Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Taub ''(in Hungarian: Taub Eizik Izsák)'' (1751–7th of Adar 2, March 21, 1821) was the rabbi of

Nagykálló Nagykálló () is a small town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Before World War II it belonged to Szabolcs (county), Szabolcs county. Location from county seat Nyíregyháza. History Nag ...

(in Yiddish Kalov),

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and the first Hassidic

Rebbe A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...

. He was known as "the Sweet Singer of Israel". He composed many popular Hasidic melodies. He was famous for composing the traditional Hungarian Hasidic tune ''"Szól a kakas már"''.

Biography

His exact place of birth is uncertain, most probably he was born either in Nagykálló or

Szerencs Szerencs is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It lies away from Miskolc, and away from Budapest. It has about 9,100 inhabitants. History Szerencs grew into a town where the Great Plain and the Zemplén mountains meet. ...

. Taub was discovered by Rabbi

Leib Sarah's Leib Sarah's (''Aryeh Leib the son of Sarah'') (1730–1791) was a Chassidic Rebbe and a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in Octobe ...

, a disciple of the

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...

, who first met him when he was a small child and took him to Nikolsburg to learn with Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg.

Songs

He composed many popular Hasidic

Nigun A nigun (, 'tune' or 'melody'; pl. nigunim) or niggun (pl. niggunim) is a form of Ashkenazi Jewish vocal music sung in group settings. ''Nigunim'' are melodic tunes, often using repetitive non-lexical vocables such as "bim-bim-bam", "lai-lai- ...

im (melodies). Often he adapted Hungarian folk songs, adding Jewish words, by that transforming it to sacred songs. He taught that the tunes he heard were really from the Holy

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, and were lost among the nations over the years, and he found them and returned them to the Jewish people. He said that the proof that it was true was that the gentile who would teach him the song would forget it as soon as the rebbe learned it. He was famous for composing the traditional Hungarian Hasidic tune ''Szól a kakas már''. :: Words in square brackets are sometimes omitted. See

Hungarian phonology The phonology of the Hungarian language is notable for its process of vowel harmony, the frequent occurrence of Gemination, geminate consonants and the presence of otherwise uncommon Palatal consonant, palatal stops. Consonants This is the ...

about proper pronunciation. When Leib Sarah's found him, he sang in Hungarian a song he knew from the shepherds, ''Erdő, erdő'', which he adapted to Judaism by changing the words. In Yitzack Isaac's version, the love in the song is for the

Shechina Shekhinah () is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God in a place. This concept is found in Judaism from Talmudic literature. The word "Shekhinah" is found in the Bible only ...

(Divine Presence) that is in exile until the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

:"The Singing Tzaddik"
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Forest, O forest, how vast are you! Rose, O rose, how distant you are! Were the forest not so vast, My rose wouldn't be so far. Who will guide me out of the forest, And unite me with my rose? Then he sang it as Rabbi Leib Sarah's heard it. Exile, O exile, how vast are you! Shechinah, Shechinah, how distant you are! Were the exile not so vast, The Shechinah wouldn't be so far. Who will guide me out of the exile, And unite me with the Shechinah?

Another famous song by the Kaliver Rebbe is ''Sírnak, rínak a bárányok'' – also in Hungarian.

References

{{Authority control Hasidic rebbes