Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the
Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
in
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
servicesJewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the
Masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
of the
Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
(or
TanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
) to complement the letters and vowel points. These marks are known in English as accents and in
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
as טעמי המקרא ta`amei ha-mikra or just טעמים te`amim. (Some of these signs were also sometimes used in medieval manuscripts of the
MishnahThe Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
.) The musical motifs associated with the signs are known in Hebrew as niggun or neginot (not to be confused with
HasidicHasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
nigunA nigun or niggun is a form of Jewish religious song or tune sung by groups. It is vocal music, often with repetitive sounds such as "bim-bim-bam" or "ai-ai-ai!" instead of formal lyrics. Sometimes, Bible verses or quotes from other classical Jewish texts are sung repetitively to form a nigun...
) and in Yiddish as טראָפ trop: the equivalent word trope is sometimes used in English with the same meaning.
A primary purpose of the cantillation signs is to guide the chanting of the sacred texts during public worship. Very roughly speaking, each word of text has a cantillation mark at its primary accent and associated with that mark is a musical phrase that tells how to sing that word. The reality is more complex, with some words having two or no marks and the musical meaning of some marks dependent upon context. There are different sets of musical phrases associated with different sections of the Bible. The music varies with different Jewish traditions and individual
cantorialA 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...
styles.
The cantillation signs also provide information on the syntactical structure of the text and some say they are a commentary on the text itself, highlighting important ideas musically. The tropes are not random strings but follow a set and describable grammar. The very word ta'am means "taste" or "sense", the point being that the pauses and intonation denoted by the accents (with or without formal musical rendition) bring out the sense of the passage.
There are two systems of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. One is used in the twenty-one prose books, while the other appears in the three poetical books of Psalms,
ProverbsThe Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
and
JobThe Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
. Except where otherwise stated, this article describes the "prose" system.
The current system of cantillation notes has its historical roots in the Tiberian
masorahThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
. The cantillation signs are included in
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
as characters 0591 through 05AF in the
Hebrew alphabetThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
block.
The names of the cantillation signs are not quite the same as between the
AshkenaziAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
,
SephardiSephardi 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...
, Italian and
YemeniteYemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
traditions; for example Sephardim use qadma to mean what Ashkenazim call pashta, and azla to mean what Ashkenazim call qadma. In this article, as in almost all Hebrew grammars, the Ashkenazi terminology is used. The names in other traditions are shown in the table below.
Functions of cantillation signs
The cantillation signs serve three functions:
Functions
| Function |
Description |
| Syntax |
They divide biblical verses into smaller units of meaning, a function which also gives them a limited but sometimes important role as a source for exegesis. This function is accomplished through the use of various conjunctive signs (which indicate that words should be connected in a single phrase) and especially a hierarchy of dividing signs of various strength which divide each verse into smaller phrases. The function of the disjunctive cantillation signs may be roughly compared to modern punctuation signs such as periods, commas, semicolons, etc. |
| Phonetics |
Most of the cantillation signs indicate the specific syllable where the stress (accent) falls in the pronunciation of a word. |
| Music |
The cantillation signs have musical value: reading the Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
with cantillation becomes a musical chant, where the music itself serves as a tool to emphasise the proper accentuation and syntax (as mentioned previously). |
Syntax
In general, each word in the Tanach has one cantillation sign. (There are two types of exception. A group of words joined by hyphens is regarded as one word so they only have one accent between them. Conversely, a long word may have two, e.g. a disjunctive on the stressed syllable and the related conjunctive two syllables before in place of meteg.) This may be either a disjunctive, showing a division between that and the following word, or a conjunctive, joining the two words (like a slur in music). Thus, disjunctives divide a verse into phrases, and within each phrase all the words except the last carry conjunctives.
The disjunctives are traditionally divided into four levels, with lower level disjunctives marking less important breaks.
- The first level, known as "Emperors", includes sof pasuq / siluq, marking the end of the verse, and atnach / etnachta, marking the middle.
- The second level is known as "Kings". The usual second level disjunctive is zaqef qaton (when on its own, this becomes zaqef gadol). This is replaced by tifcha when in the immediate neighbourhood of sof pasuq or atnach. A stronger second level disjunctive, used in very long verses, is segol: when it occurs on its own, this may be replaced by shalshelet
The Shalshelet is a cantillation mark found in the Torah. It is one of the rarest used, occurring just four times in the entire Torah, in Genesis 19:16, 24:12, and 39:8, and in Leviticus 8:23. Words accented with the shalshelet mark only occur at the beginning of the verse.The Hebrew word...
.
- The third level is known as "Dukes". The usual third level disjunctive is revia. For musical reasons, this is replaced by zarqa when in the vicinity of segol, by pashta or yetiv when in the vicinity of zakef, and by tevir when in the vicinity of tifcha.
- The fourth level is known as "Counts". These are found mainly in longer verses, and tend to cluster near the beginning of a half-verse: for this reason their musical realisation is usually more elaborate than that of higher level disjunctives. They are pazer, geresh
Geresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :...
, gershayimGershayim , also occasionally grashayim , names two distinct typographical marks in the Hebrew language. The name literally means "double geresh".-Punctuation mark:...
, telishah gedolah, munach legarmeh and qarne farah.
The general conjunctive is munach. Depending on which disjunctive follows, this may be replaced by mercha, mahpach, darga, qadma, telisha qetannah or yerach ben yomo.
One other symbol is mercha kefulah, double mercha. There is some argument about whether this is another conjunctive or an occasional replacement for tevir.
Disjunctives have a function somewhat similar to punctuation in Western languages. Sof pasuq could be thought of as a full stop, atnach as a semi-colon, second level disjunctives as commas and third level disjunctives as commas or unmarked. Where two words are syntactically bound together (for example, pene ha-mayim, "the face of the waters"), the first invariably carries a conjunctive.
The cantillation signs are often an important aid in the interpretation of a passage. For example, the words qol qore bamidbar panu derekh YHWH (
Isaiah 40-3) is translated in the
Authorised VersionThe Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version, King James Bible or KJV, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611...
as "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord". As the word qore takes the high-level disjunctive zaqef qaton this meaning is discouraged by the cantillation marks. Accordingly the
New Revised Standard VersionThe New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Bible released in 1989 in the USA. It is a thorough revision of the Revised Standard Version .There are three editions of the NRSV:...
translates "A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord'," while the
New Jewish Publication Society VersionThe JPS TANAKH, published in 1985, is a modern Jewish translation of Hebrew Scripture into English.This translation emerged from the collaborative efforts of an interdenominational team of Jewish scholars and rabbis working together over a thirty-year period...
has "A voice rings out: 'Clear in the desert a road for the LORD'."
Phonetics
Most cantillation signs are written on the consonant of the stressed syllable of a word. This also shows where the most important note of the musical motif should go.
A few signs always go on the first or last consonant of a word. This may have been for musical reasons, or it may be to distinguish them from other accents of similar shape. For example pashta, which goes on the last consonant, otherwise looks like qadma, which goes on the stressed syllable.
Some signs are written (and sung) differently when the word is not stressed on its last syllable. Pashta on a word of this kind is doubled, one going on the stressed syllable and the other on the last consonant. Geresh is doubled unless it occurs on a non-finally-stressed word or follows qadma (to form the qadma ve-azla phrase).
Music
Cantillation signs guide the reader in applying a chant to Biblical readings. This chant is technically regarded as a ritualized form of speech intonation rather than as a musical exercise like the singing of metrical hymns: for this reason Jews always speak of saying or reading a passage rather than of singing it. (In
YiddishYiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
the word is leynen 'read', derived from Latin legere, giving rise to the Jewish English verb "to leyn".)
The musical value of the cantillation signs serves the same function for Jews worldwide, but the specific tunes vary between different communities. The most common tunes today are as follows.
- Among Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
:
- The Polish-Lithuanian melody, used by Ashkenazic descendants of eastern European Jews, is the most common tune in the world today, both in Israel and the diaspora.
- The Ashkenazic melodies from central and western European Jewry are used far less today than before the Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, but still survive in some communities, especially in Great Britain. They are of interest because a very similar melody was notated by Johann ReuchlinJohann Reuchlin was a German humanist and a scholar of Greek and Hebrew. For much of his life, he was the real centre of all Greek and Hebrew teaching in Germany.-Early life:...
as in use in Germany in his day (15th-16th century, C.E.).
- Among Sephardi
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...
and Mizrahi JewsMizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
:
- The "Jerusalem Sephardic" (Sepharadi-Yerushalmi) melody is the one most widely used today in Israel, and is also used in some Sephardic communities in the diaspora.
- The Greek/Turkish/Balkan, Syrian
Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit 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 Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern...
and EgyptianEgyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest Jewish communities in the world. While no exact census exists, the Jewish population of Egypt was estimated at fewer than a hundred in 2004, down from between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1922. The historic core of the indigenous community...
melodies are related to the Jerusalem Sephardic melody. They are more sparingly used in Israel today, but are still heard in the Diaspora, especially in America.
- There are two Iraqi
The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BCE. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities....
melodies, one close to the Syrian melody and traditionally used in Baghdad (and sometimes in Israel), and another more distinctive melody originating in Mosul and generally used in the Iraqi Jewish diaspora.
- The Moroccan melody is used widely by Jews of Moroccan descent, both in Israel and in the diaspora, especially France. It subdivides into a Spanish-Moroccan melody, used in the northern coastal strip, and an Arab-Moroccan melody, used in the interior of the country, with some local variations.
- The Spanish and Portuguese melody is in common use in the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
communities of LivornoThe history of the Jews in Livorno, Italy reaches back about 500 years. The Jewish community of Livorno, although the youngest among the historic Jewish communities of Italy, was for some time the foremost because of the wealth, scholarship, and political rights of its members.-History:The first...
, GibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, the NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, USA and other places in the Americas. It is closely related to the Spanish-Moroccan melody.
- Italian melodies are still used in Italy, as well as in one Italian synagogue in Jerusalem, one in Istanbul
The Italian Synagogue, also known as Kal de los Frankos, is a synagogue located north of the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. The synagogue was established by the Italian Jewish community of Istanbul, , in the 19th century. In 1931 the original building was demolished and a new synagogue was built...
, and one in New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. These vary greatly locally: for example the melody used in Rome resembles the Spanish and Portuguese melody rather than those used in northern Italy.
- The Yemenite
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
melody can also be heard in Israel today.
- There has been an attempted reconstruction of the original melody by Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura
Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura was an organist, music teacher, composer and music theorist. Her magnum opus was in the field of musicology.-Personal life:...
, on the basis of the shapes and positions of the marks and without any reference to existing melodies, as described in her book and LP's La musique de la Bible révélée.
Ashkenazic melodies
In the Ashkenazic musical tradition for cantillation, each of the local geographical customs includes a total of six major and numerous minor separate melodies for cantillation:
- Torah and Haftarot
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
(3 melodies)
- 1. Torah (general melody for the whole year)
- 2. Torah - special melody for Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
and Yom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
. You may hear the reading at Torahplace. This tune is also employed on Simhat Torah in various degrees (depending on the specific community). Echoes of it can also be heard for certain verses in the Torah reading for fast days in some communities.
- There are a number of variants employed for special sections, such as those for the Aseret haDibrot (Ten Commandments) and Az Yashir
The Song of the Sea is a poem that appears in the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible, at . It is followed in verses 20 and 21 by a much shorter song sung by Miriam and the other women...
(Song of the Sea).
- In all Torah modes, there is a "coda
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
" motif that is used for the last few words of each reading, irrespective of the cantillation signs.
- There is a special coda used at the end of each of the five books of the Torah that leads to the traditional exclamation of "Hazak Hazak V'Nithazek!" (Be strong be strong so we are strengthened).
- 3. Haftarot
- In the haftarah mode, there is also a "coda" motif. In the Western Ashkenazic mode, this is applied to the end of every verse. A different coda is used at the end of the haftarah, modulating from minor to major to introduce the following blessing.
- The Five Megillot (3 melodies are employed for these five scrolls)
- 4. Esther - a light, joyous tune used for the Megillat Esther on Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
. There are also additional musical customs, such as saying the word (horseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
) with a neighing sound, not indicated by the cantillation.
- 5. Lamentations - a mournful tune. Echoes of it can also be heard for certain verses in Esther and in the Torah reading preceding the Ninth of Av. The Haftarot preceding and during the Ninth of Av also use this melody, when read in nonHasidic shuls.
- 6. The three remaining scrolls are publicly read within Ashkenazic communities during the three pilgrimage festivals. All are read in the same melody, which may be considered the "general" melody for the megillot: the Song of Songs
Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...
on PassoverPassover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
; RuthThe Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...
on ShavuotThe festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
; EcclesiastesThe Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...
on SukkotSukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...
.
The Ashkenazic tradition preserves no melody for the special cantillation notes of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, which were not publicly read in the synagogue by European Jews. However, the Ashkenazic
yeshivaYeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
known as
Aderet EliyahuYeshivat Aderet Eliyahu , commonly referred to as "Zilberman's," is a Haredi, Lithuanian educational facility located between the Jewish and Muslim quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem....
, or (more informally) Zilberman's, in the Old City of Jerusalem, uses an adaptation of the Syrian cantillation-melody for these books, and this is becoming more popular among other Ashkenazim as well.
Sephardic and Eastern melodies
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a single Ottoman-Sephardic tradition covering Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Today the Jerusalem-Sephardic, Syrian, Egyptian and Baghdadi melodies recognisably belong to a single family. For example, in these traditions the Torah reading is always or almost always in Maqam Sigah. There are some variations, among individual readers as well as among communities: for example the Egyptian melody is related to the more elaborate and cantorial form of the Syrian melody. The
KaraiteKaraite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...
tradition, being based on the Egyptian, also forms part of this group.
Another recognisable family consists of the Iraqi (Mosul and Iraqi diaspora), Spanish-Moroccan and Spanish and Portuguese melodies. The probable reason for the occurrence of similar melodies at opposite ends of the Arab world is that they represent the remains of an old Arab-Jewish tradition not overlaid by the later Ottoman-Sephardic tradition that spread to the countries in between. There may also have been some convergence between the London Spanish and Portuguese and Iraqi melodies during
British rule in IndiaBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and the British Mandate of Mesopotamia.
The Jews of North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Yemen all had local musical traditions for cantillation. When these Jewish communities emigrated (mostly to Israel) during the twentieth century, they brought their musical traditions with them. But as the immigrants themselves grew older, many particular national melodies began to be forgotten, or to become assimilated into the "Jerusalem Sephardic" melting-pot.
As with the Ashkenazim, there is one tune for Torah readings and a different tune for haftarot. Spanish and Portuguese Jews have a special tune for the Ten Commandments when read according to the ta'am elyon, known as "High Na'um", which is also used for some other words and passages which it is desired to emphasize. Other communities, such as the Syrian Jews, observe the differences between the two sets of cantillation marks for the Ten Commandments but have no special melody for ta'am 'elyon. There is no special tune for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in any Sephardic tradition. As with Ashkenazim, the normal musical value of cantillation signs is replaced by a "coda" motif at the end of each Torah reading and of each haftarah verse (though there is no special coda for the end of the haftarah), suggesting a common origin for the Sephardi and Ashkenazi chants.
Eastern Jewish communities have no liturgical tradition of reading Ecclesiastes, and there is no public liturgical reading of Song of Songs on Passover, though brief extracts may be read after the morning service during the first half of Nisan. (Individuals may read it after the Passover Seder, and many communities recite it every Friday night.) There are specialized tunes for Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther and Lamentations. The prose passages at the beginning and end of the book of Job may be read either to the tune of Song of Songs or to that of Ruth, depending on the community. The Ruth tune is generally the "default" tune for any book of the
KetuvimKetuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...
(Hagiographa) that does not have a tune of its own.
Unlike the Ashkenazic tradition, the eastern traditions, in particular that of the Syrian Jews, include melodies for the special cantillation of Psalms, Proverbs and the poetic parts of Job. In many eastern communities, Proverbs is read on the six Sabbaths between
PassoverPassover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
and
ShavuotThe festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
, Job on the
Ninth of Av|Av]],") is an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 655 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date...
, and Psalms are read on a great many occasions. The cantillation melody for Psalms can also vary depending on the occasion. The
Spanish and Portuguese JewsSpanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
have no tradition for the rendering of the Psalms according to the cantillation marks, but the melody used for several psalms in the evening service is noticeably similar to that of Syrian psalm cantillation, and may represent the remnants of such a tradition.
Yemenite melodies
Yemenite cantillation has a total of eight distinctive motifs, falling within four main patterns:
- molikh (‘moving’) used for the conjunctives and some minor disjunctives
- mafsiq (‘dividing’) for most third level disjunctives
- ma‘amid (‘pausing’) for most second level disjunctives; and
- the patterns of etnaḥa and silluq (sof pasuq).
This is true equally of the system used for the Torah and the systems used for the other books. It appears to be a relic of the Babylonian system, which also recognised only eight types of disjunctive and no conjunctives.
Learning melodies
Some communities had a simplified melody for the Torah, used in teaching it to children, as distinct from the mode used in synagogue. (This should not be confused with the lernen steiger used for studying the Mishnah and Talmud.) For example, the Yemenite community teaches a simplified melody for children, to be used both in school and when they are called to read the sixth aliyah. The simplified melody is also used for the reading of the
TargumTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, which is generally performed by a young boy.
Conversely, the
SyrianSyrian Jews are Jews who inhabit 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 Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern...
community knows two types of Torah cantillation, a simpler one for general use and a more elaborate one used by professional
hazzanA 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...
im. It is probable that the simpler melody was originally a teaching mode. Today however it is the mode in general use, and is also an ancestor of the "Jerusalem-Sephardic" melody.
Some communities had a simplified melody for the
ProphetsNevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, distinct from that used in reading the
HaftarahThe haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
: the distinction is mentioned in one medieval Sephardic source.
Names in different traditions
The following table shows the names of the ta'amim in the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Italian and Yemenite traditions together with their Unicode symbols. The following points should be noted.
- Cantillation marks are rarely supported in many default Hebrew fonts. They should display however on Windows with one of those fonts installed:
- Gisha, Times New Roman, Arial, Microsoft Sans Serif, Code2000, Courier New, Ezra SIL
- The following default Hebrew fonts are not displaying these marks :
- David, Miriam, Rod, FrankRuehl (as well as serif, sans-serif, monospaced unless they are configured manually)
- The following table attempts to locate the working Hebrew fonts (listed after some non-Hebrew fonts like: Segoe UI, Verdana) before using default Hebrew fonts.
- The mark for U+05AA (yerach ben yomo or galgal) should not be drawn with the bottom vertical tick used in the mark drawn for U+05A2 (atnach hafukh), however some fonts draw these marks identically.
|
Ashkenazi |
Sephardi |
Italian |
Yemenite |
בֽ׃
U+05BD |
סוֹף פָּסֽוּק
Sof pasuq/ silluq |
סוֹף פָּסֽוּק
Sof pasuq |
סוֹף פָּסֽוּק
Sof pasuq |
סִלּֽוּק
Silluq |
ב֑
U+0591 |
אֶתְנַחְתָּ֑א
Etnaḥta |
אַתְנָ֑ח
Atnaḥ |
אַתְנָ֑ח
Atnaḥ |
אֶתְנָחָ֑א
Etnaḥa |
ב֒
U+0592 |
סְגוֹל֒
Segol |
סְגוֹלְתָּא֒
Segolta |
שְׁרֵי֒
Shere |
|
ב֓
U+0593 |
שַׁלְשֶׁ֓לֶת
Shalshelet |
שַׁלְשֶׁ֓לֶת
Shalshelet |
שַׁלְשֶׁ֓לֶת
Shalshelet |
שִׁישְׁלָ֓א
Shishla |
ב֔
U+0594 |
זָקֵף קָטָ֔ן
Zaqef qatan |
זָקֵף קָט֔וֹן
Zaqef qaton |
זָקֵף קָט֔וֹן
Zaqef qaton |
זָקֵף קָט֔וֹן
Zaqef qaton |
ב֕
U+0595 |
זָקֵף גָּד֕וֹל
Zaqef gadol |
זָקֵף גָּד֕וֹל
Zaqef gadol |
זָקֵף גָּד֕וֹל
Zaqef gadol |
זָקֵף גָּד֕וֹל
Zaqef gadol |
ב֖
U+0596 |
טִפְחָ֖א
Tifcha |
טַרְחָ֖א
Tarḥa |
טַרְחָ֖א
Tarḥa |
נְטוּיָ֖ה
Netuyah |
ב֗
U+0597 |
רְבִ֗יע
Revia/revi’i |
רְבִ֗יע
Revia |
רְבִ֗יע
Revia |
רְבִ֗יע
Revia |
ב֘
U+0598 |
זַרְקָא֘
Zarqa |
זַרְקָא֘
Zarqa |
זַרְקָא֘
Zarqa |
צִנּוֹר֘
Tzinnor |
ב֙
U+0599 |
פַּשְׁטָא֙
Pashta |
קַדְמָא֙
Qadma |
פַּשְׁטָא֙
Pashta |
אַזְלָא֙
Azla |
ב֨ב֙
U+0599 U+05A8 |
שְׁנֵ֨י פַּשְׁטִין֙
Shene pashtin/pashtayim |
תּרֵ֨י קַדְמִין֙
Tere qadmin |
שְׁנֵ֨י פַּשְׁטִין֙
(Shene) pashtin |
|
ב֚
U+059A |
יְ֚תִיב
Yetiv |
יְ֚תִיב
Yetiv |
שׁ֚וֹפָר יְתִיב
Shofar yetiv |
יְ֚תִיב
Yetiv |
ב֛
U+059B |
תְּבִ֛יר
Tevir |
תְּבִ֛יר
Tevir |
תְּבִ֛יר
Tevir |
תַּבְרָ֛א
Tavra |
ב֡
U+05A1 |
פָּזֵ֡ר
Pazer |
פָּזֵר גָּד֡וֹל
Pazer gadol |
פָּזֵר גָּד֡וֹל
Pazer gadol |
|
ב֟
U+059F |
קַרְנֵי פָרָ֟ה
Qarne farah/ pazer gadol |
קַרְנֵי פָרָ֟ה
Qarne farah |
קַרְנֵי פָרָ֟ה
Qarne farah |
קַרְנֵי פָרָ֟ה
Qarne farah |
ב֠
U+05A0 |
תְּ֠לִישָא גְדוֹלָה
Telisha gedolah |
תִּ֠רְצָה
Tirtzah/Talsha |
תַּ֠לְשָׁא
Talsha |
תְּ֠לִישָא גְדוֹלָה
Telisha gedolah |
ב֜
U+059C |
גֵּ֜רֵשׁ
Geresh/azla |
גְּרִ֜ישׁ
Gerish |
גֵּ֜רֵשׁ
Geresh/azla |
טָרֵ֜ס
Tares |
ב֞
U+059E |
גֵּרְשַׁ֞יִם
Gershayim |
שְׁנֵי גְרִישִׁ֞ין
Shene gerishin |
שְׁנֵי גְרִישִׁ֞ין
Shene gerishin |
טַרְסִ֞ין
Tarsin |
ב֣׀
U+05A3 |
מוּנַח לְגַרְמֵ֣הּ׀
Munach legarmeh |
פָּסֵ֣ק׀
Paseq |
לְגַרְמֵ֣הּ׀
Legarmeh |
|
ב֥
U+05A5 |
מֵרְכָ֥א
Mercha |
מַאֲרִ֥יךְ
Maarich |
מַאֲרִ֥יךְ
Maarich |
מַאֲרְכָ֥א
Maarcha |
ב֣
U+05A3 |
מוּנַ֣ח
Munach |
שׁוֹפָר הוֹלֵ֣ךְ
Shofar holech |
שׁוֹפָר עִלּ֣וּי
Shofar illui |
|
ב֤
U+05A4 |
מַהְפַּ֤ך
Mahpach |
שׁוֹפָר) מְהֻפָּ֤ךְ)
(Shofar) mehuppach |
שׁוֹפָר הָפ֤וּךְ
Shofar hafuch |
מְהֻפָּ֤ךְ
Mehuppach |
ב֧
U+05A7 |
דַּרְגָּ֧א
Darga |
דַּרְגָּ֧א
Darga |
דַּרְגָּ֧א
Darga |
דַּרְגָּ֧א
Darga |
ב֨
U+05A8 |
קַדְמָ֨א
Qadma |
אַזְלָ֨א
Azla |
קַדְמָ֨א
Qadma |
|
ב֩
U+05A9 |
תְּלִישָא קְטַנָּה֩
Telisha qetannah |
תַּלְשָׁא֩
Talsha/Talsa/Tilsa |
תַּרְסָא֩
Tarsa |
תְּלִישָא קְטַנָּה֩
Telisha qetannah |
ב֦
U+05A6 |
מֵרְכָא כּפוּלָ֦ה
Mercha kefulah |
תְּרֵי טַעֲמֵ֦י
Tere ta’ame |
תְּרֵין חוּטְרִ֦ין
Teren ḥutrin |
|
ב֪
U+05AA |
יֵרֶח בֶּן יוֹמ֪וֹ
Yerach ben yomo/ galgal |
יֵרֶח בֶּן יוֹמ֪וֹ
Yeraḥ ben yomo |
יֵרֶח בֶּן יוֹמ֪וֹ
Yerach ben yomo |
יֵרֶח בֶּן יוֹמ֪וֹ
Yeraḥ ben yomo |
The following additional symbols are found in the three poetical books: their names do not differ among the various traditions.
|
|
Symbol in
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
| Hebrew name in Unicode |
| Anglicized name (Israeli Hebrew) |
ב֝
U+059D |
|
| geresh muqdam |
ב֢
U+05A2 |
|
| atnach hafukh |
ב֫
U+05AB |
|
| ole |
ב֬
U+05AC |
|
| iluy |
ב֭
U+05AD |
|
| dehi |
ב֮
U+05AE |
|
| tzinor (zarqa above left) |
|
Zarqa tables
For learning purposes, the ta'amim are arranged in a traditional order of recitation called a "zarqa table", showing both the names and the symbols themselves. These tables are often printed at the end of a Chumash (Hebrew Pentateuch).
The order of recitation bears some relation to the groups in which the signs are likely to occur in a typical Biblical verse, but differs in detail between different communities. Below are traditional Ashkenazi and Sephardi orders, though variations are found in both communities.
Meanings of the names
Azla: "Going away", because it is often the end of the phrase 'Qadma ve'Azla'.
Darga: "Trill" from its sound, or "step" from its shape.
Etnachta: "Pause, rest" because it is the pause in the middle of a verse.
GereshGeresh is a sign in Hebrew writing. It has two meanings.#An apostrophe-like sign placed after a letter :...
: "Expulsion, driving out". Reason not clear.
GershayimGershayim , also occasionally grashayim , names two distinct typographical marks in the Hebrew language. The name literally means "double geresh".-Punctuation mark:...
: Double Geresh, from its appearance.
Mahpach: "Turning round". In old manuscripts, it was written like a U on its side, hence like someone doing a U turn. In printed books, it has a V shape, possibly because that was easier for the early printers to make. In Eastern communities it is called shofar mehuppach, "reversed horn", because it faces the other way from shofar holech (munach)
Mercha: "Lengthener", because it prolongs the melody of the word that follows. In modern usage it sometimes means "comma", but this usage is taken from the cantillation sign.
Mercha-kefulah: Kefulah means "double", because it looks like two merchas together. There are only five in the whole Torah: Gen. 27:25, Ex. 5:15, Lev. 10:1, Num. 14:3, Num. 32:42.
MunachThe Munach , translating to English as "to rest," is a common cantillation sound. It is marked with a right angle below the corresponding word....
: "Resting", because the shape is a horn lying on its side. (In Eastern communities it is called shofar holech, horn going forward.) Munach legarmeh (munach on its own) is a disjunctive, used mainly before revia, but occasionally before a pazer. It may be distinguished from ordinary munach by the dividing line (pesiq) following the word.
Pashta: "Stretching out", because its shape is leaning forward (or in reference to a hand signal).
Pazer: "Lavish" or "scatter", because it has so many notes.
Qadma: "To progress, advance." It always occurs at the beginning of a phrase (often before other conjunctives) and its shape is leaning forward. In particular it is the first member of the Qadma ve-Azla pair.
Revia: "A quarter", either because it has four short notes as well as the main one, or because it splits the half verse from the start to etnachta (or etnachta to the end) into quarters (as it ranks below zaqef, the main division within the half verse). The square or diamond shape of the symbol is coincidence: in most manuscripts, it is simply a point. Another possibility is that it was regarded as occupying the fourth level in the hierarchy.
Segol: "Bunch of grapes" (from its shape, which looks like a bunch of grapes).
ShalsheletThe Shalshelet is a cantillation mark found in the Torah. It is one of the rarest used, occurring just four times in the entire Torah, in Genesis 19:16, 24:12, and 39:8, and in Leviticus 8:23. Words accented with the shalshelet mark only occur at the beginning of the verse.The Hebrew word...
: "Chain", either from its appearance or because it is a long chain of notes. There are only four in the whole Torah: Gen. 19:16, 24:12, 39:8; Lev. 8:23.
Sof PasuqThe Sof passuk is the cantillation mark that occurs on the last word of every verse in the Tanakh...
: "End of verse": it is the last note of every verse. It is sometimes called silluq (taking leave).
Telisha Qetannah/Gedolah: "Detached" because they are never linked to the following note as one musical phrase; Qetannah = small (short); Gedolah = big (long).
Tevir: "Broken", because it represents a break in reading (in some traditions there is a big jump down in pitch between the first and second notes).
Tifcha: "Diagonal", or "hand-breadth". In old manuscripts, it was written as a straight diagonal line. In printed books, it is curved, apparently to make it a mirror image of Mercha, with which it is usually paired (the two together could be regarded as forming a slur). The name "tifcha" may be an allusion to a hand signal.
Yetiv: "Resting" or "sitting", because it may be followed by a short pause, or more probably because the shape is like a horn sitting up. (In the Italian tradition, it is called shofar yetiv, sitting horn.)
Zaqef Qaton/Gadol: "Upright" (from their shape, or in allusion to a hand signal); Qaton = small (short); Gadol = big (long).
Zarqa: "Scatterer", because it is like a scattering of notes.
- Numbers 35:5 (in Parshat Mas'ei) has two notes found nowhere else in the Torah:
Qarne Farah: "Horns of a cow" (from its shape), sometimes called pazer gadol.
Yerach ben Yomo: "Moon one day old" (because it looks like a crescent moon), sometimes called galgal (circle).
Sequences
The rules governing the sequence of cantillation marks are as follows.
- A verse is divided into two half verses, the first ending with, and governed by, etnachta, and the second ending with, and governed by, sof pasuq. A very short verse may have no etnachta and be governed by sof pasuq alone.
- A half verse may be divided into two or more phrases marked off by second-level disjunctives.
- A second-level phrase may be divided into two or more sub-phrases marked off by third-level disjunctives.
- A third-level phrase may be divided into two or more sub-phrases marked off by fourth-level disjunctives.
- The last subdivision within a phrase must always be constituted by a disjunctive one level down, chosen to fit the disjunctive governing the phrase and called (in the Table below) its "near companion". Thus, a disjunctive may be preceded by a disjunctive of its own or a higher level, or by its near companion, but not by any other disjunctive of a lower level than its own.
- The other subdivisions within a phrase are constituted by the "default" disjunctive for the next lower level (the "remote companion").
- Any disjunctive may or may not be preceded by one or more conjunctives, varying with the disjunctive in question.
- A disjunctive constituting a phrase on its own (i.e. not preceded by either a near companion or a conjunctive) may be substituted by a stronger disjunctive of the same level, called in the Table the "equivalent isolated disjunctive".
| Main disjunctive |
Preceding
conjunctive(s) |
Nearest preceding lower level
disjunctive ("near companion") |
Other lower level disjunctives
("remote companion") |
Equivalent isolated
disjunctive |
| First level disjunctives |
| Sof pasuq |
Mercha |
Tifcha |
Zaqef qaton |
| Etnachta |
Munach |
Tifcha |
Zaqef qaton |
| Second level disjunctives |
| Segolta |
Munach |
Zarqa |
Revia |
Shalshelet |
| Zaqef qaton |
Munach |
Pashta |
Revia |
Zaqef gadol |
| Tifcha |
Mercha;
Darga Mercha-kefulah |
Tevir |
Revia |
| Third level disjunctives |
| Revia |
Munach;
Darga Munach |
Munach legarmeh |
Geresh, Telishah gedolah, Pazer |
| Zarqa |
Munach
(occasionally Mercha) |
Geresh/Azla/Gershayim |
Telisha gedolah, Pazer |
| Pashta |
Mahpach;
Qadma Mahpach |
Geresh/Azla/Gershayim |
Telisha gedolah, Pazer |
Yetiv |
| Tevir |
Mercha or Darga;
Qadma Mercha or
Qadma Darga |
Geresh/Azla/Gershayim |
Telisha gedolah, Pazer |
| Fourth level disjunctives |
| Geresh/Azla |
Qadma;
Telishah qetannah Qadma |
|
|
Gershayim |
| Telisha gedolah |
Munach |
| Pazer |
Munach |
| Qarne farah |
Yerach ben yomo |
First level phrases
(Mercha) Tifcha (Mercha) Sof-Pasuq: The group that occurs at the end of each pasuq (verse), and always includes the Sof-Pasuq at the very minimum. Either or both of the Mercha's may be omitted.
(Mercha) Tifcha (Munach) Etnachta: one of the most common groups, but can only appear once in each pasuq. Tifcha can appear without a Mercha, but Mercha cannot appear without a Tifcha (or other following disjunctive). Etnachta can appear without a Munach, but Munach cannot appear without an Etnachta (or other following disjunctive). Munach-Etnachta can appear without a Mercha-Tifcha, but a Mercha-Tifcha cannot appear without a Munach-Etnachta (or Etnachta on its own).
Second level phrases
(Mahpach) Pashta (Munach) Zaqef Qaton: one of the most common groups. Pashta can appear without a Mahpach, but a Mahpach cannot appear without a Pashta. Alternatively, Yetiv can appear on its own in place of Pashta. Zaqef Qaton can appear without a Munach, but a Munach cannot appear without a Qaton (or other following disjunctive). The Munach-Zaqef Katon sequence can appear without the Mahpach-Pashta, but the Mahpach-Pashta cannot appear without the Zaqef Katon.
Zaqef Gadol: Not a part of a group, as it replaces a Zaqef Qaton sequence.
(Munach) Zarqa (Munach) Segol: Zarqa is only ever found before Segol; a Munach may precede either one.
Shalshelet: Not a part of a group, as it replaces a Segol sequence. Occurs only four times in the Torah, and always at the beginning of a verse.
Third level phrases
Munach | Munach Revia: The following combinations occur: Revia on its own; Munach Revia; Darga Munach Revia; Munach-with-Pesiq Revia; Munach-with-Pesiq Munach Revia. (Munach with Pesiq is a disjunctive, separate from Munach proper, and also known as Munach legarmeh, munach on its own.)
Darga Tevir: Tevir is found either alone or preceded by Darga or Mercha. Darga occasionally precedes other combinations (e.g. Darga Munach Revia).
Mercha Kefula: Occasionally preceded by Darga, but usually on its own. Occurs only five times in the Torah, and once in Haftarah. Its function appears to be similar to Tevir.
Fourth level phrases
Qadma v'Azla: This pair is known as such when found together, and may precede a Mahpach, a Revia group or a Tevir group. A Qadma can also be found without an Azla before a Mahpach, and an Azla without a Qadma is known as Azla-Geresh or simply Geresh. Gershayim on its own fulfils the same function as Qadma v'Azla, in that it can precede either a Mahpach, a Revia group or a Tevir group.
Pazer: Not considered part of a group, but usually followed by a Telisha Qetannah or a Telisha Gedolah. It may be preceded by one or more Munachs.
Telisha Qetannah/Gedolah: Not considered a part of a group, usually appears individually, sometimes after a Pazer. It often precedes Qadma.
Yerach ben Yomo Qarnei Farah: The rarest group of all. Occurs only once in the whole Torah, in the parashah Masey, on the words alpayim b'ammah (two thousand cubits). It is equivalent to Munach Pazer.
History
Three systems of Hebrew punctuation (including vowels and cantillation symbols) have been used: the Babylonian, the Palestinian and the Tiberian, only the last of which is used today.
Babylonian system
Babylonian Biblical manuscripts from the
GeonicGeonim were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority...
period contain no cantillation marks in the current sense, but small Hebrew letters are used to mark significant divisions within a verse. Up to eight different letters are found, depending on the importance of the break and where it occurs in the verse: these correspond roughly to the disjunctives of the Tiberian system. For example, in some manuscripts the letter tav, for tevir (break), does duty for both Tiberian tevir and zaqef. In general there are no symbols for the conjunctives, though some late manuscripts use the Tiberian symbols for these. There is also no equivalent for low-grade disjunctives such as telishah gedolah: these are generally replaced by the equivalent of zaqef or revia.
Nothing is known of the musical realization of these marks, but it seems likely that, if any of these signs was associated with a musical motif, the motif was applied not to the individual word but to the whole phrase ending with that break. (A somewhat similar system is used in manuscripts of the
Qur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
to guide the reader in fitting the chant to the verse called
Qur'an readingQur'an reading is the reading aloud, reciting, or chanting of portions of the Qur'an. The reciter is called a muqri' , tālī, murattil, mujawwid, or most commonly a qari...
.)
This system is reflected in the cantillation practices of the
Yemenite JewsYemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
, who now use the Tiberian symbols, but tend to have musical motifs only for the disjunctives and render the conjunctives in a monotone. It is notable that the Yemenites have only eight disjunctive motifs, thus clearly reflecting the Babylonian notation. The same is true of the Karaite mode for the haftarah; while in the Sephardi haftarah modes different disjunctives often have the same or closely similar motifs, reducing the total number of effective motifs to something like the same number.
Palestinian system
The Babylonian system, as mentioned above, is mainly concerned with showing breaks in the verse. Early Palestinian manuscripts, by contrast, are mainly concerned with showing phrases: for example the tifcha-etnachta, zarqa-segolta and pashta-zaqef sequences, with or without intervening unaccented words. These sequences are generally linked by a series of dots, beginning or ending with a dash or a dot in a different place to show which sequence is meant. Unaccented words (which in the Tiberian system carry conjunctives) are generally shown by a dot following the word, as if to link it to the following word. There are separate symbols for more elaborate tropes like pazer and telisha gedolah.
The manuscripts are extremely fragmentary, no two of them following quite the same conventions, and these marks may represent the individual reader's aide-memoire rather than a formal system of punctuation (for example, vowel signs are often used only where the word would otherwise be ambiguous). In one manuscript, presumably of somewhat later date than the others, there are separate marks for different conjunctives, actually outnumbering those in the Tiberian system (for example, munach before etnachta has a different sign from munach before zaqef), and the overall system approaches the Tiberian in comprehensiveness. In some other manuscripts, in particular those containing
TargumTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
im rather than original text, the Tiberian symbols have been added by a later hand. In general, it may be observed that the Palestinian and Tiberian systems are far more closely related to each other than either is to the Babylonian.
This system of phrasing is reflected in the Sephardic cantillation modes, in which the conjunctives (and to some extent the "near companions" such as tifcha, pashta and zarqa) are rendered as flourishes leading into the motif of the following disjunctive rather than as motifs in their own right.
The somewhat inconsistent use of dots above and below the words as disjunctives is closely similar to that found in
SyriacSyriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
texts. Kahle also notes some similarity with the punctuation of Samaritan Hebrew.
Tiberian system
By the tenth century C.E., the chant in use in Palestine had clearly become more complex, both because of the existence of pazer, geresh and telisha motifs in longer verses and because the realization of a phrase ending with a given type of break varied according to the number of words and syllables in the phrase. The Tiberian
MasoretesThe Masoretes were groups of mostly Karaite scribes and scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq...
therefore decided to invent a comprehensive notation with a symbol on each word, to replace the fragmentary systems previously in use. In particular it was necessary to invent a range of different conjunctive accents to show how to introduce and elaborate the main motif in longer phrases. (For example, tevir is preceded by mercha, a short flourish, in shorter phrases but by darga, a more elaborate run of notes, in longer phrases.) The system they devised is the one in use today, and is found in Biblical manuscripts such as the
Aleppo CodexThe Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
. A Masoretic treatise called Diqduqe ha-te'amim (precise rules of the accents) by
Aaron ben Moses ben AsherAaron ben Moses ben Asher was a Jewish scribe who refined the Tiberian system for writing down vowel sounds in Hebrew, which is still in use today, and serves as the basis for grammatical analysis...
survives, though both the names and the classification of the accents differ somewhat from those of the present day.
As the accents were (and are) not shown on a Torah scroll, it was found necessary to have a person making hand signals to the reader to show the tune, as in the Byzantine system of
neumeA neume is the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation. The word is a Middle English corruption of the ultimately Ancient Greek word for breath ....
s. This system of
cheironomyCheironomy is the use of hand signals to direct vocal music performance. Whereas in modern conductingthe notes are already specified in a written score, in cheironomy the hand signs indicate melodic curves and ornaments.-History:...
survives in some communities to the present day, notably in Italy. It is speculated that both the shapes and the names of some of the accents (e.g. tifcha, literally "hand-breadth") may refer to the hand signals rather than to the syntactical functions or melodies denoted by them. Today in most communities there is no system of hand signals and the reader learns the melody of each reading in advance.
The Tiberian system spread quickly and was accepted in all communities by the 13th century. Each community re-interpreted its reading tradition so as to allocate one short musical motif to each symbol: this process has gone furthest in the Western Ashkenazi and Ottoman (Jerusalem-Sephardi, Syrian etc.) traditions. Learning the accents and their musical rendition is now an important part of the preparations for a
bar mitzvahBar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are Jewish coming of age rituals. According to Jewish law, when Jewish boys reach 13, they become responsible for their actions and become a Bar Mitzvah . The age for girls is 12...
, as this is the first occasion on which a person reads from the
TorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
in public.
In the early period of the
Reform movementReform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
there was a move to abandon the system of cantillation and give Scriptural readings in normal speech (in Hebrew or in the vernacular). In recent decades, however, traditional cantillation has been restored in many communities.
Psalms, Proverbs and Job
The system of cantillation signs used throughout the
TanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
is replaced by a very different system for these three poetic books. Many of the signs may appear the same or similar at first glance, but most of them serve entirely different functions in these three books. (Only a few signs have functions similar to what they do in the rest of the
TanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
.) The short narratives at the beginning and end of
JobThe Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
use the "regular" system, but the bulk of the book (the poetry) uses the special system. For this reason, these three books are referred to as sifrei emet (Books of Truth), the word emet meaning "truth", but also being an acronym for the first letters of the three books (Iyov, Mishle, Tehillim).
A verse may be divided into one, two or three stichs. A one-stich verse is divided by dehi, which looks like tifcha but is under the last letter of the word. In a two-stich verse, the first stich ends with atnach. In a three-stich verse, the first stich ends with oleh ve-yored, which looks like mahpach (above the word) followed by tifcha, on either the same word or two consecutive words, and the second stich ends with atnach.
Major disjunctives within a stich are revia qaton (immediately before oleh ve-yored), revia gadol (elsewhere) and tzinnor (which looks like zarqa). The last stich may be divided by revia megurash, which looks like geresh combined with revia.
Minor disjunctives are pazer gadol, shalshelet gedolah, azla legarmeh (looking like qadma) and mehuppach legarmeh (looking like mahpach): all of these except pazer are followed by a pesiq. Mehuppach without a pesiq sometimes occurs at the beginning of a stich.
All other accents are conjunctives.
Mishnah
Some old manuscripts of the
MishnahThe Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
include cantillation marks similar to those in the Bible. There is no surviving system for the musical rendition of these.
Today many communities have a special tune for the Mishnaic passage "Bammeh madlikin" in the Friday night service. Otherwise, there is often a customary intonation used in the study of Mishnah or Talmud, somewhat similar to an
Arabic maqamArabic 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...
, but this is not reduced to a precise system like that for the Biblical books. Recordings have been made for Israeli national archives, and Frank Alvarez-Pereyre has published a book-length study of the Syrian tradition of Mishnah reading on the basis of these recordings.
In Christian missionary uses
The Jewish born Christian convert Ezekiel Margoliouth has translated the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
to Hebrew in 1865 with cantillation marks added. It is the only completely cantillated translation of the New Testament. The translation was published by the
London Jews' SocietyChurch's Ministry Among Jewish People is an Anglican missionary society founded in 1809.-History:...
.
Grammar and masorah
- Dotan, Aaron (ed.), Sefer diqduqe ha-te'amim le-rabbi Aharon Ben-Moshe Ben-Asher: Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1963 (earlier edition Leipzig 1879)
- Moshe ha-Naqdan, Darche ha-Niqqud ve-ha-neginot: Vilna 1822, Hanover 1847
- Yosef bar Kalonymus, ed. A. Berliner, Ta'ame eme"t baḥaruzim: Berlin 1886 (Hebrew and German), a medieval poem setting out the rules for the three poetical books (original is in Maḥzor of Casal Maggiore, 1485)
- Judah ben Bil'am, Sha'ar ta'ame sheloshah sifre eme"t: Paris 1556, repr. Amsterdam 1859
- Heidenheim, Wolf
Wolf ben Samson Heidenheim was a German exegete and grammarian born at Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm At an early age Heidenheim was sent to Fürth, where he studied Talmud under Joseph Steinhardt, author of Zikron Yosef, and, from 1777, under Hirsch Janow...
, Sefer Mishpete ha-Ta'amim: Rödelheim 1808 (Hebrew)
- Wickes, William, A Treatise on the Accentuation of the Twenty-One so-called Prose Books of the Old Testament: Oxford, 1887
- Ginsburg, C. D.
Christian David Ginsburg was a Polish-born, British Bible scholar and student of the masoretic tradition in Judaism....
, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible: Trinitarian Bible Society, 1897
- Kahle, Paul
Paul Ernst Kahle was a German orientalist and scholar.He was born in East Prussia and studied orientalism and theology in Marburg. He attained his doctorate in 1898. He was a Lutheran pastor. He studied semitic philology in Cairo between 1908 and 1918...
, Masoreten des Ostens: Die Altesten Punktierten Handschriften des Alten Testaments und der Targume: 1913, repr. 1966
- Kahle, Paul, Masoreten des Westens (2 vols): 1927, repr. 1967 and 2005
- Yeivin, Israel (trans. E J Revell), Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah: Scholars Press, 1980; ISBN 0-89130-373-1
- Breuer, Mordechai
Mordechai Breuer was an Orthodox rabbi. He was one of the world's leading experts on Tanakh , and especially of the text of the Aleppo Codex....
, Ta'amei hammiqra be-21 sefarim uvesifrei emet: Jerusalem, 1981 (in Hebrew)
Music (general and comparative)
- Grove Dictionary of Music, article on "Jewish Music"
- Idelsohn, A. Z.
Abraham Zevi Idelsohn was a prominent Jewish ethnologist and musicologist, who conducted several comprehensive studies of Jewish music around the world....
, Phonographierte Gesänge und Aussprachsproben des Hebräischen der jemenitischen, persischen und syrischen Juden: Vienna 1917
- Idelsohn, A. Z., Thesaurus of Oriental Hebrew Melodies, volume II: Songs of the Babylonian Jews: Jerusalem, Berlin and Vienna 1923 (links here (English) and here (Hebrew))
- Idelsohn, A. Z., Jewish Music in its Historical Development: New York 1929, reprinted many times
Polish/Lithuanian melody
- Neeman, J.L., The Tunes of the Bible - Musical Principles of the Biblical Accentuation: Tel Aviv, 1955 (Hebrew).
- Binder, A. W., Biblical Chant: New York 1959
- Jacobson, Joshua, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: the art of cantillation: 2002
- Portnoy, Marshall, The Art of Torah Cantillation - A Step-by-step Guide to Chanting Torah: 2008, ASIN: B001JNWH4O (2nd edition, with CD)
- Portnoy, Marshall, The Art of Torah Cantillation - A Step-by-step Guide to Chanting Haftarot and M'gillot: 2002, ISBN 0807407569, ISBN 978-0807407561
- Kohn, S., Learn to Lein: A Step-by-Step Tutorial Program for Developing Requisite Torah-Reading Skills: ISBN 1-58330-913-6
Other melodies
- Book of Prayer of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, London (5 vols.): Oxford (Oxford Univ. Press, Vivian Ridler
Vivian Ridler, CBE , was an English printer, typographer and scholar, born in Cardiff. He was Printer to the University of Oxford at Oxford University Press from 1958 until his retirement in 1978...
), 5725 - 1965 (since reprinted): the parashah and haftarah melodies are set out at the end of vol. 1
- Sharvit, U., "The Musical Realization of Biblical Cantillation Symbols in the Jewish Yemenite Liturgy", Yuval, no.4 (1982), 179–210
- Alvarez-Pereyre, Frank, La Transmission Orale de la Mishnah. Une methode d'analyse appliquee a la tradition d'Alep: Jerusalem 1990
- Rodrigues Pereira, Martin, Hochmat Shelomoh (Wisdom of Solomon): Torah Cantillations according to the Spanish and Portuguese Custom: New York 1994, ISBN 0-933676-37-9
- Tunkel, Victor, The Music of the Hebrew Bible - The Western Ashkenazi Tradition: 2004; ISBN 0953110486, ISBN 978-0953110483
- Smith, Chani, Learn to Leyn, The Cantillation of the Hebrew Bible: London 2004 (with CD: western Ashkenazic melody)
- The Western Ashkenazi melody is also set out in the Hertz
----Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz, CH was a Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi and Bible scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and The Holocaust.- Early life :Hertz was born in the...
Chumash
See also
- Torah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...
- Haftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
- Megillot
- Bar Mitzvah
- Melody type
In ethnomusicology and musicology, a melody type is a set of melodic formulas, figures, and patterns which are used in the composition of an enormous variety of music, especially non-Western and early Western music. Such music is generally composed by a process of centonization, either freely In...
Textual resources
Wikimedia cantillation projects (recordings)
Wikimedia Commons:
Free contentFree content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
audio recordings of cantillation at the Wikimedia Commons are listed at category:Cantillation and/or category:Jewish cantillation.
The recordings held at the Commons are organized by the Vayavinu Bamikra Project at Wikisource in the following languages:
- Hebrew (currently lists thousands of recordings of aliyot, haftarot, and megillot)
- English
Torah and Haftarah readings
- Chant the Bible Interactive courses. Includes studio recording of the yearly cycle, and high holy day chants in Lita or Avery/Binder melodies (commercial products, available as CD but not as download).
- Leining Master - MP3 recordings of the entire Torah, Haftarot, and Megillot on an MP3 CD by Rabbi Jeremy Wieder. Also available as individual parsha + haftara downloads or maftir + haftara downloads, or in a free streaming version at the YU Torah website. Choice of Ashkenazic or Sephardic pronunciation.
- Navigating the Bible - Free listening to entire Torah and Haftarot (Polish-Lithuanian melody, Israeli pronunciation) along with text, translation, transliteration, and background information on the texts being read (for beginners and advanced). Available as CD or free downloads.
- Kol Kore - The Torah and haftarot are available in this Israeli program in four different formats: Jerusalem Sephardic; Moroccan; and Polish-Lithuanian melody with Ashkenazic or Israeli pronunciation (commercial product, available as CD-ROM or as download for payment).
- Darga (commercial products, available as CD or as download for payment).
- Chadish Media (commercial products: CD, tape or download for payment).
- Torah For Me - Free listening and download of MP3 recordings of Reading (with Polish-Lithuanian melody) - Torah, Prophets, and Writings (including Sephardic traditional reading of Tehilim and Iyov).
- Bar-mitzva.com - Includes recordings of all Parashiyot and Haftarot, in Polish-Lithuanian, Sephardic, and Moroccan melodies (free download).
- Shevile ha-Tanach - Text and commentaries of all Biblical books, with links to recordings in Jerusalem-Sephardic, Polish-Lithuanian, Moroccan and Syrian melodies (free downloads).
- Dave Curtis Western Ashkenazic Torah and Haftarah melodies as chanted in British synagogues.
- Esther Hugenholtz Dutch Ashkenazi melody
- Chabad Melody read by the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Torah Reader
Five Megillot
High Holidays Torah melody (Ashkenazic tradition)
Sephardic and eastern traditions
Italian tradition
Torah readings from different parts of Italy are recorded in the CD Italian Jewish Musical Traditions from the
Leo LeviLeo Levi was an Italian musicologistHe was the first to study the oral musical traditions of Italian Jewry. Grandson of a rabbi, Levi’s attempt to submit a Ph.d thesis at the University of Turin on the music in Italian synagogues was thwarted by the rise to power of Fascism and the spread of...
Collection (1954–1961) (Anthology of Music Traditions in Israel, 14, edited by
Edwin 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...
).
Yemenite tradition
Mechanical Cantillation (computer speech synthesis)
- Trope Trainer - Trainer for Torah, Haftarot, Megillot in a variety of digital voices, melodies, and pronunciations (commercial product).
Recordings of the cantillation notes
Samples from various traditions
- Mafseek Publications (Helen Chuckrow)
- Taamim Introduction and samples in Polish-Lithuanian, Baghdadi and Spanish/Portuguese styles
Cantillation in the Mishnah
Organizations