Berukhim atem qehal emmunai

An old Sephardi piyyut for circumcision, it is sung by the congregation as the child to be circumcised is brought to the kiseh shel eliyahu (the chair of Elijah). This poem is known in most Jewish communities around the Mediterranean. Its text by an unidentified poet was already printed in Shirim uzemirot vetushbahot (Constantinople, 1545) and also appears in the collection of piyyutim Imrei no'am (Amsterdam, 1628) compiled by Rabbi Joseph Shalom Gallego of Saloniki, one of the first cantors of the Portuguese community in Amsterdam. It is most likely that this and many other Sephardi piyyutim from the Eastern Mediterranean were transmitted to the Portuguese community in Amsterdam by this hazzan and poet.
This is an old melody from Amsterdam that Rev. Lopes Cardozo introduced to the Spanish- Portuguese congregation in New York City. A very close version is transcribed by Aguilar and De Sola (1857: 60, no. 68). This may be an old Sephardi melody because the Eastern Sephardi versions show a certain modal affinity with the Western Sephardi ones.