7. Wayi`ārgu Devre

The formal celebration of the Səgd starts once the Torah arrives at the mountain top location where the holiday ritual takes place. The present piece is the first one to be performed when the participants have reached the spot chosen for the occasion. The selection and use of Biblical references found throughout this prayer indicates how the Səgd has been invested with Biblical authority. The model for this holiday is found in Nehemia, chapters 8-10, and more specifically in the episodes of the public reading of the Torah and the renewal of the covenant during the era of Ezra and Nehemia.

The first part of the prayer quotes from the section of Zechariah 14:16 that commands a yearly holiday, originally for Sukkoth but here adapted for Səgd. The second part of the prayer corresponds to Nehemia, chapter 9, describing the public reading and interpretation of the Torah. This chapter comprises the central section of the public Biblical reading during the Səgd. Beta Israel maintains that what occurred once during Ezra’s time should occur every year.

This is an unmeasured antiphonal piece in which several voices in the choir are superimposed (mostly in thirds and fifths), producing an embryonic polyphony.