Havdalah - The Text

The Text

The central blessing of the Havdalah is the following paragraph, of which there are variants:

"Blessed art thou, God, our Lord, King of the Universe

Who distinguishes

Holiness from the everyday,

Light from dark,

Israel from the nations,

The seventh day from the six workdays.

Blessed art thou, God,

Who distinguishes holiness from the everyday."

The text of the Havdalah service exists in two main forms, Ashkenazic and Sephardic. The introductory verses in the Ashkenazic version (beginning הנה אל, Hinei El) are taken from the biblical books of Isaiah, Psalms and Esther. In the Sephardic liturgy, the introduction begins with the words ראשון לציון, Rishon L'tsion and consists of biblical verses describing God giving light and success interspersed with later liturgical prose. The four blessings over the wine, spices candle and praising God for separation between holy and profane are virtually identical between the traditions. In Reconstructionist Judaism the phrase ביו ישראל לעמים, bein Yisrael l'amim 'between Israel and the nations' is omitted, as part of founder Mordechai Kaplan's rejection of the idea of chosenness.

Popular tunes for the introductory paragraph of Havdalah ('Hinei El Y'shuati') in the Ashkenazic rite are The Rose (song) by Bette Midler and melodies by Shlomo Carlebach and Neshama Carlebach. The Blessings themselves are often sung to a tune made popular by contemporary Jewish artist/composer Debbie Friedman. Most chassidim and those following the Sefard prayer rite recite the Yiddish prayer Gott fun Avrohom. The introduction to the Sefardic version is slightly different. See List of Jewish prayers and blessings: Havdalah.

Following a normal Shabbat, the order of the prayers corresponds to the acrostic יבנ"ה "Yavneh", with the initials Yayin (wine), Besamim (spices), Ner (candle), and Havdalah (the Havdalah prayer). The order of elements when Havdala is combined with kiddush (e.g., on a Saturday night that is 'Yom Tov' (i.e., literally, 'Good Day') is known by the acrostic Yaknhaz. This is the initial letters of Yayin (wine), Kiddush HaYom (blessing the day), Ner (candle), Havdala (the Havdala blessing) and Zman (time, i.e. shehechiyanu).