09/08/2026
🤍 In just a few short days, we will be entering the portal of the High Holidays and, with it, the new year. During this season, we are invited to engage with cheshbon hanefesh, accounting of the soul, and dig deep into the goings-on of our inner world. In that spirit, we are revisiting a traditional morning piyyut (hashkama) shared by LMPS teachers Neta Elkayam and Amit Hai Cohen at this year’s summer retreat. It’s called “Simu Lev Al haNeshama (Pay Heed to the Soul)”, and was written by Rabbi Shmaya Kosson (16th c), and sung by Neta Elkayam in the musical language of the Algerian Andalusian tradition (Mode: Tba‘3 Dil). Stay tuned for a full recording, coming soon!
Please find the full lyrics and translation below:
אוֹדֶה לָאֵל לֵבָב חוֹקֵר בְּרָן-יַחַד כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר
שִׂימוּ לֵב עַל הַנְּשָׁמָה לֶשֶׁם שְׁבוֹ וְאַחְלָמָה
וְאוֹרָהּ כְּאוֹר הַחַמָּה שִׁבְעָתַיִם כְּאוֹר בֹּקֶר
מִכִּסֵּא כָבוֹד חֻצָּבָה לָגוּר בְּאֶרֶץ עֲרָבָה
לְהַצִילָהּ מִלֶּהָבָה וּלְהָאִירָהּ לִפְנוֹת בֹּקֶר
נֹעַם ד’ לַחֲזוֹת נִזְכֶּה וּבַשָּׁנָה הַזֹּאת
בִּשְׂמָחוֹת תַּחַת רְגָזוֹת בֹּקֶר תִּשְׁמַע קוֹלִי בֹּקֶר
Odeh la-El, levav choker
be-ran yachad koch’vei boker.
Simu lev al ha-neshama
leshem, shevo ve-achlama
Ve-ora ke-or ha-chama
shiv’atayim ke-or boker.
Mi-kiseh khavod chutzavah
lagur be-eretz arava,
Le-hatzila mi-lehava
u-le-ha-ira lifnot boker:
Noam Adonai la-chazot
nizkeh u-vashana hazot:
Bi-smachot tachat regazot
boker tishma koli boker.
Translation:
Pay heed, pay heed to your own soul
I thank the God who probes all hearts, When stars sing in the morning.
Pay heed, pay heed to your own soul:Opal, amethyst, and gold,
As bright as is the sun’s warm glow, Far brighter than the morning!
In this wilderness she r
