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Pizmonim
''Pizmonim'' (Hebrew פזמונים, singular ''pizmon'') are traditional Jewish songs and melodies sung with the intention 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. ''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). Geographical background ''Pizmonim'' are traditionally associated with Sephardi Jews, although they are related to Ashkenazi Jews' '' zemirot''. The best known tradition 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 cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baqashot
The ''baqashot'' (or ''bakashot'', he, שירת הבקשות) are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Syrian, Moroccan, and Turkish Jewish communities for centuries each week on Shabbat mornings from the early hours of the morning until dawn. They are usually recited during the weeks of winter, from the Jewish festival of Sukkot through Purim, when the nights are much longer. The ''baqashot'' services can last for three to four hours. The Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem is the center of the Syrian practice today, and communities in Ashdod and Montreal are the center of the Moroccan practice. History The custom of singing ''baqashot'' originated in Spain towards the time of the expulsion, but took on increased momentum in the Kabbalistic circle in Safed in the 16th century. ''Baqashot'' probably evolved out of the tradition of saying petitionary prayers before dawn and was spread from Safed by the followers of Isaac Luria (16t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Jews
Syrian Jews ( he, יהודי סוריה ''Yehudey Surya'', ar, الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون ''al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn'', colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times (known as Musta'arabi Jews, and sometimes classified as Mizrahi Jews, a generic term for the Jews with an extended history in Western Asia or North Africa); and from the Sephardi Jews (referring to Jews with an extended history in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Spain and Portugal) who fled to Syria after the Alhambra Decree forced the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. There were large communities in Aleppo ("Halabi Jews", Aleppo is ''Halab'' in Arabic) and Damascus ("Shami Jews") for centuries, and a smaller community in Qamishli on the Turkish border near Nusaybin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zemirot
Zemirot or Z'miros ( he, זמירות ''zǝmîrôt'', singular: zimrah but often called by the masculine zemer) are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Ladino. The best known are those sung around the table during Shabbat and to some extent the Jewish holidays. The Sabbath are specifically associated with each of the three obligatory meals of Shabbat, such as those sung for the Friday evening meal, the Saturday day meal, and the third Sabbath meal just before sundown on Saturday afternoon. In some editions of the Jewish prayerbook (siddur), the words to these hymns are printed after the opening prayer ( kiddush) for each meal. The term is most typically used by Ashkenazi Jews to describe Sabbath table songs. When used by Spanish and Portuguese Jews, zemirot refers to the sequence of psalms in the morning service, known to other communities by the Talmudic name p'suqe d'zimra. The Sephardic communities often use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabic Maqam
Arabic maqam ( ar, مقام, maqām, literally "rank"; ') is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word ''maqam'' in Arabic means place, location or position. The Arabic ''maqam'' is a melody type. It is "a technique of improvisation" that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and is "unique to Arabian art music". There are 72 heptatonic tone rows or scales of maqamat. These are constructed from major, neutral, and minor seconds. Each ''maqam'' is built on a scale, and carries a tradition that defines its habitual phrases, important notes, melodic development and modulation. Both compositions and improvisations in traditional Arabic music are based on the ''maqam'' system. ''Maqamat'' can be realized with either vocal or instrumental music, and do not include a rhythmic component. An essential factor in performance is that each maqam describes the "tonal-spatial factor" or set of musical n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piyyut
A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. ''Piyyutim'' have been written since Temple times. Most ''piyyutim'' are in Hebrew or 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 ''piyyutim'' are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example, the best-known ''piyyut'' 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), and it is so beloved that it is often sung at the conclusion of many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly recitation of the Shema, and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin phylac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefarditas or Hispanic Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the Iberian Peninsula. The term, which is derived from the Hebrew ''Sepharad'' (), can also refer to the Mizrahi Jews of Western Asia and North Africa, who were also influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jewish exiles also later sought refuge in Mizrahi Jewish communities, resulting in integration with those communities. The Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula prospered for centuries under the Muslim reign of Al-Andalus following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, but their fortunes began to decline with the Christian ''Reconquista'' campaign to retake Spain. In 1492, the Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain called for the exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hebrew Language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' Lashon Hakodesh'' (, ) since a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yehuda Halevi
Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; he, יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi ; ar, يهوذا اللاوي ''Yahuḏa al-Lāwī''; 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in the Holy Land in 1141, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets, celebrated both for his religious and secular poems, many of which appear in present-day liturgy. His greatest philosophical work was the '' Sefer ha-Kuzari''. Biography Convention suggests that Judah ben Shmuel Halevi was born in Toledo, Spain in 1075. He often described himself as coming from Christian territory. Alfonso the Battler conquered Tudela in 1119; Toledo was conquered by Alfonso VI from the Muslims in Halevi's childhood (1086). As a youth, he seems to have gone to Granada, the main centre of Jewish literary and intell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Israel Ben Moses Najara
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel also is bordered by the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally. The land held by present-day Israel witnessed some of the earliest human occupations outside Africa and was among the earliest known sites of agriculture. It was inhabited by the Canaanites ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaza City
Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590,481 (in 2017), making it the largest city in the State of Palestine. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by several different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Roman Empire Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635 CE, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Muslim Rashidun army and quickly developed into a center of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusaders invaded the country starting in 1099, Gaza was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frère Jacques
"Frère Jacques" (, ), also known in English as "Brother John", is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a round. The song is about a friar who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the matins, the midnight or very early morning prayers for which a monk would be expected to wake. Lyrics Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, din, don. Din, din, don. English translation Brother Jacques, Brother Jacques, Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Ring/Sound he bells formatins! Ring he bells formatins! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. Traditional English lyrics Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John, Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. The song concerns a monk's duty to ring the bell for ''matines''. Frère Jacques has apparently overslept, it is time to ring the bells for matin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Eastern Music
The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Armenian music, Kurdish music, Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cypriot music, the music of Turkey, traditional Assyrian music, Coptic ritual music in Egypt as well as other genres of Egyptian music in general, and the Andalusian (Muslim Spain) music very much alive in the greater Middle East (North Africa), all maintain their own traditions. It is widely regarded that some Middle-Eastern musical styles have influenced Central Asia, as well as Spain, and the Balkans. Throughout the region, religion has been a common factor in uniting peoples of different languages, cultures and nations. The predominance of Islam allowed a great deal of Arabic, and Byzantine influence to spread through the region rapidly from the 7th century onward. The Arabic scale is strongly melodic, based on various maqamat (sing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
