Meaning ‘Let freedom be proclaimed’, this is a Jewish-Yemenite prayer traditionally sung at the Shabbat table. It was composed by Dunas ben Labrat, a 10th century Sephardic Jew, thought to have been of Baghdadi origin, who was educated in Fez, Morocco.
D’ror Yikra was composed in the regular meter of Arabic verse instead of the freer syllabification of earlier Jewish poetry. Apparently ben Labrat ensured that his authorship of the song was recognised by spelling his name acrostically in the first letter of each line of most of the verses.
