In the sixteenth century, the small town of Safed, located in the mountains of Galilee in northern Israel, was a center of Jewish mysticism. Solomon ben Moses Halevi Alkabets was one of the many mystics who lived and studied there. On Friday nights, Alkabets and his colleagues would dress in white like bridegrooms and joyously dance and march through the fields outside town to greet the Sabbath, which is depicted in both Talmud and in mystical texts as a bride and queen. Around 1540, Alkabets, composed a beautiful ode to the Sabbath Bride, L'kha Dodi, urging Jews to greet the Sabbath and extolling her virtues. The poem quickly became an eagerly awaited part of the Friday night service.

Today, with more than two thousand musical settings of Alkabets's Hebrew text, it is recited or sung in virtually every synagogue in the world as the Sabbath is ushered in.

adapted from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ritual/Shabbat_The_Sabbath/In_...


Service Section: Psalms, Poetry & Songs 
Source: Adapted from MyJewishLearning.com