"Shema ha'el ‘aneni batefillah" (Hear O Lord, answer my prayer)

Nashid for the Sabbath by Shlomo ben Sa'id, signed Shlomo. It serves as a sort of prologue to the reading of the psalms. It is usually sung during the Sabbath Ja'ala, and in wedding celebrations on the Thursday before the seven feast days (Kafih: 150). There is a clue to the name of the author both in the acrostic of the song and in the other internal words in the poem, which comprise coded versions of the names Shlomo and Sa'id. It is a prayer for salvation and the sanctity of the Sabbath and hymn of praise to God (Bahat, 1995: 86).

This recording features two pupils of Menahem Arussi with their teacher, who accompanies them in the background. In this version the poem is sung as an independent unit, and not as a prelude to a shira. Therefore the first part, consisting of the first two verses, is sung in flexible rhythmic style, like a nashid, while the next part, the remaining verses, is rhythmical, like a shira, and accompanied by hand-clapping. Every hemistich is repeated in a responsorial manner: one singer sings the first foot (----), while the second responds with the subsequent feet (----). The song closes with the blessing Vekulkem berukhim.