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(Sephardic House) Celebrating Shabbat -- Sephardic Style As many of you know once a month we celebrate a Sephardic Shabbat, usually on the third Friday of each month. Rabbi Lynn and I lead the service. So what is different about the Sephardic service? Well, first of all, the music! You see, Sephardic music has many great elements and themes, from tragic love songs to highly spiritual ones. For our services I have picked Mizmor L’David. A psalm of David and V’Shamru from a book of Sephardic Sabbath chants by Cantor Isaac Behar, the Senior Hazzan of Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Westwood, Calif. These are all sacred pieces of the Sephardim in the Judeo-Spanish Tradition. I also have included an old chant called Cuando Moshe, meaning when Moses came down from the mountain carrying the tablets; Durme Durme, an old Ladino lullaby/love song from 11th century Spain; the Turkish version of Hinei Matov; La Chodi; De Boca De Dio – The Mouth of God and a song I found from Turkey called El Paso Del Mar Rojo, Crossing the Red Sea. This song was sung by the Sephardim as they left Spain and entered Turkey after the Expulsion. My ultimate goal for our Sephardic services is to incorporate more dancing from the congregation and more instruments from the Middle East. I have already obtained an Oud, which is a 13-stringed instrument from Armenia and Turkey. I am slowly getting the hang of that to use at services. I also have a Mey or Doudek, which is a large double-reeded wind instrument that has a marvelous tone and is used all the over the Sephardic world and beyond. Rabbi Lynn as we all know plays the dumbek and has a variety of other percussion instruments, which over time we will incorporate to make an enjoyable and spiritual Sephardic Shabbat. What about the service? Those of you who have attended our Sephardic services already know we use a Spanish siddur. Not a Ladino one. But, I sing the whole service with a Ladino dialect and interject some Ladino words I know, replacing the Spanish. The Ladino dialect has much softer phrasing and is really a wonderful marriage of Ladino and Hebrew. For instance in modern Spanish the “r’s” are rolled off the tongue. In Ladino, the “R’s” are not rolled. Ladino is a dying language much like Yiddish and my goal is to be able to study it abroad sometime next year as well as Hebrew and even teach it at our congregation. After services there should be fresh fruit, dates, honey sesame cakes, baklava, etc. The Sephardic style is a very festive one! Over time I’d like to see more of you there with this thought in mind. Dance, eat, bring in the Sabbath Bride with joy. Sing with us and even play some of the instruments. Bring your friends. At Nahalat Shalom we have the perfect energy to bring the Sephardic Shabbat to its full potential! See you next month! | |||||||||
