6th Grade at the Braun Religious School: Ability and Halacha

סלינו על כתפינו
מילים: לוין קיפניס
לחן: ידידיה אדמון

Our Baskets on Our Shoulders

Saleinu Al K’tfeynu

Words: Levin Kipnis

Melody: Yedidyah Admon

סלינו על כתפינו,
ראשינו עטורים,
מקצות הארץ באנו,
הבאנו ביכורים.
מיהודה ועד שומרון
מן העמק והגליל
פנו דרך לנו,
ביכורים איתנו,
הך בתוף חלל בחליל.

שדינו וגנינו
הבשילו יבולים,
כרמינו, מיקשותנו
ביכרו פרי הילולים.
תאנים תפוחים
ענבים ושקדים.
פנו דרך לנו,
ביכורים איתנו,
הך בתוף חלל בחליל.

מה טובו מעגלינו,
מה יפו הטורים.
זימרת הארץ לנו,
הבאנו ביכורים,
מגולן מבשן
מן הנגב והירדן.
פנו דרך לנו,
ביכורים איתנו,
הך בתוף חלל בחליל.

Our baskets on our shoulders,
Our heads adorned,
From the ends of the land we come,
We bring bikurim.

From Judea and Samaria
From the valley and the Galilee
Make way for us,
Bikkurim are with us.

Bang the drum, play the flute!

Our fields and our gardens
We ripened our produce,
From our vineyards and fields of melons,

We chose praiseworthy fruit. Figs and Apples
Grapes and almonds.
Make way for us,
Bikkurim are with us.

Bang the drum, play the flute!

How good are our wagons, How beautiful our procession.
The best of the land is ours, We bring bikurim. ,
From the Golan and Bashan
From the Negev and the Jordan!
Make way for us,
Bikkurim are with us.

Bang the drum, play the flute!

Written by two of the most prolific of Israeli song-writing Duos, Saleinu Al Katfeinu is a Shavuot standard. The song uses biblical terms and references to evoke the procession to Jerusalem to present the Bikkurim, the first fruits of the season, which were brought in baskets and laid down at the altar of the Temple. Upon doing so, the person making the offering would turn to the priest and recite the passage from Deuteronomy best known as the core of the Haggadah: “My father was a wandering Aramean.” The full version of that text is a statement about the bringing of the first fuits.

Biblical terms are plentiful in this song. “Panu Derech” is a term found in prophetic writings, including Isaiah 40:3: ‘קוֹל קוֹרֵא--בַּמִּדְבָּר, פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ ה . 3 Hark! one calls: 'Clear in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a travel-way for our God.” Most of the major regions of the land are named, as are most agricultural efforts, including both the grain field שדה and the produce field (melon or cucumbers, usually) משקה. The chorus mentions both drum and flute, common instruments in Psalms and the rest of Tanach.

The words were by Levin Kipnis ( ‪17 August 1894 – 20 June 1990). Kipnis was a prolific children’s author, and a winner of the Yetziv, Lamdan and Israel Prizes . He remained active as a writer until his death in 1990.

The music is by his regular song-writing partner, Yedidia Admon (12/05/1894 - 04/02/1982). One of Admon’s most famous melodies is “Betzeyt Yisrael”, sung during numerous hallels and seders.