Beraḥ Dodi
BERAḤ DODI
BERAḤ DODI (Heb. בְּרַח דּוֹדִי; "make haste my beloved," Song of Songs 8:14), ge'ullah piyyut in the morning prayer of the first day of Passover in the Ashkenazi rite. It consists of three stanzas based upon the allegorical interpretation of the central motif of *Song of Songs according to which "the beloved" is the people of Israel and the "lover" is God. Israel implores the "lover" to hasten his return to his "beloved." It made use, at the end of each stanza, of the text of Song of Songs: "Behold he standeth behind our wall" (2:9); "Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh" (2:8); "This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (5:16). On the basis of the initials interwoven in this piyyut (שלמה יגדל בתוֹרה חזק), the authorship has been ascribed to the 10th-century liturgical poet Solomon b. Judah ha-Bavli. Another ge'ullah piyyut in the morning prayer of the second day of Passover recited outside Ereẓ Israel (Ashkenazi rite), and composed by *Meshullam b. Kalonymus (c. 1000 c.e.), bears the same name. This piyyut of four stanzas is based upon the same motif as the aforementioned one. A third piyyut by the same name is recited on the Sabbath during the Intermediate Days of Passover. This was composed by Simeon b. Isaac, who also lived in the 10th century.
bibliography:
Service of the Synagogue, tr. by I. Zangwill (London, 1954), 202.