Ya Ribon[a] (Imperial Aramaic: יָהּ רִבּוֹן עַלַם, romanized: yāh ribbôn ʿalam, lit.
[2] The piyyut, originally sung to an Arab melody,[3] has been set to dozens of tunes, both ancient and modern.
[4] "The 21st century Shabbat table", says one modern writer, "is incomplete without the singing of the universal Yah Ribon.
"[5] Najara's best-known work, this piyyut was written in Aramaic, and the first letters of the verses form the author's name ISRAEL by acrostic.
[8] Max D. Klein's Seder Avodah prayerbook substitutes "who served Thee, Lord, in every age" for the literal "whom Thou chosest from all nations" in what Theodor Gaster understood as a "romantic idealization of the past.