On the festival of Shavuot, we bring you verses from the Book of Ruth in Hebrew and Ladino by Yitzhak Azuz. The recording is from the 1999 CD "The Liturgy of Ezra Bessaroth".

In this rendition the vocalist sings the verses in both Hebrew and Ladino, to a catchy melody. This type of bilingual rendition is typical of many different communities. The objective is to explain the Hebrew biblical text to the audience, many of whom do not understand Hebrew.

What makes this bilingual singing special in some of the Ladino-speaking communities is that the translation was done in synagogue, as part of the prayer itself, a vital and meaningful cultural activity that brought those who knew the holy tongue and those who spoke mainly Ladino closer together.