Adir Hu is a hymn sung by Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 worldwide at the Passover Seder

Passover Seder

The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...

. It switches rapidly between saying the virtues of God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 in an alphabet format (Aleph

Aleph

* Aleph or Alef is the first letter of the Semitic abjads descended from Proto-Canaanite, Arabic alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, Syriac alphabet-People:*Aleph , an Italo disco artist and alias of Dave Rodgers...

, Bet

Bet

Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...

, Gimmel,...), and expressing hope that God will "rebuild the Holy Temple

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...

 speedily." Most of the virtues of God are adjectives (for instance, Holy (Kadosh) is he); however, a few are nouns. (Lord is he).

Adir Hu is sung towards the end of the Seder. The traditional melody is a bouncy, major one. Other melodies, however, have been composed for the alphabetical song.

History

The tune of Adir Hu has gone through several variations over the years, but its origin is from the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 minnesinger period. The earliest existing music for Adir Hu is found in the 1644 "Rittangel Hagada". The second form is found in the 1677 "Hagada Zevach Pesach", and the third and closest form can be found in the 1769 "Selig Hagada". In the 1769 version of the haggadah, the song was also known in German as the "Baugesang" (the song of the rebuilding of the Temple). A traditional German greeting on the night of Passover after leaving the synagogue was "Bau Gut" ("build well"), a reference to Adir Hu.

Text

Transliteration

English Translation

ADIR HU Adir hu, adir hu Chorus: Yivneh veito b'karov Bim'heirah, bim'heirah, b'yameinu b'karov Ei-l b'neih! Ei-l b'neih! B'neih veit'kha b'karov Bachur hu, gadol hu, dagul hu, (Chorus) Hadur hu, vatik hu, zakai hu, chasid hu, (Chorus) Tahor hu, yachid hu, kabir hu, Lamud hu, melekh hu, nora hu, Sagiv hu, izuz hu, podeh hu, tzadik hu (Chorus) Kadosh hu, rachum hu, shaddai hu, takif hu (Chorus)

MIGHTY IS GOD Mighty is He, mighty is He Chorus: May He soon rebuild his house Speedily, speedily and in our days, soon. God, rebuild! God, rebuild! Rebuild your house soon! distinguished is He, great is He, exalted is He (Chorus) Glorious is He, Faithful is He, Faultless is He, Righteous is He (Chorus) Pure is He, Unique is He, Powerful is He Wise is He, King is He, awesome is He Sublime is He, all-powerful is He, Redeemer is He, All-righteous is He (Chorus) Holy is He, Compassionate is He, Almighty is He, Omnipotent is He (Chorus)

External links

• Hebrew text, transliteration, translation from the Zemirot Database