Baqashot
Encyclopedia
- This article is about a type of Jewish religious music, Baqashot. For the main article on religious Jewish music, see Religious Jewish musicReligious Jewish musicThis article describes the principal types of religious Jewish music from the days of the Temple to modern times.-History of religious Jewish music:...
.
The Baqashot (or "bakashot", שירת הבקשות) are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
Aleppian Jewish community and other congregations for centuries each week on Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
(Sabbath) morning from midnight until dawn. Usually they are recited during the weeks of winter, when the nights are much longer. The duration of the services is usually about four hours. The Ades Synagogue
Ades Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
, Jerusalem, is the center of this practice today.
History
The custom of singing Baqashot originated in Spain towards the time of the expulsion, but took on increased momentum in the KabbalisticKabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
circle in Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
in the 16th century. Baqashot probably evolved out of the tradition of saying petitionary prayers before dawn and was spread from Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
by the followers of Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
(16th century). With the spread of Safed Kabbalistic doctrine, the singing of Baqashot reached countries all round the Mediterranean and became customary in the communities of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Rhodes, Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Turkey and Syria. It also influenced the Kabbalistically oriented confraternities in 18th-century Italy, and even became customary for a time in Sephardic communities in western Europe, such as Amsterdam and London. (In Amsterdam the Shabbat service still begins with a small number of baqashot. In London the tunes for one or two of them have been preserved in the literature but the practice no longer exists.) By the turn of the 20th century Baqashot had become a widespread religious practice in several communities in Jerusalem as a communal form of prayer.
In communities such as those of Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Turkey and Morocco, the singing of Baqashot expanded to vast proportions. In those countries special books were compiled naming the tunes and maqam
Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
at together with the text of the hymns, in order to facilitate the singing of Baqashot by the congregation. In these communities it was customary to rise from bed in the night on Shabbat in the winter months, when the nights are longer, and assemble in synagogue to sing Baqashot for four hours until the time for the morning service.
Each country had its own collection of baqashot, and there is often little or no overlap between the collections of different countries. The Moroccan collection is known as "Shir Yedidot" (Marrakesh 1921): unlike in the Aleppo tradition, where the baqashot service is fixed, the Moroccans have a different set of baqashot for each Sabbath. The Amsterdam collection is set out in the first part of Joseph Gallego's Imre No'am: the contents of this were probably derived from the Salonica tradition. The Aleppo collection is described in the remainder of this article.
The Syrian tradition
In Aleppo, Syria this custom seems to go back about 500 years. Most of the community would arise at 3:00AM to sing Baqashot and to listen to the voices of the Hazanim, Paytanim, and Meshorerim. When they arrived at Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat they would break to listen to a sermon by one of the Rabbis who discussed the Parashah of the week. When he concluded they would begin Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbat and sing all the rest of the Baqashot.The Syrian tradition was introduced to Jerusalem by Raphael Altaras, who came to that city from Aleppo in 1845 and founded a Baqashot circle at the Kehal Tsiyon synagogue. In this way the custom of Baqashot became part of the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardic tradition. Another important influence was Jacob Ades (1857-1925), who immigrated to Jerusalem in 1895 and introduced the tradition to the Persian and Bukharan communities. The main centre of the tradition today is the Ades Synagogue
Ades Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
in Nachlaot
Nachlaot
Nachlaot is a cluster of neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. Neighborhoods in Nachlaot include Mishkenot Yisrael, Ohel Moshe, Mazkeret Moshe, Zichron Yosef, Sukkat Shalom, Zichron Yaakov,...
, where the leading spirit was Shaul Aboud, a pupil of Moshe Ashear.
The Aleppian Baqashot did not only reach Jerusalem. The Jews of Aleppo took this custom with them wherever they went: to Turkey, Cairo, Mexico, Argentina and Brooklyn, New York.
Each of these communities preserved this custom in the original Halabi style without all the changes and embellishments that have been added to the Baqashot by Jerusalem cantors over the years. Though these communities do not perform the Baqashot on a weekly basis, nevertheless, they use the melodies of the Baqashot throughout Saturday morning prayers.
Themes
There is a total of 66 songs in the Syrian Baqashot book, and the collection is now regarded as closed, unlike the general body of pizmonimPizmonim
Pizmonim are traditional Jewish songs and melodies with the intentions of praising God as well as learning certain aspects of traditional religious teachings. They are sung throughout religious rituals and festivities such as prayers, circumcisions, bar mitzvahs, weddings and other ceremonies...
, where new pizmonim are still composed for special occasions. Each song is shown with its maqam, but they follow a fixed order of recitation which does not depend on the maqamat of the different songs. There are many sections within the Baqashot. The sections are separated by different Biblical verses to be chanted in a different maqam.
The songs principally consist of the praise of God, songs for Shabbat, songs of longing for the Holy Land and so on, and include some piyyutim taken from the main body of the prayer book. These songs are considered more ancient and sacred than other pizmonim
Pizmonim
Pizmonim are traditional Jewish songs and melodies with the intentions of praising God as well as learning certain aspects of traditional religious teachings. They are sung throughout religious rituals and festivities such as prayers, circumcisions, bar mitzvahs, weddings and other ceremonies...
(Hebrew songs). Many of the songs contain acrostics identifying the author of that specific composition.
Baqashot are full of mystical allusions and traditions. Some of the songs contain references to some of the most sacred Jewish traditions. The following are examples of thematic songs:
- Song 1 and 34: listing of the 10 "Sefirot" (attributes) in the KabbalahKabbalahKabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
. - Song 2: refers to the return to Zion in the time of redemption.
- Song 6 and 7: a song with each stanza ending with "boqer" (morning).
- Song 9: a song with each stanza ending with "yom" (day).
- Song 14: "Yasad besodo", discusses many different Kabbalistic concepts and how God created the world with his divine instruction.
- Song 15: "Eress Varom", discusses the seven days of creation, using one stanza for each day.
- Song 23: "Ki Eshmerah Shabbat", a well known song among all Jewish communities that was written by Rabbi Abraham Ibn EzraAbraham ibn EzraRabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
. - Song 28: "Yom Zeh le-Yisrael", a famous song written by Isaac LuriaIsaac LuriaIsaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
. - Song 33: contains allusions to each of the four "Amidah" services recited on the Sabbath.
The baqashot are interrupted after Song 34 to sing Psalm 92
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, the Psalm of the Sabbath, one verse at a time, using a different maqam
Maqam
- Musical structures :* Arabic maqam, melodic modes* Mugam genre of Azeri-speaking cultures* Maqam al-iraqi genre of Iraq* Weekly Maqam prayer services of Sephardic Jewish culture* Makam, melody types of Turkey* Muqam, melody type of Uyghur culture...
for each verse. There are many other verses of the Psalms scattered throughout the different songs, called "petihot", to serve as markers. Unlike the baqashot themselves, these are rendered by the hazzan
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
or by the elder people as a mawwal
Mawwal
In Arabic music, the mawwāl is a traditional genre of vocal music that is usually presented before the actual song begins. It is characterized by spelling vowel syllables longer than usual...
(non-rhythmical solo cadenza
Cadenza
In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....
).
- Song 35: "Shalom Vassedek" is a song written by Rabbi Shlomo Laniado. Each stanza ends with "Shlomo".
- Song 38: "Esah Libi" contains allusions to each of the nineteen blessings in the daily "AmidahAmidahThe Amidah , also called the Shmoneh Esreh , is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book...
" prayer. - Song 39 and 40: two songs in AramaicAramaic languageAramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
by Israel Najara. - Song 41: "Ani Asaper" discusses the laws of Sabbath (the 39 categories of "work").
- Song 43: "Mahalalah" alludes to the Seven Heavens mentioned in the KabbalahKabbalahKabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
. - Song 46: contains references to all the composers of the Baqashot.
- Song 51: Halakhot of Shabbat.
- Song 53: a song dedicated to R. Shim'on bar YohaiSimeon bar YohaiSimeon bar Yochai, , also known by his acronym Rashbi, was a famous 1st-century tannaic sage in ancient Israel, active after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE...
, reputed author of the ZoharZoharThe Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
. - Song 61 and 62: "Yedid NefeshYedid NefeshYedid Nefesh is the title of a piyyut. It is usually sung on the Jewish Sabbath.-Traditions and origin:...
" (written by Eleazar Azikri, and also used by Ashkenazim) and "Agadelcha" (written by Abraham ibn EzraAbraham ibn EzraRabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
).
The Baqashot service concludes with Adon Olam
Adon Olam
Adon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...
(Song 66) followed by the ancient Kaddish
Kaddish
Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
prayer sung in the melody of the maqam for that specific Sabbath.
Composers
Included in most baqashot collections is a poem by Elazar AzikriElazar ben Moshe Azikri
Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri was a Jewish kabbalist, poet and writer, born in Safed to a Sephardic family who settled in the Land of Israel after the expulsion from Spain....
(1533-1600), a kabbalist
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
who lived in Safed. The poem “Yedid Nefesh”, or "faithful friend", was one of several which were published in 1601 in Venice in his “Sefer Haredim”. The collection also includes other famous poems of similar date, such as "Yom Zeh Leyisrael" by Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
and "Yah Ribbon Alam" by Israel Najara
Israel ben Moses Najara
Israel ben Moses Najara was a Jewish liturgical poet, preacher, Biblical commentator, kabbalist, and rabbi of Gaza.- Biography :...
. Other composers, from the twelfth to the nineteenth century, include Hakhamim: Abraham Maimon (student of the kabbalist
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
Moses Cordovero
Moses Cordovero
Moses Cordovero was a physician who lived at Leghorn , Tuscany in the seventeenth century. David Conforte praises him as a good physician, and also on account of his scholarship and philanthropy. He was always eager to secure the release of prisoners through his personal influence as well as by...
), Yosef Sutton, Solomon Ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol, also Solomon ben Judah , was an Andalucian Hebrew poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neoplatonic bent. He was born in Málaga about 1021; died about 1058 in Valencia.-Biography:...
, Yaacob Abadi, Mordechai Labaton, Eliyahu Hamaoui, Ezra Attiah, Abraham Ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
(who wrote "Agadelcha"), David Pardo, David Dayan, Shelomo Laniado (who wrote "Shalom vatzedek"), Yitzhak Benatar, Eliyahu Sasson, David Kassin, Shimeon Labi, Mordekhai Abadi and Shelomo Menaged.
More recent composers of baqashot from the Aleppo community are Refael Antebi Tabbush (1830-1919), the leading pizmonim composer, his pupil and foster son Moshe Ashear (Ashqar) and Ashear's pupil Haim Shaul Aboud.
Song 46, "Yah Melech Ram", alludes to the names of the Baqashot composers.
Living classical composer Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli Australian composer of classical music and jazz pianist.-Biography:Yitzhak Yedid was born on September 29, 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. His family immigrated from Syria. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston with Ran Blake...
is known for his combining of baqashot with contemporary classical writing.
According to Sephardic tradition, the Baqashot are unique in that the melodies were composed for pre-existing texts, unlike many more recent pizmonim where the words were composed to fit an existing, often non-Jewish, melody. It is also believed that the melodies of the Baqashot, unlike those of many pizmonim, are not borrowed from foreign sources.
Current practices
The tradition of waking up before dawn and singing the Baqashot still survives today in Jerusalem, in the Ades SynagogueAdes Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
in Nachlaot
Nachlaot
Nachlaot is a cluster of neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. Neighborhoods in Nachlaot include Mishkenot Yisrael, Ohel Moshe, Mazkeret Moshe, Zichron Yosef, Sukkat Shalom, Zichron Yaakov,...
and the Moussaiof synagogue in the Bukharan quarter. The service is held only in the winter months, starting with the night of Shabbat Noach
Noach (parsha)
Noach or Noah is the second weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis . Jews read it on the second Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in October or November....
(the second Sabbath after Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah or Simḥath Torah is a celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle...
).
In communities throughout the world not so committed to the idea of waking up before dawn, the Baqashot melodies, or sometimes the actual songs, are still sung either in the course of the prayers or casually on certain occasions.
In some settings, the honor of singing the Kaddish goes to the highest bidder.
Refreshments, such as tea or arrak, are often served during the services.
In Turkey the equivalent tradition is known as "Shirat Hamaftirim", and the songs are performed by choirs of "maftirim". The music and style of singing are based on Sufi
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
and Ottoman classical music
Ottoman classical music
Ottoman classical music developed in Istanbul and major Ottoman towns from Skopje to Cairo, from Tabriz to Morocco through the palace, mosques, and sufi lodges of the Ottoman Empire. Above all a vocal music, Ottoman music traditionally accompanies a solo singer with a small instrumental ensemble...
. This tradition originated in Adrianople (present-day Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
) in European Turkey. The tradition persists and is practised to this day in Istanbul.
Recordings
Tape recordings of the Baqashot were made in the 1980s in order to facilitate preservation. The recordings were made vocally; that is, without music instrumentation. They were recorded by three prominent community cantors: Isaac Cabasso, Mickey Kairey and Hyman Kairey. The project was organized by the Sephardic Archives, in association with the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn, New York.David Betesh, coordinator of the Sephardic Pizmonim Project, more recently released the Baqashot from these recordings onto the project's website (link below) for the general Internet public. Dr. Morris Shamah, Joseph Mosseri, and Morris Arking are responsible for putting the recordings together.
There are also DVD and CD recordings, with instrumental accompaniment, produced by the Ades Synagogue
Ades Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
in Jerusalem.
Song books
- Altaras, Raphael Isaac, Yitzḥaq Yerannen: Jerusalem 1854
- Abadi, Mordechai, Miqra'e Qodesh: Aleppo 1873
- Burla, Jacob Ḥai, Yismaḥ Yisrael: Jerusalem 1874
- Burla, Jacob Ḥai, Yagel Ya'aqob, Jerusalem 1885
- Shrem, Gabriel, Shir Ushbaḥah Hallel Vezimrah, Sephardic Heritage Foundation, New York: 1964.
- Aboud, Ḥayim Shaul, Sefer Shire Zimrah Hashalem im Sefer le-Baqashot le-Shabbat: Jerusalem 1953, repr. 1988
Secondary literature
- Idelsohn, A.Z.Abraham Zevi IdelsohnAbraham Zevi Idelsohn was a prominent Jewish ethnologist and musicologist, who conducted several comprehensive studies of Jewish music around the world....
, Hebräisch-orientalischer Melodienschatz, vol. IV: Gesänge der orientalischer Sefardim: Jerusalem, Berlin and Vienna 1923 - Seroussi, EdwinEdwin SeroussiEdwin Seroussi is a leading contemporary Israeli musicologist of Uruguayan origin.Seroussi settled in Israel in 1971. He is currently professor of musicology and director of the Jewish Music Research Centre at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem...
, "On the Beginnings of the Singing of Bakkashot in 19th Century Jerusalem". Pe'amim 56 (1993), 106-124. [H] - Kligman, Mark, Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, Detroit 2009
External links
- The Sephardic Pizmonim Project, includes recordings of all the Baqashot used in the Syrian tradition.
- Piyut site (in Hebrew)
- Piyut site (English page)
- Piyut and hazanout site (French page)