About: Ya Ribon

Ya Ribon (Imperial Aramaic: יָהּ רִבּוֹן עַלַם, romanized: yāh ribbôn ʿalam, lit. 'Yah, eternal lord') is an Aramaic piyyut by the 16th-century payytan Israel ben Moses Najara, first published in his 1586 work זמירות ישראל "Songs of Israel". Ashkenazi Jews traditionally sing it at table after the Friday night meal and Sephardi Jews sing it (sometimes in Ladino) among the Baqashot. The piyyut, originally sung to an Arab melody, has been set to dozens of tunes, both ancient and modern. "The 21st century Shabbat table", says one modern writer, "is incomplete without the singing of the universal Yah Ribon."