Yedid Nefesh is a piyyut (poem) usually sung on Friday night just before the Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat) service begins.
According to Wikipedia, this beautiful poem is commonly attributed to the sixteenth century kabbalist, Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (1533-1600), who first published it in Sefer Charedim (published in Venice 1601), but Azikri did not claim authorship of it and there have been other suggested authors (e.g. Judah Halevi, or Israel Nagara).
The first letters of each of the four verses make up the four letter name of God, known in English as the tetragrammaton.
This evening we welcome another Shabbat with the lilting melody of Yedid Nefesh sung by the group Moshav, presented as a dance in Jerusalem. It starts in a dance studio, swiftly moving from professional dancers to a flash mob of dancers in the city streets and at the pedestrian mall just outside the walls of the Old City.
Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!
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