Shabat A beautiful children song tells about a Saturday morning from the point view of a little child. From some reason, Saturdays tend to be pleasant even in term of the weather. I remember waking up as a little girl on Shabat, hearing the voices of the people going to the synagogue (just next to my old house) and watching the sun rays penetrating through the closed shutters. Every Shabat I was astound to find out that it is another beautiful day. Even a Shabat following a stormy winter week somehow turned to be sunny and tempting. Therefore, the child in the song determines that it is a beautiful day (there is no other options).

The child from the song goes on and tells about his mother drinking lots of coffee (just like my mother did and I do now) and daddy reads lots of newspaper (which is one of the preferable activities on an Israeli weekend). The child describes the different options of spending Shabat’s morning such as sailing on the Yarkon river in Tel-Aviv, or simply walking down the street and picking flowers.

You may watch Arik Einstein singing this song with the composer Yoni Rechter playing the keyboard next to him and read along the song.

שַׁבָּת בַּבֹּקֶר Saturday Morning

מִלִּים: תִּרְצָה אֲתַר  Words: Tirtsa Atar

לַחַן: יוֹנִי רֶכְטֶר  Lyric: Yoni Rechter

Saturday morning! Beautiful day
Mommy is drinking lots of coffee
Daddy is reading lots of newspaper
And they will buy me lots of balloon.		 Shabat baboker! Yom yafe’ima shota hamon kafe ‘aba kore hamon ‘iton Veli yiknu hamon balon. שָׁבַת בַּבֹּקֶר! יוֹם יָפֶה אִמָּא שׁוֹתָה הֲמוֹן קָפֶה אַבָּא קוֹרֵא הֲמוֹן עִתּוֹן
וְלִי יִקְנוּ הֲמוֹן בָּלוֹן
We may go to the Yarkon,to sail there on a boat
Or we may walk down the street and return home
We may pick some flowers, those that are not forbidden (to pick)
And we may go to Kindergarten And see that it is Closed.		 ‘efshar lalexet layarkon, lashut sham besira’o letayel ad sof harxov velashuv baxazara ‘efshar liktof praxim, ka’ele shelo ‘asur Ve’efshar lalexet’ad hagan Velir’ot shehu Sagur.
אֶפְשָׁר לָלֶכֶת לַיַּרְקוֹן, לָשׁוּט שָׁם בְּסִירָה
אוֹ לְטַיֵּל עַד סוֹף
וְלָשׁוּב בַּחֲזָרָה
,אֶפְשָׁר לִקְטֹף פְּרָחִים
כָּאֵלֶּה שֶׁלֹּא אָסוּר
וְאֶפְשָׁר לָלֶכֶת עַד הַגַּן וְלִרְאוֹת שֶׁהוּא סָגוּר

Well, last Saturday, after drinking much coffee and going over the weekend papers, we found ourselves singing this song and decided to put it into practice. We packed some water, hats, sunscreen and fruits and went to the Yarkon. This river is the largest coastal river in Israel. It originates near Rosh Ha’ayin at the east and runs west through Gush Dan and Tel-Aviv into the Mediterranean Sea.

When my husband was growing up in the northern part of Tel-Aviv, he used to play at the Yarkon bank, attempting to build a raft and exploring the water turtles (that were later extinguished) and various river animals. Once he found a little boat that was swept away and sailed with his friends throughout the summer.

In memories of those days and following the lines of the song, we rented a boat (there are no swept away boats any longer) and rowed throughout the Yarkon almost till the sea. On the way back, the breeze helped us breathe and made the boat move faster. A picnic on the Yarkon bank was a wonderful conclusion to this beautiful Shabat morning.

There is no doubt: Shabat baboker! Yom Yafe!!!

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