Yedid Nefesh - Learn to Sing the Shabbat Piyyut

Attributed to the 16th century mystic R. Elazar Azikri, but possibly written much earlier, Yedid Nefesh is prayer of intense passion that is commonly sung on Shabbat. There's a wide variety of beautiful tunes for this piyyut, evoking every emotion from joyous uplift to bittersweet yearning. In this source sheet, we intersperse the prayer's text with sheet music and instructions. First, a performance of "Milt's Nigun - Yedid Nefesh" by Joey Weisenberg and the Hadar Ensemble, and then an instructional video teaching prayer leaders how to incorporate an original melody into communal services

This video is from Joey Weisenberg's virtual library of Master Classes in Jewish Song, where you can find hundreds of videos teaching how to lead prayers for Shabbat, Festivals, and beyond.

The first two parts of this nigun are wordless, with the only the third section applying to the text of the prayer itself. If you are planning to introduce this melody to a community during Friday evening services, it helps to teach it to select people beforehand so you have a few confident singers backing you while the rest of the congregation learns the tune for the first time in the moment. Here are the A and B parts of this melody....

For this first stanza of Yedid Nefesh, sing the C part of "Milt's Nigun" (sheet music below). Note that there are variations to the text of Yedid Nefesh depending on the siddur you are using.

ידיד נפש א׳-ו׳

ידיד נפש אב הרחמן

משוך עבדך אל רצונך

ירוץ עבדך כמו איָל

ישתחוה אל מול הדרך

כי יערב לו ידידותך

מנופת צוף וכל טעם.

Yedid Nefesh 1-6

My soul's beloved, merciful father,

Draw your surrendered to your will.

Your surrendered will run like a gazelle,

He will bow before your splendor.

For to him, your love is sweeter,

Than the dripping honeycomb, and any taste at all.

Return to parts A and B of "Milt's Nigun" before singing the next stanza...

ידיד נפש ז׳-י״ב

הדור נאה זיו העולם

נפשי חולת אהבתך

אנא אל נא, רפא נא לה

בהראות לה נועם זיוך

אז תתחזק ותתרפא

והיתה לָךְ שפחת עולם.

Yedid Nefesh 7-12

Resplendent, beautiful, radiance of the world,

My soul is sick for your amore,

Please, O God, heal her now,

By the beauty of your radiance, by showing her.

Then she will be strong, she will be healed,

And she will be your handmaiden forever more.

If your community has the patience and skill for it, repeat this pattern—wordless two-part nigun followed by the melody's third section being applied to the prayer text—for the final two stanzas.

ידיד נפש י״ג-י״ח

ותיק יהמו נא רחמיך

וחוס נא על בן אוהבך

כי זה כמה נכסוף נכסף

לראות בתפארת עוזך

אנא אלי מחמד ליבי

חושה נא ואל תתעלם.

Yedid Nefesh 13-18

Ancient one, rouse, please, your mercy.

Please, on your beloved son, have pity,

For so much has this yearning been,

To see your strength, in its beauty,

Please, my god, the love of my heart,

Hurry, please, and do not remain hidden.

ידיד נפש י״ט-כ״ד

הגלה נא ופרוס חביב

עלי את סוכת שלומך

תאיר ארץ מכבודך

נגילה ונשמחה בך

מהר אהוב כי בא מועד

וחנני כימי עולם.

Yedid Nefesh 19-24

Please, be revealed and spread the covering, beloved,

Upon me, the shelter of your tranquility

Illuminate the earth with your nobility

We will rejoice in you, we will be in festivity

Hurry, beloved, for the time has come,

And be good to me, like days long ago.

Additional audio recordings of melodies for Yedid Nefesh can be found in Hadar's Tefillah and Music database.

There's such a wide variety of beautiful tunes for Yedid Nefesh, many of them composed in recent years, that we compiled a playlist of our favorites.
Listen on Spotify.