
By Ephraïm Kahn
Origins
Since biblical times, night has been a special time for study and prayer. Didn’t the psalmist write (Psalms 119:62) “I rise at midnight to give you thanks for your righteous judgments”?
With the emergence of the Kabbalistic school of Safed in Galilee in the 16th century, night prayer took on a new meaning: the mourning, at the middle of the night, of the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the divine presence, the Shekhina.
The influence of the Safed Kabbalah was such that, in addition to spreading the study of Jewish mysticism, many of its practices were adopted by Jewish communities around the world. For example, rarely does a community not welcome Shabbat by intoning the famous Lekha dodi, written by Salomon Elqabeṣ, an eminent 16th-century Safed mystic.
This influence was particularly strong in the Near East and North Africa. In many communities in these regions, the practice of Shirat ha-Baqqachot developed considerably.
What is Shirat ha-Baqqachot?
On Saturday mornings in winter, before sunrise, worshippers gather in the synagogue to sing baqqachot (or bakashot), a collection of liturgical poems. Ariel Danan, a specialist in Moroccan bakashot, explains in an interview given to IEMJ: “These songs begin on the first Shabbat after Sukkot, that is, on Shabbat Berechit, when the reading of the Torah is resumed, and continue every week until the Shabbat before Purim, in the Moroccan rite. In the Middle Eastern rite, they continue to be sung until Pesach.”[1]Interview with Ariel Danan, filmed on August 19, 2024. To listen to excerpts, see the video Chirat ha-Baqqashot according to the Moroccan rite (link at the bottom of the page).
Bakashot are led by an experienced cantor, often the oldest of those present. In the North African tradition, these songs are mainly performed by paytanim (singer-poets). In the Middle Eastern rite, the congregation plays a more active role, participating in much of the singing. [2]Listen to the baqqashot playlist (link at bottom of page).
Differences between North African and Middle Eastern traditions
The first distinction between these two traditions lies in their textual repertoire. In the Middle Eastern rite, bakashot follow a fixed text each week, beginning with the mystical poem El Mistater. Each stanza of this poem corresponds to one of the ten Sefirot, attributes or manifestations of the divine. Another key text in this tradition is a 16th-century poem beginning with: Ode la-El levav ‘hoker beron ya’had kokhve voker (“As the morning stars sing in concert, I praise God who encircles hearts”).
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 (“At dawn I seek you”). Between these fixed elements, the liturgical poems change each week according to a specific musical mode, called nouba.
Ariel Danan explains: “In Moroccan tradition, each Shabbat is associated with a nouba, a musical mode derived from Andalusian music. There are 11 listed noubas; some are common to the Jewish and Muslim traditions of Moroccan Andalusian music, others have been preserved or created by the Jews. Bakashot are sung during approximately twenty Shabbat. Some noubas are therefore used over two or three Shabbat, but the tunes differ each time, even within the same musical mode. This practice requires encyclopedic knowledge to master the entire repertoire” [3]Interview with Ariel Danan, August 19, 2024. To listen to excerpts, consult the video Chirat ha-Baqqashot according to the Moroccan rite (link at the bottom of the page).
The texts sung are Hebrew liturgical poems (piyyoutim), on the theme of Israel’s exile, of the bond between Israel and God, but also – in the Moroccan rite – the parasha of the week. This last category of poems is called Qseda, a generic term for narrative poems. It is a literary genre inspired by Arabic poetry, where it bears the same name. Each week, the Qseda poetically recounts a key theme from the weekly parasha.
Baqqashot today
Today, this tradition is maintained mainly within the Moroccan and Syrian rite communities. In Israel, it has enjoyed a remarkable boom in recent years. In France, bakashot evenings are organized on certain Saturday evenings in winter, mainly in the Île-de-France region. In Strasbourg, Rabbi Bendavid also contributes to the transmission of this tradition.
Listen to the Discovery of baqqashot playlist
Watch the video Shirat ha-Baqqashot according to the Moroccan rite
1 | Interview with Ariel Danan, filmed on August 19, 2024. To listen to excerpts, see the video Chirat ha-Baqqashot according to the Moroccan rite (link at the bottom of the page). |
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2 | Listen to the baqqashot playlist (link at bottom of page). |
3 | Interview with Ariel Danan, August 19, 2024. To listen to excerpts, consult the video Chirat ha-Baqqashot according to the Moroccan rite (link at the bottom of the page). |