Photo Credit: Jewish Press

 

One of the most known kinnot for Tisha B’Av is perhaps “Eli Tziyon veAreha,” chanted during Shacharit on Tisha B’Av. When we read the kinnot, the last kinnah in the book is “Eli Tziyon,” which the whole congregation starts to chant together. In many Ashkenaz synagogues in Israel, Europe, and America, it is chanted in and old and familiar tune. Many synagogues also use this tune for “Lecha Dodi” on Erev Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av. Some congregations also sing “Adon Olam” on Shabbat Chazon to this tune.

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Where did this tune come from? Who composed it?

If you try to search in Google, there’s no definitive answer. Some claim it was composed somewhere in Germany many years ago. But there’s no documentation as to who was actually the composer behind this tune. So I reached out to cantor and singer Yossi Schwartz, who serves as the musical director at Park East Day School and as the chief cantor of Skylake Synagogue in Miami. He referred me to the so-called “Blue Book” of British cantors. It turns out this niggun (tune) is about 500 years old.

The Blue Book is a chazanut book which has been used for many years by the Jewish communities of the United Kingdom. The book is about 300 years old. In it, you can find many niggunim for the tefillot of Shabbat, the holidays, the High Holidays, etc. It’s really fascinating to explore the book and review the different tunes. For those who actually read notes, exploring the book becomes even more exciting. (The Blue Book can be found and downloaded as a PDF at the following link: https://shulmusic.org/sheetmusic/bluebook/index.htm.) It is still being used in the U.K. today.

The tunes in the book come from all of Western Europe, mostly Germany. The Jews of Germany collected the tunes and put them in the book. On page 19 is the tune for “Eli Tsiyon.” The book also mentions that “from 17 Tammuz to 9 Av, ‘Lecha Dodi’ is chanted to this tune.”

Besides The Blue Book, there is another collection of tunes which was collected by Cantor Aaron Beer. Beer was born in Bamberg, Bavaria in 1739. He held his first cantorial post at the Paderborn congregation. At the age of 26, he moved on to the position of head chazan of the Heidereutergasse Synagogue in Berlin, and continued to work there until his death in 1821. According to the Jewish Music Research Centre, during his time in Berlin, he gathered and ordered compositions of his contemporaries, along with his own original works, into a collection of over 1,200 pieces for use in the synagogue.

Over the years, musicians and singers have offered their interpretations of the tune used for “Eli Tziyon,” so there are a few performances of this kinnah. The structure of the kinnah is an acrostic using the alephbet. The kinnah laments the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Its poetry details the list of Zion’s tragedies and disasters.

In 1945, after the Second World War ended, Yehuda Leib Bialer returned to Warsaw where he was born. He found out that most of his family were murdered in the Holocaust. And then he wrote a kinnah about it. His kinnah is based on the ancient one and he adds new verses. It describes and details the tragedies of the Holocaust, mentioning the death camps Auschwitz, Majdanek, and others.

After all the troubles and tragedies that have happened to Am Israel in the month of Av, another tragedy happened in 2005. In the summer of 2005, right after Tisha B’Av – on Yud B’Av 5765 (Aug. 15, 2005) – the destruction of Gush Katif began. I still remember that summer. We didn’t believe until the last moment that it was actually going to happen. A beautiful, flourishing region, with all its yeshuvim (towns) destroyed. Destroyed for no reason.

I remember as a kid and as a teenager going with my family to Gush Katif during summer vacations, together with my cousins. We stayed in a guest house in Atzmona for a few days, enjoying the beautiful beaches, the golden sands, and the beautiful atmosphere of Gush Katif. The people were very welcoming and were happy to have guests from all over Israel. You could feel it in any place that you walked or visited in Gush Katif. When I was in college, I used to visit there when I had the chance. Next to Neve Dekalim, the largest town in Gush Katif, there was a lake next to which there used to be many events, music festivals, Yom HaAtzma’ut parties, and also a music festival on Tu B’Av. As a student, I used to go there with my friends. I had an old car and I drove there. It was such a fun experience.

Who would believe that such a beautiful place would get destroyed?

Gush Katif was also a place of Torah. Yeshivot, schools, and magnificent synagogues. The Yeshiva of Neve Dekalim, the Mechina in Atzmona, and so many more.

And it was all destroyed in the summer of 2005. The destruction started the day after Tisha B’Av. How symbolic.

After the destruction of Gush Katif, a user named “Elyasaf” on the website Kipa (kipa.co.il) posted a kinnah about the destruction of Gush Katif which was based on “Eli Tziyon.”

Alei eretz yefeifiya, hanehereset b’choloteha,” a beautiful land, which got destroyed in its sand. “Alei gadid yeshuveha, sheniktefu b’dmei yameha. Alei neveh midbareha, asher nihyu horvoteya, v’al simcha asher paska, mibinot d’kaleha,” an oasis which got destroyed, happiness which stopped between the palm trees. (Gush Katif was known for its beautiful palm trees.)

This kinnah laments the destruction of Gush Katif, the yeshuvim, the yeshivas and synagogues which were destroyed, and ends with a hope that we’ll return and rebuild Gush Katif.

One of the songs that became identified with the destruction of Gush Katif and the exile of the Jews who lived there is perhaps the “Tefillah Le’ani.” “Tefillah le’ani ki yaatof, v’lifney Hashem yishpoch sicho.” Throughout the period of the destruction of Gush Katif and the exile of the Jews, you could hear this song almost everywhere. The youth sang it while in the synagogues, praying with tears in their eyes, crying to Hashem, to stay in this beautiful land, Nachalat Yehuda (the land of Judea). And if you opened the radio or the TV in the days of the destruction of Gush Katif in 2005, you would often hear the song.

Hashem shema tefillati, ve’shavaati elecha tavo,” Hashem, please listen to my davening, and please let my scream and cry come to you.

Gush Katif was destroyed, and the brave and righteous people of Gush Katif were exiled. Unfortunately, we know how the hitnatkut, the destruction of Gush Katif, ended. In one day. On October 7. But we hope, and we know, that b’ezrat Hashem, we will return to Gush Katif soon.

We hope and pray to Hashem that the upcoming Tisha B’Av will not be a fast day, rather a feast day. That Mashiach will come soon and will build the Beit HaMikdash. And that we will all celebrate there together in Jerusalem.


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Mendi Glik performs as a one-man-band. To book Mendi Music for your event – bar mitzvah, wedding, engagement, sheva brachot – visit findmusicians.co/musician-details/mendi-glik or email [email protected].