Songs of Dovid Kerner
 
  
   

 
Hinei Mah Tov

Hebrew: Psalm 133

English (first two verses): Dovid Kerner

Like the face of the Kohain at the end of the day*
Like Yitzchok and Rivka in the field when he prayed
Like Yosef and his brothers when he stood up to cry
"It's me, it’s Yosef, od aveinu chai?"

 

Hinei mah tov u’mana'im
Hinei mah tov

Shevet achim gam yachad.**

 

Like a child saying Sh’ma on a cold winter night

With Gavriel on his left and Michoel on his right

Like his parents who love him with all of their might

Hiinei mah tov u’mana'im.

 

Like the precious oil trickling down
Onto Aaron's beard from his priestly crown
Like the dew that falls on Har Hermon
Filled with the blessing of Har Tzion.***

 

Hinei mah tov u’mana'im
Hinei mah tov

Shevet achim gam yachad.

 
 
 

* The face of the Kohain Gadol — the High Priest — as he finished his service on Yom Kippur, is described as “ beaming with sun-like radiance ... like a rainbow in the skies, like a rose in a garden, like the grace that shines on the face of a bride groom ..."

 

** "Behold, how good and how pleasnt it is when brethren also dwell together." - Psalm 133

*** " Viewed in terms of actual physical dimensions, the summit of Mt. Hermon in Lebanon is the highest peak from which Mt. Zion appears to be the lowest spur of the mountain chain.  But, viewed spiritually, Zion is the loftiest mountain from which consecration and blessings flow down to a ll the rest of the land, unto the remotest borders of Lebanon ....

  - from the commentary of Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch on Psalm     133