Notes from Cantor Avima

     Ana B'Koach is a mystical prayer that is recited or sung on Friday nights between the six Kabbalat Shabbat psalms and L'cha Dodi. Honestly I hadn't really heard of it until shortly before I came to Adath Shalom. I only came to know it through a couple of very soulful melodies I had heard. I cannot pretend to understand the poetry of this meditation. The poem is attributed to Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaKannah who lived in the early centuries of the common era. Kabbalists attribute all kinds of mystical interpretations and powers to this 7 line poem. To begin with, there are 7 lines to the poem, each line having 6 words.

     Each word of the poem are said to combine to reveal a 42 letter name of God. Furthermore,  the first letter of each word in  each of the six lines are combined to form a six letter name of God which is an attribute of the 42 letter name of God. This thought alone makes my head spin. There are many, many mostly kabbalistic interpretations of this prayer and also relegating to it powers.

     The first line can be translated as: "Please, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles". Some call upon these words as a prayer to ask God to clear obstacles, either physical or emotional . Others read into these words a desperate plea that God free captives and therefore many synagogues have included this prayer in their Friday night liturgy since Oct. 7. 

     I am only starting to try to understand these words which we have been singing every Friday night. Here is a video that features the haunting melody written by Ovadia Hamama along with a line by line kabbalistic interpretation of the words. Ana B'Koach

    And, if that isn't enough, here is the same melody sung by the choir of The Hampton Synagogue. Ana B'Koach Hampton Synagogue. 

     And, one more: Ana B'Koach - Hila Ben David