Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish Music

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

High School (Grades 9-12)

Students listen to piyutim, the sung Hebrew poems of Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish communities, compare traditional and modern performances, and discover how this music became part of Israeli popular culture.

Overview

For more than a thousand years, Jewish poets in Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East wrote piyutim, Hebrew poems sung in the synagogue, at weddings, on Shabbat, and on holidays. Each community sang them to the melodies of the lands where they lived. When these communities came to Israel, their music came with them, and over time Mizrahi music moved from weddings and cassette tapes to the center of Israeli popular culture. Students read and listen to two piyutim, Lecha Dodi and Yismach Hatani, compare traditional and contemporary performances, and consider why communities keep their musical heritage alive.

Essential Questions

  1. What are the roots of Middle Eastern Jewish music?
  2. How did this music become popular in Israel and beyond?
  3. Why do communities keep old songs alive, and how do they make them new?

Students will be able to

  • Define piyut and describe where and when piyutim are sung.
  • Read and interpret a piyut, citing lines from the poem.
  • Describe musical elements such as instruments, tempo, voice, and mood.
  • Compare a traditional and a contemporary performance of the same piyut.
  • Explain how Mizrahi music moved from the margins to the mainstream of Israeli culture.

Curriculum Connections

  • Music (National Core Arts Standards): MU:Re7.2.6, MU:Cn11.0.6
  • ELA: RL.6.4, SL.6.1
  • Social Studies (C3): D2.His.2.6-8, D2.Geo.8.6-8
  • Jewish Studies (Jewish settings): Kabbalat Shabbat; wedding customs; Sephardic and Mizrahi liturgy

Materials

At a Glance

Grade and setting: Grades 6 to 8, public, independent, and Jewish schools
Time: One 60 minute session, or two 45 minute class periods
Source: Adapted from Journey to the Mizrah

For public school settings

These songs are religious poems. Teach them as literature and music that reveal a community’s history and values. Singing is a way to experience the music, not an act of worship; make it optional, and offer clapping or listening as alternatives.

Downloads

  • Lesson Plan  Full lesson with vocabulary, assessment, and differentiation (PDF)
  • Appendix A  Piyut: Lecha Dodi, with Hebrew, transliteration, translation, and questions (PDF)
  • Appendix B  Piyut: Yismach Hatani, with listening comparison chart (PDF)
  • Appendix C

Introduction: Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi (20 minutes)

  1. Main questions. Write the essential questions on the board. Does your family have a song that is sung at every celebration? Who taught it to you?
  2. Read. With Appendix A, read the introduction and the chorus and first verse of Lecha Dodi, written in sixteenth century Safed by Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz. Partners answer the “What do you think?” questions.
  3. Listen. Play the first minutes of the Moroccan synagogue rendition, then the Andalusian Orchestra rendition. What instruments do you hear? How do the two differ? Why would an orchestra in modern Israel keep these piyutim alive?

Yismach Hatani, Old and New (25 minutes)

  1. Read. With Appendix B, students read Yismach Hatani, a song of blessing for a groom, and answer the “What do you think?” questions.
  2. Listen and compare. Play the Hibbat HaPiyut ensemble, then Sarit Hadad’s version, recorded for the 2016 film Yismach Hatani (The Women’s Balcony). Students fill in the listening chart: performers, instruments, tempo, voice, mood, audience, and purpose.
  3. Discuss. What changed and what stayed the same? Why might a pop star record a centuries old wedding blessing? Use Appendix C to explain how Mizrahi music moved from cassette tapes and weddings to the center of Israeli popular music.