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פיוט למוזיקאי קודם שיופיע | A Performing Musician’s Piyut, by Alan Jay Sufrin

This piyut (liturgical poem) arose after a very meaningful performance of mine in the summer of 2000. It was such a powerful experience that I was moved to say a prayer of thanks to G-d for the opportunity to perform my songs for audiences – but found no such prayer in existence. So I wrote this one. It took about a year to complete and I’ve been saying it backstage right before my performances, and sometimes before recording sessions, since then.

It draws mostly from musical references in Psalms, from the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy, and from some other places in the Torah. The rhyme scheme repeats the sounds “or” and “ai,” which when spelled out in Hebrew, alludes to a mystical way of putting “the light of G-d” or possibly “my light.” The 613th mitsvah is for all Jews to write their own sefer Torah, and the way in which the Aybishter[1] from Yiddish, meaning The Most High — Aharon Varady   commands us is by calling the Torah “this Song” (See Deuteronomy 31:19). It’s as if to say that G-d is a songwriter, and the Torah (also called “Orayta”) is G-d’s song. The hope of this piyut is to draw musical energy from this G-dly Source, and is noted in the piyut itself as well.

It is intended for performing musicians to say or on which to meditate before performances of their own original works, but other appropriate uses are also encouraged.


TABLE HELP

Source (Hebrew)Contribute a translation
הַחֽוֹנֵן לְדָוִיד מִזְמוֹר,‏
הַנֽוֹתֵן שִיר לְבֶן־יִשַי בְחַסְדוֹ הוּא יַעֲזֹר,‏
וּשְכִינָתוֹ יִשְרֶה עָלַי
שֶאֲזַמֵר בְקוֹל טָהוֹר,‏
זְמִירוֹת טוֹבוֹת לֶאלֹהַי
שֶבַח נֵבֶל וְעָשׂוֹר,‏
לְהַלֵל בְשִׂמְחוֹתַי
עֲלֵי הִגָיוֹן בְכִנוֹר,‏
יְהִי בְרָכָה כָל תָו דְרָכַי
אָז אָשִיר לוֹ כְמוֹ צִפּוֹר,‏
לְיַיפּוֹת אֶת בִרְכוֹתַי
יְשִישוֹ נָא בְנִי הַדוֹר,‏
יָגִילוּ הֵם בְמַנְגִינַי
לִרְנָנָה הוּא הַמָקוֹר,‏
וְהוּא רֵאשִית לְכָל שִירַי
שִיר שֶלוֹ הוּא שִיר שֶל אוֹר,‏
יִפְתַח שִפְעוֹ אֶת שְׂפָתַי
לִפְנֵי כִסְאוֹ זְכוּת וּמִישוֹר,‏
קָהָל יָהּ יֵש לְפָנַי
יְהִי רָצוֹן הָאֵל גִבוֹר,‏
הַשּׁוֹמֵעַ תְפִלוֹתַי
שֶכָל הַנְשָמָה תִזְכֹר,‏
אַל תִשְכַח אֶת שְתֵי אוֹזְנַי
שִירָה זֹאת אֹמַר לֵאמֹר,‏
אָשִיר לָךְ כָל יְמֵי חַיַי

פיוט למוזיקאי קודם שיופיע מאת חנן יהודה בן נתן נטע סופרין

Source

Click to access Alan-Jay-Sufrin_-_Performing-Musicians-Piyut.pdf

 

Notes

Notes
1from Yiddish, meaning The Most High — Aharon Varady

 

 

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