Shir ha-Shirim

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Pronunciations

Shir ha-Shirim (SHEER hah-sheer-EEM) listen

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Definitions

Example Sentences

  • "It was my grandfather's custom to read Shir ha-Shirim every week before Shabbat." (Glinert)

  • "I’ve been eyeing Chana Bloch’s translation of Shir haShirim, have you seen that one?" (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew

Etymology

  • שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים‎, lit. 'song of songs'

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      Shir ha'Shirim, Shir Hashirim

Notes

  • "The biblical book Shir ha-Shirim is a sequence of love songs that have inspired a whole mystical tradition exploring the love between the Creator and Israel—and countless poets and musicians, religious and secular. Shir ha-Shirim is particularly familiar to Sephardim and Chasidim, who recite it every Friday to usher in Shabbat." (Glinert)

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