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Yigdal (; yighdal, or ; yighdal; means "Magnify [O Living God]") is a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish 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/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
 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
Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon , the Rambam, and Musa ibn Maymun , was born in C?rdoba, Spain, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204.....
 (sometimes referred to as "the 13 Creeds") formulated by Moses ben Maimon
Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon , the Rambam, and Musa ibn Maymun , was born in C?rdoba, Spain, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204.....
, and was written by Daniel ben Judah
Daniel ben Judah

Daniel ben Judah was a Jewish liturgical poetry, 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, Italy....
 Dayyan
Dayyán

Mirza Asadullah-i-Khuy , often referred to as Dayy?n, was a Babism follower, a religion founded by the B?b in Persian Empire in the mid 1850s....
 (Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz

Leopold Zunz was the founder of what has been termed the "Science of Judaism" , the critical investigation of rabbinic literature, hymnology and ritual....
, "Literaturgeschichte", p. 507), who spent eight years in improving it, completing it in 1404 (S.






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Yigdal (; yighdal, or ; yighdal; means "Magnify [O Living God]") is a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish 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/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
 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
Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon , the Rambam, and Musa ibn Maymun , was born in C?rdoba, Spain, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204.....
 (sometimes referred to as "the 13 Creeds") formulated by Moses ben Maimon
Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon , the Rambam, and Musa ibn Maymun , was born in C?rdoba, Spain, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204.....
, and was written by Daniel ben Judah
Daniel ben Judah

Daniel ben Judah was a Jewish liturgical poetry, 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, Italy....
 Dayyan
Dayyán

Mirza Asadullah-i-Khuy , often referred to as Dayy?n, was a Babism follower, a religion founded by the B?b in Persian Empire in the mid 1850s....
 (Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz

Leopold Zunz was the founder of what has been termed the "Science of Judaism" , the critical investigation of rabbinic literature, hymnology and ritual....
, "Literaturgeschichte", p. 507), who spent eight years in improving it, completing it in 1404 (S. D. Luzzatto, "Mebo", p. 18). 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 Judaism prayer book, containing a set order of List of Jewish prayers and blessings. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as we know it 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 is a Hebrew Bible Hebrews religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, to whom the Mosaic authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew , he is the most important prophet in Judaism, and also an important prophet of Christianity, Islam, the Bah?'? Faith, Rastafari movement, Chrislam and many ot...
 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
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 ritual, in its Dutch
Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
-and English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
-speaking tradition, the hymn is often sung, according to the general Sephardic custom (comp. e.g., Yah Shimeka), 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 Ra?on. On Friday evening the Sabbath "Yigdal" is customarily sung to the same melody as are "Adon 'Olam" and Ein Keloheinu
Ein Keloheinu

Ein Keloheinu means "there is none like our Names of God in Judaism" and is a well known Judaism hymn. Orthodox Judaism pronounce it as Ein Kelokeinu when referring to it outside of Jewish services, in order to avoid "10 Commandments" or otherwise violating the sanctity of reference to God....
. 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 country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, replaced by "Adon 'Olam". In Polish
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is 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 Enclave and 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.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
s of north-western Germany, Holland
Holland

Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands....
, and England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, 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 of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 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

History...
 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....
 (who also sang on the London opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 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....
, where it was heard my the Methodist Thomas Olivers; he adapted the tune for the English hymn The God of Abraham Praise, which can be found in Hymns Ancient and Modern
Hymns Ancient and Modern

Hymns Ancient and Modern was a hymnal in common use within the Church of England. Over the years it has grown into a large family of hymnals....
, with the Yigdal melody entitled 'Leoni'.

Next in importance comes the melody reserved for the solemn evenings of New-Year and Atonement
Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur , also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are Atonement in Judaism and Repentance in Judaism....
, and introduced, in the spirit of Ps. cxxxvii. 6, into the service of Simchath Torah. This melody is constructed in the Oriental
Oriental

Oriental means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Eastern world or "East" , and especially of its Eastern culture to include the peoples....
 chromatic scale
Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve Pitch es, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a diatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step interval ," having, "no tonic ," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
 (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 Peoples are a linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans....
 region.

In the German use of Bavaria
Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
 and the Rhineland
Rhineland

The Rhineland is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. After the collapse of the First French Empire in the early 19th century, the German-speaking regions at the middle and lower course of the Rhine were annexed to the kingdom of Prussia....
 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 and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
 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 of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman 's plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible Book of Esther ....
), 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 England-Australian composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist who ended an eventful career of triumph and failure by becoming the 'father of Australian music'....
, in 1815, as the air for one of Lord Byron's "Hebrew Melodies
Hebrew Melodies

Hebrew Melodies was a book of songs with lyrics written by George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron set to Jewish tunes by Isaac Nathan and a book of poems....
", 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 fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km? ....
 origin used on the "Great Sabbath" before Passover, are preserved in local or family tradition (cf. Zemirot
Zemirot

Zemirot are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew language or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Judeo-Spanish. 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 did not include it in his Siddur
Siddur

A siddur is a Judaism prayer book, containing a set order of List of Jewish prayers and blessings. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as we know it today has developed....
. However, based on the teachings of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz

Isaiah Horowitz , was a well-known rabbi and Kabbalah. He is also known as Shelah HaKadosh - "the Holy Shelah" - from the title of his best-known work....
, most do consider it to be a sacred hymn, even if they do not sing it.

Hebrew text

  1. .???????? ???????? ??? ??????????????
    :??????? ?????? ??? ??? ???????????
  2. .????? ?????? ?????? ???????????
    :??????? ????? ???? ???? ?????????????
  3. .???? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????? ????
    :??? ????????? ?????? ??????????
  4. .???????? ????? ?????? ?????? ???????
    ???????? :?????? ???????? ????????????
  5. .?????? ?????? ?????? ?????(?????) ??????
    :?????? ??????????? ????????????
  6. .?????? ?????????? ???????
    :??? ???????? ?????????? ??????????????
  7. .??? ??? ????????????? ???????? ????
    :?????? ????????? ??? ???????????
  8. .??????? ????? ????? ???????? ???
    :??? ??? ???????? ??????? ???????
  9. .??? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????
    :??????????? ??????????
  10. .?????? ????????? ??????????
    :??????? ?????? ?????? ????????????
  11. .??????? ??????? ????? ????????????
    :?????? ???????? ??? ?????????????
  12. .???????? ????? ?????? ???????????
    :????????? ???????? ??? ???????????
  13. .?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ????????
    :???????? ????? ??? ???? ???????????


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.


See also

  • Piyyut
    Piyyut

    A piyyut is a Judaism liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during Jewish services. Piyyutim have been written since Jewish Temple times....


External links

Hebrew texts:


Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: A. Baer
Baer

Baer is the surname of:* Arthur "Bugs" Baer , American journalist and humorist* Buddy Baer , American boxer* Byron Baer , American politician...
, Ba'al Tefillah, Nos. 2, 432-433, 760-762, 774, 988-993, Frankfort
Frankfort

Frankfort may refer to:...
-on-the-Main, 1883; Cohen and Davis
Davis

Davis may refer to:* Davis , an English surname meaning 'son of David'* Davis Cup, premier international team event in men's tennis* Davis LLP, Canadian law firm...
, Voice of Prayer and Praise, Nos. 28-29, 139-142, 195, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, 1899.