Long Live the King
A blessing cry to a newly crowned king, wishing that he live and prolong his days over his kingdom.
("And Samuel said to all the people: Have you seen him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted and said, 'Long live the king!'" - 1 Samuel 10:24, and similarly: "Long live our master and teacher, King Messiah, forever and ever" - the proclamation of the kingship of the Messiah in the Lubavitcher Rebbe's talk on 2 Nisan 5748, and similarly: "The princes of the king came and said, Our lord the king, live forever, and may his son also live forever" - S. Y. Agnon / Tales of the Baal Shem Tov, Sar HaTorah, our teacher Rabbi Yisrael, and similarly: "Chief Chitz Chef had already stopped breathing / and the old tick-tock wheel no longer clicked / and then one whispered to the other, 'The king is dead; long live the new king'" - Haim Hefer / The Locomotive)
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ
Definition (Hebrew)
קְרִיאַת בְּרָכָה לְמֶלֶךְ חָדָשׁ שֶׁהֻומְלַךְ שֶׁיִּחְיֶה וְיַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים עַל מַמְלַכְתּוֹ.
("וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל אֶל כָּל הָעָם, הַרְּאִיתֶם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בּוֹ ה' כִּי אֵין כָּמֹהוּ בְּכָל הָעָם, וַיָּרִעוּ כָל הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ"- שְׁמוּאֵל א י כַּד, וְכֵן:"יְחִי אֲדוֹנֵנוּ וְרַבֵּנוּ מֶלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד"- הַכְרָזַת מַלְכוּת הַמָּשִׁיחַ בְּשִׂיחַת הָרַבִּי מִלְּיוּבָּאוִיטְשׁ ב' בְּנִיסָן תשמ"ח, וְכֵן:"בָּאוּ שָׂרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאָמְרוּ אֲדוֹנֵנוּ הַמֶּלֶךְ יְחִי לְעוֹלָם וְגַם בְּנוֹ יְחִי לְעוֹלָם"- שַׁ"י עַגְנוֹן/ סִפּוּרֵי הַבֵּעשְׁ"ט, שַׂר הַתּוֹרָה רַבֵּנוּ ר' יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְכֵן:"וְצִ'יף צִ'יץ צֵ'ף הוּא כְּבָר לֹא נָשַׁף/ וְתִיק תִּיק תק הַגַּלְגַּל לֹא דָּפַק/ וְאָז פַּס אֶחָד לַשֵּׁנִי לָחַשׁ 'הַמֶּלֶךְ מֵת יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ הֶחָדָשׁ'"- חַיִּים חֵפֶר/ הַקַּטָּר)