Sim Shalom

Sim shalom, tovah uveracha,
   cheyn va’chesed verachamim
Aleynu ve’al kol-Yisrael amecha.
Bar’cheinu, avinu, kulanu
   ke’echad be’or panecha,
Ki ve’or panecha natata lanu,
   Adonai Eloheynu,
Torat chayim, ve’ahavat chesed
   u’tz’dakah uv’rachah verachamim
   vechayim veshalom.
Sim shalom…
Vetov be’eynecha levarech
   et am’cha Yisrael
Ve’et kol ha’amim be’chol et
   u’vechol sha’ah bish’lomecha.
Baruch attah Adonai, oseh
   hashalom.
Sim shalom…

Grant peace, welfare and blessing,
   grace, love and mercy
to us and to all Israel, Your people.
As a loving parent, bless us with the
   light of Your presence;
You have revealed to us,
   Eternal God,
the law of life, a love of kindness
   and righteousness, blessing
   and mercy, life and peace.
Grant peace…
For it is good in Your sight that
   Your people Israel and
All peoples be blessed at all times
   with Your gift of peace.
We praise You, O God,
   the Source of peace.
Grant peace…
_{Translation reproduced by kind permission of Liberal Judaism}

Having already had a wonderful collaboration with the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, I was very excited when their Director of Music, Cathy Heller Jones, approached me with a request to set this beautiful prayer for peace. Although the prayer is nearly 2,000 years old, its sentiments are needed now, more than ever.

I use the first two lines as a refrain, which has a strong Jewish modal feel about it. Starting low and in a minor harmony, it rises and becomes more major, with an entreaty for hope. Cathy and I share Polish roots, so she asked me to bring that into the musical mix. For the two ‘verses’, I have used a common Polish mode, in the right hand of the organ, which has a raised fourth and flattened seventh. 

The setting finishes with a passionate and optimistic C major chord, in ardent hope that our prayer is heard.

The piece is dedicated to the respective commissioners’ parents – to Rebecca Tennen and Seymour Roberts for Cathy Heller Jones, and to Geoff and Patricia Head for Sue Head.

I am hugely grateful to Cathy Heller Jones and Sue Head for this commission and to Senior Rabbi Alexandra Wright for very patiently recording the Hebrew text and supplying a word-for-word translation. 

Roxanna Panufnik, 30 April 2024