To-day we have ended the Torah once more;
To-day we begin it anew, as of yore.
Be thankful and glad and the Lord extol,
Who gave us the Law on its parchment scroll.
The Torah has been our consolation,
Our help in exile and sore privation.
Lost have we all we were wont to prize:
Our holy temple a ruin lies;
Laid waste is the land where our songs we sung;
Forgotten our language, our mother-tongue;