Tefilah

Lyrics: Bezalel Aloni
Music: Henri Barter
Arrangements: Henri Barter
Album: Bo Nedaber (1981)

Bezalel says, that he loved the song from the first time he heard it. Ofra and Bezalel sent the song to the pre-Eurovision contest, but it reached 12th, and there were only 11 songs that chosen for the pre-Eurovision.

Bezalel: “After the contest there were many claims from many singers, and because of that there was a committee that was supposed to check all the claims. This committee consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, music editors etc. We had nothing to do with this committee. One day I got a call from someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who told me they decided to send Ofra with that song to the Mediterranean Festival in Portugal. I asked him how did he hear about the song, because no one knew about it beside Ofra and me, and he told me about the committee. We were happy and went there. On the flight there I changed the name of the song from He to Prayer”.

Ofra won 5th place on the festival.

Translated by Malka Tischler

Transliteration
Translation

Tefilah

Hu ha-yoshev lo i sham ba-meromim
hu ha-rofe kol kholim
hu ha-noten rov simkha la-yeladim
hu ha-ose mishpatim
hu ba-shamayim ve-hu ha-yakhid
hu ha-gadol ha-nora
hu ha-shomer aleinu mi-tsara

Eloah, shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu koakh od ve-od

Shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu gam le-ehov

Ma kvar notar lanu od ba-yamim
ma kvar notar kol ha-yom
shemesh, tikva ve-hamon mabatim
layla ve-yom shel khalom
hu ba-shamayim ve-hu ha-yakhid
hu ha-gadol ha-nora
hu ha-shomer aleinu mi-tsara

Eloah, shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu koakh od ve-od

Shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu gam le-ehov

Eloah, shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu koakh od ve-od

Shmor na aleinu kmo yeladim
shmor na ve-al ta’azov
ten lanu or ve-simkhat ne’urim
ten lanu gam le-ehov

Tefilah

Tefilah

Prayer

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