20. Medley of "Meron Tunes" - Vocal Imitation of Instrumental Music

^{Daniel Bergstein, Yehoshua Dov Rubinstein, singers; Avraham Eckstein, singer and drummer; Benei Berak, 8 January 1967.}

The niggunim in this selection are instrumental "Meron tunes." This medley is a random combination. The first tune is the niggun "Abu's khotser" ("Abu's courtyard" in Yiddish), with which the klezmorim begin the ceremony preceding the Lag ba-Omer eve festivities, in the courtyard of the home of the Moroccan family Abu in Safed. From this courtyard, led by the klezmorim, the celebrants set out in a procession, carrying a Torah scroll, to the tomb of R. Simeon bar Yohai at Meron.

To this day, instrumental music (other than percussion) is not allowed at weddings in haredi communities in Jerusalem, as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple (Mazor 2000, pp. 14-15). As a substitute for instrumental klezmer music, some Bratslav Hasidim used to imitate clarinet and trumpet playing with their voices. In this recording the selection is sung by three young Jerusalem-born students from the Bratslav Yeshiva in Benei Berak. The singing is accompanied by drumming on the lid of the recording equipment.