Lecha Dodi (Corning)

WELCOMING.

Lecha Dodi is a liturgical poem written by Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz. The first letter of each stanza spells out the author’s name. It is a poem of love, commitment, hope, and Shabbat. I moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to work as the artist-in-residence at Temple Beth Am. Part of my job was outreach and engagement for Jews in their 20s and 30s. For three years, I hosted a monthly Shabbat dinner and services in my home. Once a month, about 100 young Jews would gather together to eat and pray. One morning as I was preparing for one of these Shabbat dinners, I was humming something around my apartment. As I tried to figure out what it was I was humming, I realized that I had never heard it before, and that I was making it up! I decided to use it as our Lecha Dodi melody for the evening. I still remember the first time we sang it in my living room, the melody reverberated off the walls, people were stomping on the floor and clapping. That house no longer stands, it was torn down to build a new school, but this melody serves as a reminder of those beautiful Shabbatot on Corning Street: The Corning Street Niggun.