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This week, we're learning about lucky number 13!
Wait... What?!?
♪ (intro) ♪
Welcome to Jewish Music Toronto!
I am Eli.
Remember that all of our lesson and sing-along videos are closed captioned, so if you want
to follow along, all you have to do is click the CC button at the bottom of the YouTube player.
Well, you've asked, and I've listened.
Recently, I've received quite a few requests to do more liturgical, prayer-type songs and
chants for you, and I am more than happy to oblige!
So, this week, we're learning a song that can start your day, assuming you were to choose
to include it as part of your daily prayer routine.
More commonly though, it concludes the evening prayer services on Shabbat and Holidays,
sometimes trading off places with Adon Olam.
It's Yigdal, or Yigdal Elokim Chai (Exalted or Exalted is the Living God).
In an effort to continue to make things easier for you, I've brought back the quick links
from our last lessons.
You can click any one of the links here to skip to your point of interest.
Don't worry. I'll leave the window open, so you can come back.
As always, we'll go over some of the background on the song,
learn a tad about its author and composer,
and finally get into the lyrics before learning the melody.
First up! Background!
Yigdal is a summarized version of the Rambam's (Maimonedes') 13 Principles of Jewish Faith.
The list of 13 principles covers everything from the basic belief in God
and that there is ONLY one God, to the belief in the eventual coming of the
Moshiach (Messiah), and of the eventual ressurection of the dead.
This list was one to which, the Rambam controversially proclaimed, all Jews must adhere
to even be considered as being Jewish.
Actually, what he said was a... tad more controversial than that.
Just take a look at the link below a little later.
As I mentioned earlier, Yigdal can be a part of your daily morning routine, as it's part
of the morning blessings, immediately following Ma Tovu and Adon Olam.
Of course, as I recently learned during a Rabbi's Q&A in my shul,
if you didn't grow up going to a religious elementary school that had prayers
as part of its daily routine,
or, perhaps, if delving into prayers just happens to be a more recent endeavour for you,
it's possible that that is something of which you were unaware.
As the person who asked the related question pointed out,
the person who leads the morning services only begins with the final set of the morning blessings!
He had a point when asking why that is, especially considering that it's not just these songs
that appear before the final set, but some integral daily blessings as well,
like the blessings relating to living by and learning the ways of the Torah.
Having only become more active in praying in recent years, he was surprised when,
during an earlier lecture, he learned about those other songs and blessings
appearing before the final set!
That's not to say that he never noticed them. He just never realized their importance, as,
in most, if not all, shuls, they are excluded from the morning services.
Either way, if you want to sing them, they're there, near the beginning of the siddur.
As for how to sing Yigdal, it's typically done in a responsive fashion,
with the chazzan singing one line, followed by the congregation singing the next.
Oh, there is one other potential reason that you may have never seen Yigdal before,
and it depends on your background.
People who follow the teachings of the Rav Yitzchak Luria may have not been exposed to
the song, because The Arizal, as he was known, was either against more "modern" piyutim being
added to the prayer services,
or because the defining and declaration of a set of principles could appear to place
greater significance to this set over other parts of Judaism.
As such, his siddur doesn't include it.
Resource links below, of course!
And now, the Author!
Based on everything we've learned up till this point, it's pretty obvious who the author is.
It's the Rambam! Right?
Well, not so fast.
Sure, the 13 Principles on which the song is based WERE written by the Rambam,
but Yigdal is a summarized, songified-
♪ (Sonfigy This intro) ♪
No, not that!
songified version of those principles.
At best, he'd get a "inspired by" or writing credit.
In reality, song's authorship has been debated since the mid-1800s, with Jewish studies scholars
from the time presenting their own cases,
saying it was either written by the 14th century poet Daniel ben Yehuda Dayan,
or by 13th century scholar and poet Immanuel of Rome.
In fact, in his final book, "Literary History of Synagogue Poetry", Leopold Zunz, called
the "founder of the modern 'science of Judaism'" according to the Jewish Encyclopedia,
wrote that Dayan was the author of the song, but that he borrowed individual expressions
from similar poems by "Immanuel",
who I'm going to assume is Immanuel of Rome.
According to Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple, Rabbi Emeritus of the Great Synagogue
in Sydney, Australia, scholar Hartwig Hirschfeld was more specific
in his statements about the song's authorship, saying that it was, indeed,
Immanuel of Rome who wrote it.
Either that or an unknown author by the name of Yechiel ben Rav Baruch, who left his name
somewhere in the final line, but that honestly seems like a stretch, considering
how much you have to play around with the line to get that name.
Either way, be sure to read through the links below, because they are chock full of great information!
I've even included a link to Zunz's book in German!
(sorry, I couldn't find a translated version)
Next up! The Composer!
Finally, we're getting to an easy part!
The Ashkenazi melody that we'll be learning this week may have orignally been composed
during the 17th century or earlier, but Cantor Myer Lyon holds the credit
for its composition.
Lyon had an interesting life in a variety of musical careers, from being the Chazzan (Cantor)
at the Great Synagogue of London, to an Opera singer in the theatres of London
and Dublin, under the stage name Michael Leoni.
Apparently his voice and music were so beloved across cultural and religious borders that
non-Jews would come to the Great Synagogue to hear him during Friday evening services,
and that this melody for Yigdal ended up being used as a church hymn.
It's all pretty fascinating so, as always, I encourage you to do some more reading via the links below.
On to the lyrics!
A quick reminder before I get into the lyrics.
I'll be saying Elokim in the place of that version of Hashem's name.
Feel free to say it normally if that's what you prefer.
The lyrics are:
Yig-dal Eh-lo-kim Chai V'Yeesh-tah-bach Neem-tzah V'ein Eit El M'tzee-oo-to
Exalted is the Living God, and praised, He exists and his existence is not bound by time
Eh-chad V'ein Yah-cheed C'Yee-choo-do Ne'eh-lahm V'Gahm Ein Sof L'Ach-doo-to
He is One and there is no One like his Oneness His Oneness is inscrutable and without end
Ein Lo D'moot Hah-goof V'ei-no Goof Lo Na'ah-roch Ei-lav K'Doo-shah-to
He has no semblance of a body, and he is not a physical being
And His holiness has no comparison
Kad-mon L'Chol Dah-var Ah-sher Neev-rah Ree-shon V'Ein Rei-sheet L'Rei-shee-to
He came before every being that was created The first, and nothing is more first than His firstness
Okay, so I got a little too literal there...
Anyway, it continues on like this for quite a bit, so I'm going to skip through to the
melody at this point.
As always, you can follow along with the closed captions,
or read the translation in the description later on.
Also, the Wikipedia entry has the complete lyrics in both English and Hebrew as well.
Time for the melody!
The modern version of this melody, which is the one we'll be singing in a second,
is a slight variation of the Lyon version that you'll see via the links in the description.
So, if you want to do it exactly as it's written instead of as it's sung now,
check out the links, and give it a try.
The melody goes:
♪ Yig-dal Eh-lo-kim Chai V'Yeesh-tah-bach ♪ ♪ Neem-tzah V'ein Eit El M'tzee-oo-to ♪
♪ Eh-chad V'ein Yah-cheed C'Yee-choo-do ♪ ♪ Ne'eh-lahm V'Gahm Ein Sof L'Ach-doo-to ♪
♪ Ein Lo D'moot Hah-goof V'ei-no Goof ♪ ♪ Lo Na'ah-roch Ei-lav K'Doo-shah-to ♪
♪ Kad-mon L'Chol Dah-var Ah-sher Neev-rah ♪ ♪ Ree-shon V'Ein Rei-sheet L'Rei-shee-to ♪
♪ Hee-no Ah-don Oh-lam L'Chol No-tzar ♪ ♪ Yo-reh G'doo-lah-to Oo-mal-choo-to ♪
♪ Sheh-fah N'Voo-ah-to N'Tah-no ♪ ♪ El An-shei S'Goo-lah-to V'Tee-far-to ♪
♪ Lo Kam B'Yis-rah-ael K'Mo-sheh Od ♪ ♪ Nah-vee Oo-mah-beet Et T'Moo-nah-to ♪
♪ To-raht Eh-met Nah-tahn L'Ah-mo Kel ♪ ♪ Al Yad N'Vee-oh Ne'eh-mahn Bei-to ♪
♪ Lo Yah-chah-leef Hah-kel V'Lo Yah-meer Dah-to ♪ ♪ L'Oh-lah-meem L'Zoo-lah-to ♪
♪ Tzo-feh V'Yo-dei-ah S'Tah-rei-nu ♪ ♪ Mah-beet L'Sof Dah-var B'Kad-mah-to ♪
♪ Go-mel L'Eesh Cheh-sed K'Meef-ah-lo ♪ ♪ No-ten L'Rash-ah Rah C'Reesh-ah-to ♪
♪ Yeesh-lach L'Keitz Yah-meen M'Shee-chei-nu ♪ ♪ Leef-dot M'Chah-kei Keitz Y'Shoo-ah-to ♪
♪ Mei-teem Y'Chah-yeh Kel B'Rov Chas-doh ♪ ♪ Bah-ruch Ah-dei Ad Shem T'Hee-lah-to ♪
♪ Mei-teem Y'Chah-yeh Kel B'Rov Chas-doh ♪ ♪ Bah-ruch Ah-dei Ad Shem T'Hee-lah-to ♪
That's it for this week's lesson.
Be sure to come back on later in the week for our sing-along to Yigdal.
Also, if you're interested in seeing the Rambam's 13 Principles of Jewish Faith, they can easily
be found, with translations, in the Additional Readings section following the weekday morning
prayers in most Hebrew-English siddurim.
The Wikipedia entry on the principles is also quite impressive, and I've included a link
to that in the description as well!
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Thanks for watching, and bye for now!