Im tashiv (Qiddush shel Shabbat)

The sanctification (qiddush) of the Sabbath Day over the wine, a selection of Biblical verses, is sung prior to the main meal during the Sabbath day. Its first section (Isaiah 58:13-14) is chanted according to the melody of the Haftarah, the additional Biblical readings (from the books of the Prophets) of the Sabbath Morning service. The melody changes to a different, declarative style on the verses veshamru bnei Yisrael et ha- shabbat ("The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath", Exodus 31:16-17). The statement is followed by a short quotation from the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:11) and this serves as a textual and musical transition to the major mode in which the benediction over the wine is chanted. This Portuguese qiddush is similar to the one sung in Moroccan Jewish urban centers and is a further testimony of the links between the Moroccan and the Western Sephardi liturgical music traditions.