Daniel Halfon

https://youtu.be/I2vkMp3kkSs# Yehe Shemeh - Kol Sasson Melody | LondonThe communities of Amsterdam, New York and London share a very beautiful melody for the ‘Kol Sasson’ segment of the Sheba Berachot. Although in New York, if the choir is involved in the wedding, it is eschewed in favour of a contextually unrelated and patently incongruous composition in the style and tempo of a Viennese waltz.Th...

https://youtu.be/I2vkMp3kkSs# Yehe Shemeh - Kol Sasson Melody | LondonThe communities of Amsterdam, New York and London share a very beautiful melody for the ‘Kol Sasson’ segment of the Sheba Berachot. Although in New York, if the choir is involved in the wedding, it is eschewed in favour of a contextually unrelated and patently incongruous composition in the style and tempo of a Viennese waltz.Th...

https://youtu.be/F907KRReqpQ# Tehilat Hashem - Introduction to the Zemirot | New YorkUniquely among the communities of Amsterdam, New York and London, Congregation Shearith Israel prefaces its morning services with two well known and particularly apposite *Pesukim* (Tehilim 145:21 and 116:18). On Shabbatot and Mo’adim these verses are sung to specific emblematic melodies which serve as a kind of m...

https://youtu.be/F907KRReqpQ# Tehilat Hashem - Introduction to the Zemirot | New YorkUniquely among the communities of Amsterdam, New York and London, Congregation Shearith Israel prefaces its morning services with two well known and particularly apposite *Pesukim* (*Tehilim* 145:21 and 116:18). On *Shabbatot* and* Mo’adim* these verses are sung to specific emblematic melodies which serve as a kin...

https://youtu.be/W_9eK9vregI# Essa Enai - Zemirot | London and AmsterdamThe pan-Sephardi tradition of reading almost everything aloud in the synagogue serves a number of important pedagogic purposes. Among them, inculcating a love for the sound of the Hebrew language, and allowing the children of our communities to become familiar with our ancient texts even before they are able to read them. Give...

https://youtu.be/W_9eK9vregI# Essa Enai - Zemirot | London and AmsterdamThe pan-Sephardi tradition of reading almost everything aloud in the synagogue serves a number of important pedagogic purposes. Among them, inculcating a love for the sound of the Hebrew language, and allowing the children of our communities to become familiar with our ancient texts even before they are able to read them. Give...

https://youtu.be/PPZLFybJ0SU# Shira Hadasha | New YorkSemichat Geula Litfila is an halachic principle which mandates that there be no break between the Beracha, Ga’al Yisrael and the beginning of the Amidah. While there is some disagreement among Chaza”l as to whether this stricture applies to Arbit, all are in agreement that it is a requirement for Shachrit.In many traditions, this linkage is act...

https://youtu.be/PPZLFybJ0SU# Shira Hadasha | New York*Semichat Geula Litfila* is an halachic principle which mandates that there be no break between the *Beracha, Ga’al Yisrael* and the beginning of the *Amidah*. While there is some disagreement among *Chaza”l* as to whether this stricture applies to *Arbit*, all are in agreement that it is a requirement for *Shachrit*.In many traditions, this li...

https://youtu.be/uYOhWcoCVVQ# Sos Assis - Kiddush | AmsterdamThere are two surprising features regarding the festival of *Shabu’ot* as observed in the Portuguese Israelite Community of Amsterdam. The first is the absence of any flora decorating the *Snoge*. The second is the fact that on the first day of the *Yom Tob* there are two *Kiddushim*: the customary one after *Musaf*, and an additional on...

https://youtu.be/uYOhWcoCVVQ# Sos Assis - Kiddush | AmsterdamThere are two surprising features regarding the festival of *Shabu’ot *as observed in the Portuguese Israelite Community of Amsterdam. The first is the absence of any flora decorating the *Snoge*. The second is the fact that on the first day of the *Yom Tob *there are two *Kiddushim*: the customary one after *Musaf*, and an additional on...

https://youtu.be/ailgsfmuzDo# ‘Vehineh Bo’az’ | Megillat RuthIn the Spanish and Portuguese tradition, a short excerpt from the Book of Ruth is chanted to its *ta’amim* on the days between *Lag La’omer* and the festival of *Shabou’ot*. This unique practice, signaling the imminent approach of the *Mo’ed*, may well be the prototype for what we know today as a ‘book trailer’ for this most remarkable a...

https://youtu.be/ailgsfmuzDo# ‘Vehineh Bo’az’ | Megillat RuthIn the Spanish and Portuguese tradition, a short excerpt from the Book of Ruth is chanted to its *ta’amim* on the days between *Lag La’omer* and the festival of *Shabou’ot*. This unique practice, signaling the imminent approach of the *Mo’ed*, may well be the prototype for what we know today as a ‘book trailer’ for this most remarkable a...

https://youtu.be/y7stWlNhnYA# Mizmor LeDavid Habu Lashem Bene Elim | MoroccoPsalm 29 was one of the earliest elements of what evolved into the *Kabbalat Shabbat* formula. Singing it before *Arbit* on Friday night was an innovation attributed to Moshe Cordeveiro, the brother in law of Shelomo Halevi Alkabets, the author of the *Piyyut* ***Lekha Dodi***.In most Sephardi communities, including those ...

https://youtu.be/y7stWlNhnYA# Mizmor LeDavid Habu Lashem Bene Elim | MoroccoPsalm 29 was one of the earliest elements of what evolved into the *Kabbalat Shabbat* formula. Singing it before *Arbit* on Friday night was an innovation attributed to Moshe Cordeveiro, the brother in law of Shelomo Halevi Alkabets, the author of the *piyyut* ***Lekha Dodi***.In most Sephardi communities, including those ...

https://youtu.be/djHpNO6nWM8# # Yigdal Elohim Chai | MoroccoThose of you who have attended a Moroccan Synagogue on a Shabbat or Yom Tov morning may have been caught off guard by an arresting liturgical transposition; to wit the singing of the *piyyut* ***Yigdal Elohim Chai*** - to a rather endearing melody - before ***Baruch Sheamar***. I am not suggesting that the Spanish and Portuguese take on t...

https://youtu.be/djHpNO6nWM8# # Yigdal Elohim Chai | MoroccoThose of you who have attended a Moroccan Synagogue on a Shabbat or Yom Tov morning may have been caught off guard by an arresting liturgical transposition; to wit the singing of the *piyyut* ***Yigdal Elohim Chai*** - to a rather endearing melody - before ***Baruch Sheamar***. I am not suggesting that the Spanish and Portuguese take on t...

https://youtu.be/Km9-RhblKEMHodu LaShem Kiru BishmoThe Spanish and Portuguese community of London is, by reputation, fiercely protective of its customs and traditions, but only up to a point. Undermining the fidelity to its musical inheritance has been the lay leadership’s perennial preoccupation with minimizing the amount of time a worshiper should have to spend in the synagogue. Its often unboun...

https://youtu.be/Km9-RhblKEMHodu LaShem Kiru BishmoThe Spanish and Portuguese community of London is, by reputation, fiercely protective of its customs and traditions, but only up to a point. Undermining the fidelity to its musical inheritance has been the lay leadership’s perennial preoccupation with minimizing the amount of time a worshiper should have to spend in the synagogue. Its often unboun...

https://youtu.be/BEjTe0aPFHEIn the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi tradition the last day of each of the Shalosh Regalim is imprinted with a distinctive and much loved musical hallmark: a melody, known as ‘La Despedida’. Meaning ‘The Farewell’ it serves as a majestic and poignant setting for a number of liturgical selections, among them: the Kaddish in Arbit, Kedusha, Hallel, and En Kelohenu. Mo...

https://youtu.be/BEjTe0aPFHEIn the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi tradition the last day of each of the Shalosh Regalim is imprinted with a distinctive and much loved musical hallmark: a melody, known as ‘La Despedida’. Meaning ‘The Farewell’ it serves as a majestic and poignant setting for a number of liturgical selections, among them: the Kaddish in Arbit, Kedusha, Hallel, and En Kelohenu. Mo...

https://youtu.be/BEjTe0aPFHEIn the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi tradition the last day of each of the Shalosh Regalim is imprinted with a distinctive and much loved musical hallmark: a melody, known as ‘La Despedida’. Meaning ‘The Farewell’ it serves as a majestic and poignant setting for a number of liturgical selections, among them: the Kaddish in Arbit, Kedusha, Hallel, and En Kelohenu. Mo...

https://youtu.be/BEjTe0aPFHEIn the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi tradition the last day of each of the Shalosh Regalim is imprinted with a distinctive and much loved musical hallmark: a melody, known as ‘La Despedida’. Meaning ‘The Farewell’ it serves as a majestic and poignant setting for a number of liturgical selections, among them: the Kaddish in Arbit, Kedusha, Hallel, and En Kelohenu. Mo...

https://youtu.be/yAhJHG37qZAThe period between Pesach and Shabou’ot struggles to accommodate two conflicting moods. The first derives from the joyful, anticipatory counting of the days between the commemoration of our departure from Egypt and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The second stems from the remembrance of the period during the second century CE when, according to tradition, a plag...

https://youtu.be/yAhJHG37qZAThe period between Pesach and Shabou’ot struggles to accommodate two conflicting moods. The first derives from the joyful, anticipatory counting of the days between the commemoration of our departure from Egypt and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The second stems from the remembrance of the period during the second century CE when, according to tradition, a plag...

https://youtu.be/yAhJHG37qZAThe period between Pesach and Shabou’ot struggles to accommodate two conflicting moods. The first derives from the joyful, anticipatory counting of the days between the commemoration of our departure from Egypt and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The second stems from the remembrance of the period during the second century CE when, according to tradition, a plag...