Sweet Hymns Shall Be My Chant

"Sweet hymns shall be my chant and woven songs, for thou art for which my spirit longs. To be with the shadow of Thy hand and all Thy mystery to understand."

This sacred hymn attributed to Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid (d.1217) is sung in Ashkenazi synagogues at the end of the Sabbath and holiday morning services and it customary to open the Holy Ark while singing this poem. The Chabad Hassidim have their own tune for this text: a serious and majestic niggun with a Russian flavor. In the present arrangement, it has a certain Near Eastern feeling as Yair Harel sings it accompanying himself on the Azerbijani tar.