鈥淣eird v鈥橩harkom”
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A Musical Meditation on Spring
We are delighted to share two versions of this piyyut created by JTS students for the album . In these musical celebrations of spring, we can consider how
the season enhances our celebration of freedom.
Words Attributed to the Poet Nahum (13th-century, North Africa)
All the trees of paradise have changed from
their widows鈥� garb and budded. Friends are glad
and gay to see them in their splendid robe.
Music by Rabbi Abi Weber (RS 鈥�21), Associate Rabbi, Temple Beth Zion Beth Israel
One Shabbat, walking home through Central Park, I was stopped in my tracks by three bright pink trees,
flowering from every inch of every branch. Truly, the trees had changed their widows鈥� garb and donned
splendid robes! Pausing, I saw person after person, group after group, similarly reveling in these delightful trees.
This feeling of delight is at the core of Neird v鈥橩harkom, a perfect poem for Passover. 鈥淐rocus and lavender have sprouted in my garden . . . myrtle has blossomed and bloomed鈥濃�攁ll is right with the world. My melody鈥攚hich tries to capture the joy emanating from each line鈥攚as inspired by a Tuareg rock band from northern Mali and
Algeria, where the piyyut鈥檚 mysterious author, Nahum, may have spent time.
鈥淒ove and Swallow . . . Open their beaks and
coo. There they praise my maker鈥檚 might, one in
laughter, one in song.鈥�
Music by Hazzan Eliana Kissner (CS 鈥�21), Cantor,
Oheb Shalom
Neird v鈥橩harkom juxtaposes the total sensory appreciation of the present (鈥渃rocus and lavender have sprouted in my garden鈥�) with the
longing for future redemption (鈥淒ew to bring rest to the burdened ones鈥�). In this setting (one of two on
this album), I tried to express that tension musically,
drawing inspiration from an Arabic musical mode called 鈥渒urd,鈥� which is itself associated with love and longing. Rather than the usual repeated verses and refrain, this setting offers a series of melodic vignettes meant to capture the experience of walking through a garden, appreciating an individual flower or plant for a fleeting moment, and
then moving on.
