Song: Ha-Kol Patuach

Today we are reading the text of the song הַכֺּל פָּתוּח Ha-kol patuach "Everything is open" by נעמי שמר Naomi Shemer.

Below is the text of the song, line by line, with vowel markings, transcription and translation. If you want to practice reading without the nikkud, see the song's lyrics on Shironet.

In Hebrew, the word for a couplet, or stanza, of a song is בַּיִת bayit – the same word that means "house". So, בית א׳ bayit alef goes:

The direct object preposition and the definite article, אֶת הַ־ et ha-, since they go so often together, are often merged to ta- in informal speech. The name of the lake Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee, is used with the definite article in Hebrew – as also are the names of rivers and some mountains. So we get רָאִיתִי אֶת הַכִּנֶּרֶת ra'iti et ha-Kineret = תַ׳כִּנֶּרֶת ta-Kineret.

Note also that זוֹהֶרֶת zoheret, a form of לִזְהֹר ~ לזהור lizhor, is used here as a participle.

The word עֶצֶם etzem "essence, substance", when used with pronominal endings, means "-self": עַצְמִי atzmi "myself", עַצְמְךָ atzmecha "yourself", עַצְמָהּ atzma(h) "herself" etc.

The next verse goes:

שִׁפְעָה shif'a literally means "abundance, large quantity"; a more commonly used synonym is שֶׁפַע shefa. לִנְהֹר ~ לנהור linhor "to flow" is related to נָהָר nahar "river".

Since the last two lines of each verse (חָשַבְתִּי לְעַצְמִי: הַכֹּל עוֹד אֶפְשָׁרִי...) are the same, we won't repeat them.

The פִּזְמוֹן pizmon "chorus, refrain" is as follows:

מַצַּב הָרוּח matzav ha-ruach, lit. "state of the spirit" means "mood".

Here is בית ב׳ bayit bet:

No specific comments here. Here are some photos of the places mentioned in the verse:

Afula (by Deror_avi, Wikipedia)

Eilat (by Tango7000, Wikipedia])

Hula (Chula) Valley Reserve (by Itamar Grinberg)

And finally, here is בית ג׳ bayit gimel:

לִגְלֹשׁ ~ לגלוש liglosh means "to glide; to ski". In the spoken language, you are more likely to hear לַעֲשׂוֹת סְקִי la'asot ski instead. Note also the article before the name of Mount Hermon - בְּ־ + הַחֶרְמוֹן gives בַּחֶרְמוֺן ba-Chermon, literally "in the Hermon".

Mount Hermon ski resort (by Noaa, Wikipedia)

The names of most other mountains are also preceded by ה־, for example: הָאֶווֶרֶסְט ha-Everest, הַכַּרְמֵל ha-Karmel "Mount Carmel".

טַף taf is a collective word for "little children", mostly used in poetic / literary language. Note that the ו־ before טף is vocalised with kamatz: וָטַף va-taf, not וְטַף ve-taf as might be expected. A kamatz sometimes comes in ב־, ל־, כ־, ו־ when the word begins with a stressed syllable (or has only one syllable). In modern language, this happens only in certain set expressions. אֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים וָטַף anashim ve-nashim va-taf "men, women and children; all people" is one of such expressions; it occurs in Jeremiah 40:7.

The last verse אוּלַי הַכֺּל פָּתוּח ulai ha-kol patuach... basically repeats the chorus, so we will skip it here.

The photo of Lake Kinneret on top of this page is by Yulia Kuprina from Wikipedia.

Here you can watch the song being performed by עופר לוי Ofer Levi and לאה לופטין Lea Lopatin:

If you have any comments / questions, please do not hesitate to comment!