) Have fun on the dance floor.

Hmm, I'll have to pay attention to the singer's enunciation the next time they place that dance.

Mon Dec 30, 10:00:00 AM 2013  

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