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55-482: Pizmonim are extra-liturgical, as distinct from piyyutim , which are hymns printed in the prayer-book and forming an integral part of the service . Similar songs sung in the synagogue on the Sabbath morning between midnight and dawn are called baqashot (שירת הבקשות). Pizmonim are traditionally associated with Sephardi Jews , although they are related to Ashkenazi Jews ' zemirot . The best known tradition

110-525: A Jewish convert to Islam in the twelfth century, wrote that the Persians prohibited Jews from holding prayer services. "When the Jews saw that the Persians persisted in obstructing their prayer, they invented invocations into which they admixed passages from their prayers (the piyyuṭ) … and set numerous tunes to them". They would assemble to read and chant the piyyuṭim at prayer time. The difference between that and prayer

165-404: A Jewish prohibition of singing songs of the non-Jews (due to the secular character and lyrics of the songs). This was true in the case of Arabic songs, whereby Jews were allowed to listen to the songs, but not allowed to sing them with the text. In order to bypass the problem, many composers, throughout the centuries, wrote new lyrics to the songs with the existing melodies, in order not to violate

220-433: A cantor, such as a list of maqams to go with the specific perasha, as well as which pieces of Sabbath prayers fit with the melodies of certain pizmonim. In later editions, more songs were added to the book in their appropriate sections. The classic red pizmonim book mentioned above serves Syrian Jews of Brooklyn as their official canon of pizmonim. The book is currently in its ninth edition. The Sephardic Pizmonim Project,

275-421: A given theme. It is commonly recited in a low pitch to express darkness. As a general rule, this maqam is applied to all Bar Mitzvahs and to Saturday Night services, due to the abundance of related pizmonim in those maqams. Some say that Bayat symbolizes an oath between two parties (as is the case with Bar Mitzvah – an oath between man and God). Maqam Hoseni , which is closely related to Maqam Bayat in sound,

330-509: A little like a Western major scale , is the thematic maqam that contains many holiday melodies. Maqam hijaz , which corresponds to the Phrygian dominant scale , is the thematic maqam that contains many sad melodies. Maqam sikah (or sigah ), containing many three-quarter-tone intervals, is used for the cantillation of the Torah. Maqam saba is the maqam used for circumcisions. The origin of

385-586: A result). Maqam Rast is used to mark the beginning of something new, such as the beginning of reading a new book of Torah ( raʾs , in Arabic, means 'head'). For the first parasha of each book of the Torah (the Books of Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers , and theoretically, but see under Hijaz , Deuteronomy , this maqam is applied. Another application of Rast is for the afternoon services on Shabbat , when Jews read

440-493: A row. Also, the list tries to rotate the maqamot in such a fashion that the ten maqams are spread out almost equally in time as to avoid the redundancy of hearing the same maqam within a short period of time. Most of the prayers in the Shabbat morning service are rendered in a prose recitative, the exact tune of which varies with the maqam of the week. However, certain important passages, such as Nishmat and Kaddish , are sung to

495-507: A website in 2006 with the goal of "preserving all [Middle Eastern Jewish] liturgical traditions". In the process, cantors throughout the world have contacted the organisation to provide recordings to further enhance the project. The project's website (www.pizmonim.com) contains recordings of the Biblical taamim and the baqashot , together with pizmonim not included in the CD collection. In January 2012,

550-514: Is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services . Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic , and most follow some poetic scheme, such as an acrostic following the order of the Hebrew alphabet or spelling out the name of the author. Many piyyuṭim are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example,

605-495: Is a website dedicated to the scholarship, restoration and preservation of the ancient music of the Sephardic-Syrian Jewish community. The project, founded by David Matouk Betesh , is dedicated to the memory of his great-grandfather, cantor Gabriel A Shrem, a former instructor at Yeshiva University 's Cantorial Institute (Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music), cantor of B'nai Yosef Synagogue and editor-in-chief of

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660-532: Is applied at the end of most books. Among many things, it symbolizes the end of something. This maqam is applied every Friday night during the Kabbalat Shabbat services. At the present, this maqam is rarely used for Shabbat morning services, as it is usually replaced by maqam Nahwand. Strictly speaking, Rahawi and Nawa are two separate maqamat: Rahawi is used in the Passover Haggadah ( Seder ), while Nawa

715-430: Is applied. Not only would berit milah require this maqam, but also any reference to the word berit or a strong reference to the number eight, which symbolizes covenant. Since the idea of berit relates to the observance of mitzvot, wherever there is a parasha where there is a multitude of mitzvot , this maqam is applied ( Mishpatim , Qedoshim , or Behar ). Other uses of Sabah include any parasha that mentions

770-653: Is associated with Jews descended from Aleppo , though similar traditions exist among Iraqi Jews (where the songs are known as shbaḥoth , praises) and in North African countries. Jews of Greek , Turkish and Balkan origin have songs of the same kind in Ladino , associated with the festivals: these are known as coplas . The texts of many pizmonim date back to before the Middle Ages , while others were composed by poets such as Yehuda Halevi and Israel Najara of Gaza after

825-624: Is based upon the Thirteen Principles of Faith set forth by Maimonides . Important scholars of piyyuṭ today include Shulamit Elizur and Joseph Yahalom , both at Hebrew University. The author of a piyyuṭ is known as a payṭān or payetan ( פיטן ); the plural is pay(e)ṭanim ( פיטנים ). The earliest piyyuṭim date from late antiquity , the Talmudic ( c.  70  – c.  500 CE ) and Geonic periods ( c.  600  – c.  1040 ). They were "overwhelmingly from

880-514: Is linked to the holiday of Purim due to the abundance of pizmonim related to the holiday in this maqam (no doubt because the maqam is of Persian origin, and the events of the book of Esther take place in Persia). This maqam is also of importance because it is the maqam that is used for the cantillation of the Torah. For Parashas Bo, Beha'alotecha, and Eqeb, parashas that are the "third" in their respective books, maqam Sigah, which means 'third [place]',

935-473: Is that the prayer is without melody and is read only by the person conducting the service. In the recitation of the piyyuṭ, the cantor is assisted by the congregation in chanting melodies. "When the Persians rebuked them for this, the Jews sometimes asserted that they were singing, and sometimes [mourning over their situations]." When the Muslims took over and allowed Jews dhimmi status, prayer became permissible for

990-518: Is used for reciting the Mishnah (hence its use for Friday night, as this service contains a long excerpt from the Mishnah known as Bammeh madliqin .). Maqam Sabah , literally in Arabic 'sadness and utopia', and in Hebrew 'army', is used to mark the berit or circumcision , is performed on all male babies and therefore when there is a birth of a baby boy in the parasha ( Lech-Lecha or Tazria ), this maqam

1045-597: Is used to express the beauty of something. For example, when the Ten Commandments are given, in Parashat Yitro and Va'ethanan , this maqam is applied to show its beauty. The same is the case to show the erection of the Tabernacle , in parashat Terumah , Vayaqhel , and Shemini . This maqam is used on the Shabbat preceding Shavuot , when the Torah is given to Israel (though not on Shavuot itself). Maqam Rahawi Nawa

1100-816: Is used. Maqam Hijaz , which is named after a Hijaz region in Arabia , is used to mark solemn occasions. When there is a death in the parasha (Sarah and Abraham in Chayei Sarah , Jacob and Joseph in Vayechi , or Nadab and Abihu in Acharei Mot ), or a tragic episode (Golden Calf in Ki Tissa , Sin of the Spies in Shelach Lecha and the Temple's Destruction in the week of Devarim ), then this maqam

1155-499: The Land of Israel or its neighbor Syria , because only there was the Hebrew language sufficiently cultivated that it could be managed with stylistic correctness, and only there could it be made to speak so expressively." The earliest Palestinian prayer manuscripts, found in the Cairo Geniza , often consist of piyyuṭim, as these were the parts of the liturgy that required to be written down:

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1210-493: The "Shir uShbaha Hallel veZimrah" pizmonim book. The website is also dedicated in honor of cantor Isaac J. Cabasso of Congregation Beth Torah in Brooklyn, New York. Preludes to the project began in the late 1970s when Shrem started teaching a course at Yeshiva University. As a demonstration tool, Shrem recorded the bulk of the pizmonim for classroom distribution. The collection resulting from these recordings encompassed roughly 65% of

1265-485: The Aleppo tradition there is not total agreement among the written sources, though the underlying pattern of the lists is usually the same. Other determinants of the maqam include whether or not there is a holiday approaching in the upcoming week: when this is the case, or there are two Torah portions for the week, the hazzan has some discretion which maqam to use. As a general rule, the same maqam will never be used two weeks in

1320-681: The Americas by his pupils, principally Hakham Moses Ashear in New York. Pizmonim are composed for special occasions such as weddings and bar mitzvahs by Cantors in the past, as well as the present, by Ezekiel Hai Albeg, H Ezra Mishaniye, Rabbi Raphael Yair Elnadav, and others. Most pizmonim are in Hebrew, though a few are in Judaeo-Aramaic or Judaeo-Arabic . All pizmonim can be classified under different maqams (musical modes), of which there are about ten in common use. Maqam ajam , which sounds

1375-504: The Arabic word for ' Iranian ', is used to mark happy occasions such as holidays, weddings, and other joyous occasions. This maqam is used for Beshalach ( Shabbat Shirah ), Vayetze and Shofetim due to the happy occasions mentioned in those parashiyyot. Ajam is also used on the second days of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals . Ajam resembles a Western major scale, and is sometimes looked down upon as facile and obvious, in much

1430-489: The Jews. The piyyuṭ had become a commendable tradition for holidays and other joyous occasions. The use of piyyuṭ was always considered a Palestinian specialty: the Babylonian geonim made every effort to discourage it and restore what they regarded as the statutory wording of the prayers, holding that "any [hazzan] who uses piyyuṭ thereby gives evidence that he is no scholar". It is not always clear whether their main objection

1485-597: The Sabbath weekly Torah portion . The cantor, or hazzan , of the congregation leads the worshippers with the melodies of the particular maqam, which is preset and standardized on an official list. Widely different lists of maqam are found in different communities, e.g. the Aleppo list does not always agree with the Damascus and Beirut lists, and the Egyptian and Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Sephardic) lists are different again. Even within

1540-588: The Sephardic pizmonim liturgy. Since 2004 and over the course of about seven years, Isaac J. Cabasso, on behalf of the Sephardic Pizmonim Project, has provided approximately 200 more recordings of pizmonim not recorded by Shrem. The Sephardic Pizmonim Project organisation re-released all of Shrem's recordings on a large CD collection in September 2004 selling approximately 7,000 CDs. The organisation launched

1595-563: The Sephardic, and to a lesser extent the other rites, and may be regarded as a second generation of piyyuṭ. The Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria and his followers, which used an adapted Sephardic liturgy, disapproved of the Spanish piyyuṭim, regarding them as spiritually inauthentic, and invoked the Geonic strictures to have them either eliminated from the service or moved away from the core parts of it. Their disapproval did not extend to piyyuṭim of

1650-482: The Spanish Inquisition. Some melodies are quite old, while others may be based on popular Middle Eastern music , with the words composed specially to fit the tune. A prolific composer of pizmonim of this last kind was Hakham Rephael Antebi Tabbush (Aleppo 1830-Cairo 1918), who is regarded as the founder of the tradition in its present form. The tradition has since been exported to Syrian Jewish communities in

1705-582: The Spanish school survive in their original position in the Spanish and Portuguese rite but have been eliminated or moved in the Syrian and other Mizrahi rites. Syrian Jews preserve some of them for extra-liturgical use as pizmonim . What follows is a chart of some of the best-known and most-beloved piyyuṭim. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it tries to provide a flavor of the variety of poetic schemes and occasions for which these poems were written. Many of

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1760-560: The aging population and the general difficulty of those specific pizmonim. In addition to preserving "Red Book" pizmonim, the project also attempts to preserve pizmonim from "Old Shir Ushbaha" (Cohen, 1905, 1921) as well as melodies whose names appear in the weekly Hazzanut notes of H Moses Ashear (1877–1940). Piyyut A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim , Hebrew : פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט pronounced [piˈjut, pijuˈtim] ; from Koinē Greek : ποιητής , romanized:  poiētḗs , lit.   'poet')

1815-564: The army ( Masei , Ki Tetse ), since the word saba in Hebrew means 'army'. Kligman notes that the Jewish association of Sabah with the themes mentioned above differs drastically from the rest of the Arab world , who associate Sabah with sadness. Maqam Sigah , or Sikah, from the Persian for 'third place', is applied when there are special readings in the parasha. It is also applied on holidays. This maqam

1870-519: The best-known piyyuṭ may be Adon Olam ("Master of the World"). Its poetic form consists of a repeated rhythmic pattern of short-long-long-long (the so-called hazaj meter ). It is so beloved that it is often sung after many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly recitation of the Shema , and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin . Another beloved piyyuṭ is Yigdal ("May God be Hallowed"), which

1925-681: The blessings surrounding the morning recitation of the Shema . Note that the Shema itself is always kept in its statutory form, and not adorned with poetry, because it is made up of passages taken straight from the Bible. Qerova —a series of piyyuṭim, which adorn the blessings of the Amidah . There are a few types of these: Some Shiv‘atot , almost exclusively for great festivals, have expansions: Other types: The Weekly Maqam In Mizrahi and Sephardic Middle Eastern Jewish prayer services, each Shabbat

1980-410: The congregation conducts services using a different maqam. A maqam ( مقام ), which in Arabic literally means 'place', is a standard melody type and set of related tunes. The melodies used in a given maqam aims effectively to express the emotional state of the reader throughout the set liturgy (without changing the text). This article primarily describes the musical practices of Syrian Jews , though

2035-511: The early Palestinian piyyuṭim, such as those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir , do not survive in the Sephardic rite. However, they do in the Ashkenazi and Italian rites. In the later Middle Ages, however, Andalusi Jewish poets such as Judah Halevi , Solomon ibn Gabirol , Abraham ibn Ezra and Moses ibn Ezra composed quantities of religious poetry, in correct Biblical Hebrew and strict Arabic metres. Many of these poems have been incorporated into

2090-646: The early Palestinian school, which they regarded as an authentic part of the Talmudic-rabbinic tradition. Although Luria himself would go to Ashkenazic communities at times when they would recite piyyuṭim to recite those from the Eretz Yisrael school, no Sephardic community reinstituted these piyyuṭim, presumably because these had already been eliminated from the service. They regarded it as too late to put them back. (The Kabbalists, and their successors, also wrote piyyuṭim of their own.) For this reason, some piyyuṭim of

2145-520: The form of an extended kiddush , and is known as a sebbet (from the Syrian Arabic for "Saturday"). In 1959, the Syrian community of Brooklyn, New York, acted on the need of compiling their own pizmonim book based on their ancient traditions from Aleppo. Prior to this, there were many older pizmonim books circulating around the community, but they didn't have Hebrew vowels, and were generally difficult for

2200-576: The masses to utilize. The book, which was published by the Sephardic Heritage Foundation, was started in 1949 by Gabriel Shrem and was completed in 1964. It aimed to include the ancient (Baqashot and Petihot), the old (Israel Najara, Mordechai Abadi, Raphael Tabbush, Moshe Ashear), and the new material (Raphael Yair Elnadav, Ezra Dweck, Gabriel A Shrem, Ezekiel Hai Albeg, Abraham Cohen Saban, Ezra Mishaniye, and other modern Israeli melodies). The book also has innovative features very useful for

2255-418: The musical traditions of other Mizrahi Jews communities are also based on the maqam system. Ashkenazi nusach includes a simplified system including three main modes or steyger and several minor variants. Muslims share the same practice of conducting services using the maqam , but differ substantially in many ways. The maqam that is used each Shabbat depends on the theme, story, or main message of

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2310-479: The new parashah of the upcoming week, thus beginning a new week. Maqam Mahour , which is related to Maqam Rast, is applied when someone is angry and feels emotional instability. The only two parashiyyot to have this maqam applied are Toledot and Balak when the main characters, Esau and Balak , respectively, are angered. This maqam is used in other instances according to the manuscripts of Hakham Moshe Ashear and Cantor Gabriel A. Shrem. Maqam Ajam , named after

2365-557: The original core of the pizmonim collection consists of hymns from the old Aleppo ritual (published in Venice in 1560) and hymns from the Sephardic service by Yehuda Halevi , Solomon ibn Gabirol and others. A few hymns were also taken from the liturgy of the Romaniotes . Further pizmonim were composed and added to the collection through the centuries. This practice may have arisen out of

2420-474: The piyyuṭ itself. Since siddurim were limited then, many piyyuṭim had repeating stanzas that the congregation would respond to, followed by the hazzan ’s recitations. The additions of the piyyuṭim to the services were primarily used as an embellishment to the services and to make it more enjoyable to the congregation. As to the origin of the piyyuṭ's implementation, there is a theory that this had to do with restrictions on Jewish prayer. Al-Samawal al-Maghribi ,

2475-471: The piyyuṭim marked as being recited on Shabbat are songs traditionally sung as part of the home ritual observance of Shabbat and also known as zemirot ("Songs/Melodies"). Piyyutim have been written in many different genres and subgenres. Most of these are defined by the function that the given poem fulfills in the context of Jewish prayer service; but a few are defined by other criteria, such as content. Yotzer sequence —a series of poems, which adorn

2530-557: The same way that the Ionian or major mode was described as modus lascivus and not favoured in medieval church music. Maqam Nahwand, named after Nahāwand/Nahāvand , a city in Iranian Hamadan province , is applied when there is disharmony between parties and fights, in general. A related maqam is Rahawi Nawa (see below), but this has sunk in popularity and therefore most cantors almost always replace Rahawi Nawa with Maqam Nahwand, due to

2585-586: The surplus and variety of more Western-oriented songs in Nahwand, which closely resembles the western minor scale . Until the 20th century, this maqam was never used for the purpose of prayers by either Jews or Muslims. (Similarly in the Middle Ages, the minor or Aeolian mode , though acknowledged to exist, was never used in Gregorian chant .) Maqam Bayat is a somber or dull-sounding maqam and does not necessarily imply

2640-555: The tradition could potentially be explained in the context of certain rulings of the Geonim discouraging the use of piyyutim in core parts of the prayer service. These rulings were taken seriously by the Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria , and from the sixteenth century on many hymns were eliminated from the service. As the community did not wish to lose these much-loved hymns, the custom grew up of singing them extra-liturgically. Thus,

2695-408: The tradition of not singing non-Jewish songs. During typical Shabbat and holiday services in the Syrian tradition, the melodies of pizmonim are used as settings for some of the prayers, in a system of rotation to ensure that the maqam suits the mood of the holiday or the Torah reading. Each week there is a different maqam assigned to the cantor according to the theme of the given Torah portion of

2750-526: The tunes of specific Pizmonim , which are chosen according to a rota so as to fit the maqam of the week. The cantillation of the Torah does not follow the maqam of the week, but is almost invariably performed in maqam Sigah. Similarly the Friday night service is usually in maqam Nawa or Nahawand. There are a few patterns that determine which maqam will be used on a given week. There are some very obvious patterns and some not so obvious ones (which are disputed as

2805-432: The website, under web designer Sam Franco, received a major facelift to advance the organization into the next decade. In 2020, the project announced that it had reached the benchmark of only missing 65 melodies of pizmonim from the 'Shir Ushbaha Hallel VeZimrah' pizmonim book. When the project first began, they were missing over 300 pizmonim. The last 65 pizmonim that are still missing will be more difficult to obtain due to

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2860-466: The week. A pizmon may also be sung in honour of a person called up to the Torah, immediately before or after the reading: usually this is chosen so as to contain some allusion to the person's name or family. Pizmonim , or any melodies, are generally not applied throughout the week during prayer services. Another occasion for their use is at the gatherings some individuals would hold in their homes on Shabbat afternoons. A gathering of this kind may take

2915-626: The word piyyuṭ designated every type of sacred poetry, but as usage developed, the term came to designate only poems of hymn character. The piyyuṭim were usually composed by a talented rabbinic poet, and depending on the piyyuṭ’s reception by the community determined whether it would pass the test of time. Looking at the composers of the piyyuṭim, one can see which family names were part of the Middle Eastern community and which hakhamim were prominent and well established. The composers of various piyyuṭim usually used acrostic forms to hint their identity in

2970-538: The wording of the basic prayers was generally known by heart, and there was supposed to be a prohibition of writing them down. It is not always clear from the manuscripts whether these piyyuṭim, which often elaborated the themes of the basic prayers, were intended to supplement or replace them, or indeed whether they originated before the basic prayers had become fixed. The piyyuṭim, in particular those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir , were often in very cryptic and allusive language, with copious reference to midrash . Initially,

3025-419: Was to any use of piyyuṭim at all or only to their intruding into the heart of the statutory prayers. For these reasons, scholars classifying the liturgies of later periods usually hold that, the more a given liturgy uses piyyuṭim, the more likely it is to reflect Palestinian as opposed to Babylonian (Mesopotamian) influence. The Sephardic liturgical framers took the Geonic strictures seriously. For this reason

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