https://youtu.be/7q55bUa_Yok# Ana Keʾab Zedoni | New YorkWe are just a week away from Hodesh Elul and the start of Selichot, but the first musical signpost on the journey to the Yamim Noraʾim has already come and gone.On the afternoon of Tisha BeʾAb, the verses of comfort, ‘Nachamu Nachamu Ami’, were sung in the special chant used only for the Pesukim of the penitential season. A small but unmistakable signal that the High Holy Days are drawing near.Opening this year’s series of penitential melodies, is the Piyyut ‘Ana Keʾab Zedoni’, by the Andalusian poet Moshe Ibn Ezra. While it is a feature of the Selichot in the Amsterdam and New York order of service, it is notably absent from the London repertoire.The poem has six verses, each ending with the refrain from drawn from Psalm 25: ‘Vesalachta La’avoni Ki Rab Hu’, (Forgive my iniquity, for it is great).The melody presented here from Congregation Shearith Israel in New York owes its origins to a North African prototype.Please like and share.