Yigdal


Yigdal is a Jewish hymn which in various rituals shares with Adon 'Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. It is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Moses ben Maimon. This was not the only metrical presentment of the Creeds, but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. A translation can be found in any bilingual siddur.
With the Ashkenazim only thirteen lines are sung, one for each creed; the last, dealing with the resurrection of the dead, is repeated to complete the antiphony when the hymn is responsorially sung by the Chazzan and congregation. The Sephardim, who sing the hymn in congregational unison throughout, use the following line as the 14th: "These are the 13 bases of the Rule of Moses and the tenets of his Law".

Authorship

There is scholarly debate as to the hymn's author. Leopold Zunz contends that it was written by Daniel ben Yehudah Dayan, who spent eight years in improving it, completing it in 1404. Some see in the last line of "Yigdal" a signature, "Yechiel b'Rav Baruch", though it is unclear who this might be. Hartwig Hirschfeld argues that the famous poet Immanuel of Rome is the author. Immanuel made several attempts at putting the 13 Principles into verse, e.g. a 72-line version entitled “Poem Based on the 13 Articles”. "Yigdal" shares rhythm, rhyme and a number of phrases with this poem.

Sephardic tunes

"Yigdal" far surpasses "Adon 'Olam" in the number of its traditional tunes and the length of time during which they have been traditional. In the Spanish ritual, in its Dutch-and English-speaking tradition, the hymn is often sung, according to the general Sephardic custom, to some "representative" melody of the particular day. Thus, for example, it is chanted at the close of evening service on New-Year to the tune of 'Et Sha'are Raẓon. On Friday evening the Sabbath "Yigdal" is customarily sung to the same melody as are "Adon 'Olam" and Ein Keloheinu. On the three pilgrimage festivals, the melody shown here is the tune favored. Its old Spanish character is evident.

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Ashkenazic tunes

In the Ashkenazic ritual "Yigdal", though always commencing the morning prayer, is not invariably sung at the close of the evening service on Sabbaths and festivals, being often, especially in Germany, replaced by "Adon 'Olam". In Polish use, however, it is more regularly employed as the closing hymn, while in the synagogues of north-western Germany, the Netherlands, and England, where the influence of the Sephardic ritual has been felt by that of the Ashkenazim, "Yigdal" is considered an integral portion of the Sabbath and festal evening prayer; and in London for fully two centuries there has been allotted to the hymn, according to the occasion, a definite tradition of tunes, all of which are antiphonal between chazzan and congregation. The most familiar of these tunes is the Friday evening "Yigdal". It is utilized also in Germany and in some parts of Poland and Bohemia as a festival "Yigdal". The melody may date from the 17th century or perhaps earlier. The tune was also used by the hazzan Myer Lyon at the Great Synagogue of London, where it was heard by the Methodist Thomas Olivers; he adapted the tune for the English hymn The God of Abraham Praise.

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Next in importance comes the melody reserved for the solemn evenings of New-Year and Atonement, and introduced, in the spirit of Ps. cxxxvii. 6, into the service of Simchath Torah. This melody is constructed in the Oriental chromatic scale with its two augmented seconds, and is the inspiration of some Polish precentor, dating perhaps from the early 17th century, and certainly having spread westward from the Slavonic region.
In the German use of Bavaria and the Rhineland the old tradition has preserved a contrasting "Yigdal" for New-Year and Atonement that is of equally antique character, but built on a diatonic scale and reminiscent of the morning service of the day.
For the evenings of the three festivals the old London tradition has preserved, from at least the early 18th century, three characteristic melodies, probably brought from north Germany or Bohemia. That for the Passover illustrates the old custom according to which the precentor solemnly dwells on the last creed, that on the resurrection of the dead, and is answered by the choristers with an expression of confident assurance. The choral response here given received its final shaping from David Mombach. The "Yigdal" for Shavu`oth is of a solemn tone, thus strikingly contrasting with those for the other festivals.
The tune for Sukkot displays a gaiety quite rare in synagogal melody. It was employed by Isaac Nathan, in 1815, as the air for one of Lord Byron's "Hebrew Melodies", being set by him to the verses "The Wild Gazelle" in such a manner as to utilize the contrasting theme then chanted by the chazzan to the last line as in the Passover "Yigdal".
Other old tunes for the hymn, such as the melody of Alsatian origin used on the "Great Sabbath" before Passover, are preserved in local or family tradition.

Kabbalistic opposition to its addition to the liturgy

Most Hasidic Jews do not recite "Yigdal" as part of their liturgy, as the Arizal omitted it, and most other piyyutim of the Spanish school, from his Siddur. However, based on the teachings of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, most do consider it to be a sacred hymn, even if they do not sing it. For similar reasons, Syrian Jews omit both Adon Olam and Yigdal at the end of the morning and evening services, but sing them on other occasions.

Hebrew text

  1. .יִגְדַּל אֱלֹהִים חַי וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח
:נִמְצָא וְאֵין עֵת אֶל מְצִיאוּתוֹ
  1. .אֶחָד וְאֵין יָחִיד כְּיִחוּדוֹ
:נֶעְלָם וְגַם אֵין סוֹף לְאַחְדּוּתוֹ
  1. .אֵין לוֹ דְּמוּת הַגּוּף וְאֵינוֹ גוּף
:לֹא נַעֲרוֹךְ אֵלָיו קְדֻשָּתוֹ
  1. .קַדְמוֹן לְכָל דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִבְרָא
:רִאשׁוֹן וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית לְרֵאשִׁיתוֹ
  1. .הִנּוֹ אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם לְכָל נוֹצָר
:יוֹרֶה גְּדֻלָּתוֹ וּמַלְכוּתוֹ
  1. .שֶׁפַע נְבוּאָתוֹ נְתָנוֹ
:אֶל אַנְשֵׁי סְגֻלָּתוֹ וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ
  1. .לֹא קָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּמשֶׁה עוֹד
:נָבִיא וּמַבִּיט אֶת תְּמוּנָתוֹ
  1. .תּוֹרַת אֱמֶת נָתַן לְעַמּוֹ אֵל
:עַל יַד נְבִיאוֹ נֶאֱמַן בֵּיתוֹ
  1. .לֹא יַחֲלִיף הָאֵל וְלֹא יָמִיר דָּתוֹ
:לְעוֹלָמִים לְזוּלָתוֹ
  1. .צוֹפֶה וְיוֹדֵעַ סְתָרֵינוּ
:מַבִּיט לְסוֹף דָּבָר בְּקַדְמָתוֹ
  1. .גּוֹמֵל לְאִישׁ חֶסֶד כְּמִפְעָלוֹ
:יִתֵּן לְרָשָׁע רָע כְּרִשְׁעָתוֹ
  1. .יִשְׁלַח לְקֵץ יָמִין מְשִׁיחֵנוּ
:לִפְדּוֹת מְחַכֵּי קֵץ יְשׁוּעָתוֹ
  1. .מֵתִים יְחַיֶּה אֵל בְּרֹב חַסְדּוֹ
:בָּרוּךְ עֲדֵי עַד שֵׁם תְּהִלָּתוֹ

  1. English translation

  2. Exalted be the Living God and praised, He exists – unbounded by time is His existence;
  3. He is One – and there is no unity like His Oneness – Inscrutable and infinite is His Oneness;
  4. He has no semblance of a body nor is He corporeal – nor has His holiness any comparison;
  5. He preceded every being that was created – the First, and nothing precedes His precedence;
  6. Behold! He is Master of the universe – Every creature demonstrates His greatness and His sovereignty;
  7. He granted His flow of prophecy – to His treasured, splendid people;
  8. In Israel, none like Moses arose again – a prophet who perceived His vision clearly;
  9. God gave His people a Torah of truth – by means of His prophet, the most trusted of His household;
  10. God will never amend nor exchange His law – for any other one, for all eternity;
  11. He scrutinizes and knows our hiddenmost secrets – He perceives a matter's outcome at its inception;
  12. He recompenses man with kindness according to his deed – He places evil on the wicked according to his wickedness;
  13. By the End of Days He will send our Messiah – to redeem those longing for His final salvation;
  14. God will revive the dead in His abundant kindness – Blessed forever is His praised Name.
  15. These are the thirteen fundamentals, they are the foundation of the religion of God and His faithful. The Torah of Moses and his prophecy is true, blessed for eternity be His Name.

    In Christian hymnals

Yigdal appears in translation in several Christian hymnals. The hymn The God of Abraham Praise written by Thomas Olivers around 1770 is based on one of the traditional melodies for Yigdal, the words are recognizable as a paraphrase of it. As originally printed in John Wesley's Hymnbook for the use of Christians of all Denominations in 1785, it was very Christianized.

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In the late 19th century, Rabbi Max Landsberg and Rev. Newton M. Mann produced a new translation of Yigdal, known as Praise To the Living God. This first appeared in the Union Hymnal. This translation, while far less Christianized than the Olivers version, has been used in many Christian hymnals, although some contain hybrids of the Olivers and the Landsberg-Mann texts and have confusing attributions.
All Christian versions stick closely to the melody known as "Leoni", collected from Hazzan Myer Lyon at the Great Synagogue of London in 1770, although the meters printed in different hymnals differ considerably.