El nora 'alilah (El Nora Alila)

Piyyut by Moshe ibn Ezra included in the opening of the Ne'ilah (closing service) of Yom Kippur in the Sephardi maḥzor. This very traditional melody as recorded by Haim has a characteristic metric contrast between the first phrase (El nora 'alilah, el nora 'alilah in a sequence of 3-2-2-3 or 3-2-3-2 beats) and the second phrase (hamẓi lanu meḥilah be-sha'at ha-ne'ilah in straight 4/4). This pattern is documented in Western Sephardi traditions by the late nineteenth century, such as in Italy (Livorno) and particularly in Bucharest (under Italian influence). As in other liturgical pieces, Haim ends with a long melismatic improvisation without text.