Shabbos Zmiros author

Question

Who wrote most of the songs we sing on shabbos?

Answer 1

There's no one answer to this, because they were authored by many different people.

Some of them are by famous Rishonim or early Acharonim, such as:

• Dror Yikra, by Dunash ibn Labrat
• Yom Shabbason, by R' Yehudah Halevi
• Tzam'ah Nafshi and Ki Eshmerah Shabbos, by R' Avraham ibn Ezra
• Azamer Bishvachin, Asader Liseudasa, Bnei Heichala, and Yom Zeh L'Yisrael, all by the Arizal

while others are by otherwise unknown authors, such as:

• Kol Mekadesh and Menuchah Vesimchah, by Moshe
• Chai Hashem, by Chaim Yitzchak

Answer 2

As a broader overview of the other answers given:

• The texts of the different Zmiros were written by many different authors.
• Some are taken from the Bible and thus thousands of years old.
  
  • "Eishes Chayil", which is sung before Friday-night kiddush, in praise of the lady of the house, is the last chapter of Mishlei (Proverbs), which was written by King Solomon.
  • The very-popular 23rd Psalm ("Mizmor l'david Hashem ro'i lo echsar", God is my shepherd I shall not lack ...), was written by King David. It's usually sung at Shalosh Seudos, though some say it before or during other meals too.
  • I don't know exactly when the custom developed to sing these specific parts of the Bible (though it's a strong and beautiful custom!)
• Many Zmiros are known to have been written by specific rabbis, most likely intended to be sung.
  
  • Some of these rabbis are more famous than others; some are better-known for other accomplishments. E.g. most people know of Ibn Ezra for his Chumash commentary, not his zemer; but Dunash ben Labrat is probably more famous for writing "Dror Yikra" than for his writings on Hebrew grammar (though they're occasionally quoted by Rashi).
  • Dror Yikra's author lived in the 900s; Kah Echsof's author lived in the 1700s. Those are the earliest and latest popular zmiros I can think of; the others were written sometime in between. You can look up each author's biography to figure out when.
• Some Zmiros simply "appeared" at some point, without a clear author. Often the first letter of each line spells out the author's first name (like "Moshe"), and perhaps a historian could provide you with the earliest known appearance of the zemer, but we don't know exactly who wrote them.
• This whole discussion is just about the text of the Zmiros. The tunes are a whole different issue.

Answer 3

• Kah Echsof by R' Aron (Perlow) Karliner
• Yom zeh Mechubad by Yisrael
• Kah Ribon by R' Yisrael Najara (Thank you Alex!)
• Mizmor LeDovid by Dovid Melekh Yisrael
• Eishes Chayil by Shlomo HaMelekh

Answer 4

Don't forget Yedid Nefesh, attributed to R' Elazar Azikri, the author of the Sefer Chareidim.

Answer 5

There are many more songs sung at the shabbat table in the sephardic minhag, and giving a complete list of songs and their authors would be too much for a single answer here (if such a thing were possible.) A book such as אביעה רננות would contain a large selection of these songs, and tell you their authors as well.