Hosha na even sh'siya

Sung in Hebrew

(This poem, recited during the Sukkot festival, is a paragraph dedicated to Jerusalem the city and to the holy temple that stood in its midst.

The poem begins with the phrase “Please help for the sake of…” which becomes the refrain, and continues on with an alphabetic acrostic.)

Please help for the sake of…

א. even sh’ti’a: the temple’s foundation stone.

ב. bet hab’ḥira: the home that God chose for himself.

ג. goren arnan: the threshing floor upon which the temple was built.

ד. d’vir hamutzna: the hidden palace— the Holy of the Holies— a closed room where the tablets of the law were placed in an ark— a room never opened except for the entrance of the high priest on Yom Kippur.

ה. har hamoriya: Mount Moria— the Temple Mount.

ו. v’har yera’e: the mountain where God is to be seen.

ז. zvul tifartekha: God’s glorious royal residence.

ח. hana david: the city where king David camped.

ט. tov hall’vanon: the glory of the temple mount, which is connected in scripture to the glories of Lebanon.

י. y’fe nof m’sos kol ha’aretz: city of ecstatic beauty—the joy of all the world, Jerusalem.

כ. k’lilat yofi: the sum of all beauty, Jerusalem.

ל. linat hatzedek: the city where righteousness dwells, Jerusalem.

מ. makhon l’shivt’kha: the place for God to dwell, Jerusalem.

נ. nave sha’anan: the secure homestead, Jerusalem.

ס. sukat shalem: ancient Jerusalem, which eventually became Gods abode.

ע. ali’yat shvatim: the place to where the tribes of Israel came up for the pilgrimage festivals, Jerusalem.

פ. pinnat yikrat: a small most precious corner of the world, Jerusalem.

צ. tziyon ham’tzuyenet: Zion, distinguished in good deeds.

ק. kodesh hakadoshim: the temple’s holiest room—the Holy of the Holies.

ר. ratzuf ahava: the three elements bonded in love: the ark, the cherubim and the tablets of the law.

ש. skhinat k’vodekha: God’s holy presence.

ת. tel talpi’yot: the Temple Mount; all corners of the earth face it.

Hosha na, for the sake of all of these, help us!