Yigdal
Encyclopedia
Yigdal is a Jewish hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 which in various rituals shares with Adon 'Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the 13 Articles of Faith (sometimes referred to as "the 13 Creeds") formulated by Moses ben Maimon
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...

, and was written by Daniel ben Judah
Daniel ben Judah
Daniel ben Judah was a Jewish liturgical poet, who lived at Rome in the middle of the fourteenth century CE. He was the grandfather of Daniel ben Samuel ha-Rofe, rabbi at Tivoli....

 Dayan , who spent eight years in improving it, completing it in 1404. This was not the only metrical presentment of the Creeds; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. A translation can be found in any bilingual siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...

.

With the Ashkenazim only thirteen lines are sung, one for each creed; and the last, dealing with the resurrection of the dead, is repeated to complete the antiphony when the hymn is responsorially sung by Chazzan and congregation. The Sephardim, who sing the hymn in congregational unison throughout, use the following line as the 14th: "These are the 13 bases of the Rule of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and the tenets of his Law"
.

Sephardic tunes

"Yigdal" far surpasses "Adon 'Olam" in the number of its traditional tunes and the length of time during which they have been traditional. In the Spanish
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
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...

 ritual, in its Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

-and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-speaking tradition, the hymn is often sung, according to the general Sephardic custom (comp. e.g., Yah Shimkha), to some "representative" melody of the particular day. Thus, for example, it is chanted at the close of evening service on New-Year to the tune of 'Et Sha'are Raẓon. On Friday evening the Sabbath "Yigdal" is customarily sung to the same melody as are "Adon 'Olam" and Ein Keloheinu
Ein Keloheinu
Ein Keloheinu is a well known Jewish hymn. Orthodox Jews pronounce it as Ein Kelokeinu when referring to it outside of prayer, in order to avoid taking the name of God in vain or otherwise violating the sanctity of reverence to the Almighty.Ein Keloheinu is sometimes chanted at the end of the...

. On the three pilgrimage festivals, the melody shown here is the tune favored. Its old Spanish character is evident.

Ashkenazic tunes

In the Ashkenazic ritual "Yigdal", though always commencing the morning prayer, is not invariably sung at the close of the evening service on Sabbaths and festivals, being often, especially in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, replaced by "Adon 'Olam". In Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 use, however, it is more regularly employed as the closing hymn, while in the synagogue
Synagogue
A 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...

s of north-western Germany, Holland, and England
England
England 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...

, where the influence of the Sephardic ritual has been felt by that of the Ashkenazim, "Yigdal" is considered an integral portion of the Sabbath and festal evening prayer; and in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 for fully 2 centuries there has been allotted to the hymn, according to the occasion, a definite tradition of tunes, all of which are antiphonal between chazzan and congregation. The most familiar of these tunes is the Friday evening "Yigdal". It is utilized also in Germany and in some parts of Poland and Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 as a festival "Yigdal". The melody may date from the 17th century or perhaps earlier. The tune was also used by the hazzan Myer Lyon
Myer Lyon
Myer Lyon , better known by his stage name Michael Leoni, was a hazzan at the Great Synagogue of London who achieved fame as a tenor opera singer in London and Dublin, and as the mentor of the singer John Braham.-Origins and early career:Myer Lyon was appointed meshorrer to Isaac Polack, hazzan...

 (who also sang on the London opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 stage as 'Michael Leoni') at the Great Synagogue of London
Great Synagogue of London
The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz.-History:...

, where it was heard by the Methodist Thomas Olivers; he adapted the tune for the English hymn The God of Abraham Praise (see below).
Next in importance comes the melody reserved for the solemn evenings of New-Year and Atonement
Yom Kippur
Yom 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...

, and introduced, in the spirit of Ps. cxxxvii. 6, into the service of Simchath Torah. This melody is constructed in the Oriental chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...

 (EFG # ABCD # E) with its two augmented seconds (see synagogue music), and is the inspiration of some Polish precentor, dating perhaps from the early 17th century, and certainly having spread westward from the Slavonic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

 region.

In the German use of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 and the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

 the old tradition has preserved a contrasting "Yigdal" for New-Year and Atonement that is of equally antique character, but built on a diatonic scale and reminiscent of the morning service of the day.

For the evenings of the 3 festivals (shalosh regalim) the old London tradition has preserved, from at least the early 18th century, three characteristic melodies, probably brought from north Germany or Bohemia. That for the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 illustrates the old custom according to which the precentor solemnly dwells on the last creed, that on the resurrection of the dead (in this case to a "representative" theme common to Passover and to Purim
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...

), and is answered by the choristers with an expression of confident assurance. The choral response here given received its final shaping from David Mombach. The "Yigdal" for Shavu`oth is of a solemn tone, thus strikingly contrasting with those for the other festivals.

The tune for Tabernacles displays a gaiety quite rare in synagogal melody. It was employed by Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan was an Anglo-Australian composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist, who ended an eventful career by becoming the "father of Australian music".-Early success:...

, in 1815, as the air for one of Lord Byron's "Hebrew Melodies
Hebrew Melodies
Hebrew Melodies is both a book of songs with lyrics written by Lord Byron set to Jewish tunes by Isaac Nathan as well as a book of poetry containing Byron's lyrics alone. It was published in April 1815 with musical settings by John Murray; though expensive at a cost of one guinea, over 10,000...

", being set by him to the verses "The Wild Gazelle" in such a manner as to utilize the contrasting theme then chanted by the chazzan to the last line as in the Passover "Yigdal".

Other old tunes for the hymn, such as the melody of Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 origin used on the "Great Sabbath" before Passover, are preserved in local or family tradition (cf. Zemirot
Zemirot
Zemirot or Z'mirot are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Ladino. The best known zemirot are those sung around the table during Shabbat and Jewish holidays...

).

Kabbalistic Opposition to addition to Liturgy

Most Hasidic Jews do not recite "Yigdal" as part of their liturgy, as the Arizal
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...

omitted it, and most other piyyut
Piyyut
A piyyut or piyut is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Piyyutim have been written since Temple times...

im of the Spanish school, from his Siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...

. However, based on the teachings of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz, , also known as the Shelah ha-Kadosh after the title of his best-known work, was a prominent Levite rabbi and mystic.-Biography:...

, most do consider it to be a sacred hymn, even if they do not sing it. For similar reasons, Syrian Jews
Syrian Jews
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...

 omit both Adon Olam
Adon Olam
Adon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...

 and Yigdal at the end of the morning and evening services, but sing them on other occasions (Adon Olam at the end of the Baqashot
Baqashot
The Baqashot are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Aleppian Jewish community and other congregations for centuries each week on Shabbat morning from midnight until dawn. Usually they are recited during the weeks of winter, when the nights are...

 and Yigdal before Kiddush
Kiddush
Kiddush , literally, "sanctification," is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays.-Significance:...

 on Friday night).

Hebrew text

  1. .יִגְדַּל אֱלֹהִים חַי וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח
    :נִמְצָא וְאֵין עֵת אֶל מְצִיאוּתוֹ
  2. .אֶחָד וְאֵין יָחִיד כְּיִחוּדוֹ
    :נֶעְלָם וְגַם אֵין סוֹף לְאַחְדּוּתוֹ
  3. .אֵין לוֹ דְּמוּת הַגּוּף וְאֵינוֹ גוּף
    :לֹא נַעֲרוֹךְ אֵלָיו קְדֻשָּתוֹ
  4. .קַדְמוֹן לְכָל דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִבְרָא
    רִאשׁוֹן :וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית לְרֵאשִׁיתוֹ
  5. .הִנּוֹ אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם לְכָל(וְכָל) נוֹצָר
    :יוֹרֶה גְּדֻלָּתוֹ וּמַלְכוּתוֹ
  6. .שֶׁפַע נְבוּאָתוֹ נְתָנוֹ
    :אֶל אַנְשֵׁי סְגֻלָּתוֹ וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ
  7. .לֹא קָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּמשֶׁה עוֹד
    :נָבִיא וּמַבִּיט אֶת תְּמוּנָתוֹ
  8. .תּוֹרַת אֱמֶת נָתַן לְעַמּוֹ אֵל
    :עַל יַד נְבִיאוֹ נֶאֱמַן בֵּיתוֹ
  9. .לֹא יַחֲלִיף הָאֵל וְלֹא יָמִיר דָּתוֹ
    :לְעוֹלָמִים לְזוּלָתוֹ
  10. .צוֹפֶה וְיוֹדֵעַ סְתָרֵינוּ
    :מַבִּיט לְסוֹף דָּבָר בְּקַדְמָתוֹ
  11. .גּוֹמֵל לְאִישׁ חֶסֶד כְּמִפְעָלוֹ
    :יִתֵּן לְרָשָׁע רָע כְּרִשְׁעָתוֹ
  12. .יִשְׁלַח לְקֵץ יָמִין מְשִׁיחֵנוּ
    :לִפְדּוֹת מְחַכֵּי קֵץ יְשׁוּעָתוֹ
  13. .מֵתִים יְחַיֶּה אֵל בְּרֹב חַסְדּוֹ
    :בָּרוּךְ עֲדֵי עַד שֵׁם תְּהִלָּתוֹ

English translation

  1. Exalted be the Living God and praised, He exists - unbounded by time is His existence;
  2. He is One - and there is no unity like His Oneness - Inscrutable and infinite is His Oneness;
  3. He has no semblance of a body nor is He corporeal - nor has His holiness any comparison;
  4. He preceded every being that was created - the First, and nothing precedes His precedence;
  5. Behold! He is Master of the universe to every creature - He demonstrates His greatness and His sovereignty;
  6. He granted His flow of prophecy - to His treasured, splendid people;
  7. In Israel, none like Moses arose again - a prophet who perceived His vision clearly;
  8. God gave His people a Torah of truth - by means of His prophet, the most trusted of His household;
  9. God will never amend nor exchange His law - for any other one, for all eternity;
  10. He scrutinizes and knows our hiddenmost secrets - He perceives a matter's outcome at its inception;
  11. He recompenses man with kindness according to his deed - He places evil on the wicked according to his wickedness;
  12. By the End of Days He will send our Messiah - to redeem those longing for His final salvation;
  13. God will revive the dead in His abundant kindness - Blessed forever is His praised Name.

In Christian Hymnals

Yigdal appears in translation in several Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 hymnals. The hymn the God of Abraham Praise written by Thomas Olivers around 1770 is based on one of the traditional melodies for Yigdal, the words are recognizable as a paraphrase of it. As originally printed in John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

's Hymnbook for the use of Christians of all Denominations in 1785, it was very Christianized.

In the late 19th century, Rabbi Max Landsberg and Rev. Newton M. Mann (Unitarian
American Unitarian Association
The American Unitarian Association was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it merged with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.According to Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary...

) produced a new translation of Yigdal, known as Praise to the Living God. This first appeared in the Union Hymnal (Reform Jewish).. This translation, while far less Christianized than the Olivers version, has been used in many Christian hymnals, although some contain hybrids of the Olivers and the Landsberg-Mann texts and have confusing attributions.
All Christian versions stick closely to the melody known as "Leoni", collected from Hazzan Myer Lyon
Myer Lyon
Myer Lyon , better known by his stage name Michael Leoni, was a hazzan at the Great Synagogue of London who achieved fame as a tenor opera singer in London and Dublin, and as the mentor of the singer John Braham.-Origins and early career:Myer Lyon was appointed meshorrer to Isaac Polack, hazzan...

 at the Great Synagogue of London
Great Synagogue of London
The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz.-History:...

 in 1770, although the meters printed in different hymnals differ considerably.

External links


Hebrew texts:

Sources

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography:
  • A. Baer, Ba'al Tefillah, Nos. 2, 432-433, 760-762, 774, 988-993, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1883
  • Cohen and Davis, Voice of Prayer and Praise, Nos. 28-29, 139-142, 195, London, 1899.
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