D'ror Yikra from Yetzira by Deborah Sacks Mintz
This Shabbat table zemer was recorded intimately and joyfully with only voices and table-top percussion around the shtender. Exuberant harmony elevates the traditional poetry, and a new chorus centers the power, beauty, and holiness of Shabbat. We invite you to sing it around your table, amud, living room, or wherever you find yourself in song on Shabbat and beyond!
A word of note about the chorus: while Dunash ben Labrat wrote this poetry as an acrostic with 6 unique verses and no refrain, I chose to explore how the centering of the core practices of Shabbat as seen in the final lines of the opening and closing stanzas - the values of rest, repose, and sanctification - could shift and re-contextualize the themes explored throughout the 6 existing stanzas - some of which are complex, dramatic, and even a bit troubling. By returning time and again to the pull towards Shabbat rest, rejuvenation, and holiness, might the poem's myriad themes take on new meaning?
In gratitude to Rabbi Aviva Richman for inviting me to teach at Hadar's 2021 Halacha Intensive; through her openness to song as a tool for deepening the study of Halachic practice and spiritual connection, this nigun came through and found a home.
Tracklist
| 5. | D'ror Yikra | 4:17 |
Videos
Lyrics
Χ©Φ°ΧΧΧΦΌ ΧΦ°Χ Φ½ΧΦΌΧΧΦΌ ΧΦ°ΦΌΧΧΦΉΧ Χ©Φ·ΧΧΦΈΦΌΧͺ
Χ©Φ°ΧΧΧΦΉΧ¨ Χ©Φ·ΧΧΦ·ΦΌΧͺ Χ§ΦΈΧΦ°Χ©ΦΆΦ½ΧΧΦΈ
πββπ£π’ π£βππ’βπ’ πβπ¦ππ πβπππππ‘
πββπππ πβπππππ‘ ππππ βππβπ
Repose and rest on Shabbat.
Observe Shabbat, your holy day.
Credits
Music composed, directed, and produced by Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz
Text from traditional Shabbat piyyut by Dunash Ben Labrat (10th century)
Deborah Sacks Mintz - lead vocals
Chava Mirel - vocals
Elana Arian - vocals
Yoshie Fruchter - vocals
Sam Weisenberg - vocals
Michael Winograd - vocals
Ilusha Tsinadze - vocals
Recorded live at Bβnai Jeshurun in New York City
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Don Godwin
Filmed by Shmulie Lowenstein
Cover photo and design by Aydin Mayers and Nireh Or
In gratitude to the musicians and tech artists who helped bring this song to life, to Josh Fleet and Joey Weisenberg for support both behind the scenes and from deep within the music, and to the team at Bβnai Jeshurun NYC for hosting this recording session with such care!
Track Sponsored by Helena Diamant Glass
www.deborahsacksmintz.com
www.risingsong.org
Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zntHVTcc3jU
From the forthcoming album Yetzira (Rising Song Records, June 2023)
A Project of Hadar's Rising Song Institute: Cultivating Jewish spiritual life through song.
License
All rights reserved.
An educator, practitioner, and facilitator of Jewish communal music and prayer, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz supports those who seek to deepen, sharpen, and unlock their practice of empowered song and tefila. An artist and composer, she has collaborated on over two dozen albums of new Jewish music with treasured colleagues. She serves the Hadar Institute as Director of Tefillah and Music.