Niggun baal shem tov biography

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• 11 David without the Slingshot
  In which the niggun "Kel Molei Rachamim" saves the life of Cantor David Werdyger in a Nazi concentration camp. There are many different kinds of nigunim, associated with Talmud study, prayers and other aspects of traditional Jewish life. moan, sigh, or sob) and kneytsh (lit.

• 28 The Purpose of Life
  In which the Baal Shem Tov binds an inept Jew to the world of music, and thereby hangs a purposeful tale.

• 35 Out of the Mouth of a Babe
  How whistling once hastened prayers to heaven.

• 24 The French Don't Have a Word for It
  Why France has never been the same after a chasidic rebbe adopted "the Marseillaise" as a niggun.

  He then asked the shepherd to sing the song, but the young man found he had forgotten it. He taught that song is an even greater form of spiritual expression than traditional prayer and that the Hasidic nigun was a musical path to God that transcended the limitations of language itself. At the tale’s end, it departs with one of its bearers to a new destination: America.

  Peretz’s story aptly conveys the fate of Hasidic nigunim in the modern world.

  As if the vision they carry is no longer a dream,  but rather a necessity and a reality we are inching towards. 

  The lyrics are from Isaiah/Yeshayahu.

   We recite them at every tefilla during every chag— a vision of unity, yearning, and healing that resonates more than ever.

  As a Levi, I’ve always felt a deep connection toward the role of music in our relationship with Hashem and his sacred service.

  Some are slow and meditative, others fast and jubilant. To be sure, the connection between music and Jewish prayer was not a wholly Hasidic invention. One result was the Hasidic nigun (Hebrew for “melody”; plural nigunim), a new genre of Jewish vocal music. This nigun has four sections, which build in musical intensity. These Frankists had begun agitating amongst the Christian authorities against the Jews with specific emphasis against the Talmud.

  In fact, music had always played a central role in Jewish religious life, a fact to which both ancient biblical texts such as the Book of Psalms and medieval liturgical songs (piyyutim) testify.

  Likewise, medieval Jewish mystics developed complex ideas about the theological and even magical power of music in the universe.

• 7 Bringing the Glad Song Home
  In which a niggun is at the very heart of the fall and rise of Belzer Chasidus. However, the rabbis took a decidedly cautious, sometimes even negative attitude towards music.

• 36 Fortunate Is the Man
  In which we see how the power of a niggun lights up the past--and the present.

  The use of secular or non-Jewish melodies for nigunim was not considered a problem for Hasidic Jews.

  

  Many times he attempted to do so, once even reaching Constantinople, but always something prevented him from fulfilling his dream.

• 10 The Rizhiner Connection
  In which the lesson a rabbi learned in his childhood made him immortal forever.