In the Jewish communities of Morocco and the Middle East, baqqachot (or bakashot) singing is performed on Saturday mornings before dawn in the winter. It consists of a series of poems performed to traditional tunes.

In the Middle Eastern (Aleppo or Yerushalmi) rite, bakashot follow a fixed text each week, beginning with the mystical poem El Mistater. Another key text in this tradition is the poem Ode la-El, in which God is praised at the time when “the morning stars sing in concert”.

In the Moroccan rite, the structure of the bakashot remains constant throughout the season, but the texts vary from week to week. The songs always open with two fixed poems, Dodi Yarad and Yedid Nefesh, and end with Sha’har Avaqesh’ha (“In the early morning I seek you”). Between these fixed elements, the piyyutim (liturgical poems) change each week according to a specific musical mode, called nuba.

The playlist below features recordings of Bakashot songs from the Yerushalmi and Moroccan traditions.

Read the feature article on bakashot

Watch the video Chirat ha-baqqachot according to the Moroccan rite