Que mos diga la nuestr novia Cómo se llama esta cabeza? -esto no se llama cabeza sino campo de espaciar, a mi campo despacioso, goce la novia con el novio. - Que mos diga la nuestra novia, cómo se llama y la frente? - Esto no se llama frente sino espada reluciente....
Let our bride tell us,
what is this head called?
- This is not called a head,
but a field for wandering,
to my wide and open field,
may the bride rejoice with the groom. - Let our bride tell us,
what is the name of the forehead?
-This is not called a forehead,
but a shining sword….
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD5216/57 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 226, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. During the bride’s bath, an event attended only by women, that, in both the Eastern and Western Sephardic traditions, a cumulative song is performed. Similar to the Portrait of the Lady known in various regions of Spain, the song describes the bride’s beauty from head to toe. Yet, unlike its Spanish counterpart, it assigns to each feature a metaphorical comparison and then, in reverse order, repeats all the comparisons rather than the physical features themselves. This same song theme appears both in the Eastern tradition and in Morocco, sharing the same cumulative structure and strikingly similar expressions.
This website was created by Orit Perlman with the collaboration and blessings of Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak in 2025