1. The song was published in Pasternak, Velvel, Songs of the Chassidim (New York: Bloch, 1968)Google Scholar, 125, no. 153.

2. Ivan G. Marcus writes that “rituals include words to be read out, chanted, sung (The Jewish Life Cycle: Rites of Passage from Biblical to Modern Times [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004], 11), yet as a historian, he makes only three brief references to music in this otherwise excellent comprehensive work. The contributors to chapters on Jewish liturgy in Bradshaw, Paul F. and Hoffman, Lawrence A., eds., Life Cycles in Jewish and Christian Worship (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996)Google Scholar, largely omit references to music. On the other hand, Goldberg, Harvey emphasizes the importance of musical elements in a number of life-cycle events in his anthropological study Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003)Google Scholar.

3. The most recent studies include Weich-Shahak, Susan, Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle: Recordings, Transcriptions and Annotations (Jerusalem: Jewish Music Research Center, 1989)Google Scholar; Shelemay, Kay Kaufmann, Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)Google Scholar; Shai, Yael, “Yemenite Women's Songs at the Habani Jews' Wedding Celebrations,” Musica Judaica 15 (2000–2001): 83–96Google Scholar; Meghani, Miriam, “Canticas de parida: canti per la madre di um bimbo appena nato” [Canticas de parida: Songs for the mother of a newborn child], in La nascita nella tradizione ebraica, ed. Loewenthal, Elena (Livorno: Belforte Salomone, 2005): 154–63Google Scholar.

4. Shiloah, Amnon, Jewish Musical Traditions (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992), 170Google Scholar. This is an abridged version of his Ha-moreshet ha-musikalit shel kehillot yisra'eil (Tel-Aviv: Ha-universitah ha-petuhah, 1985).

5. Fleischer, Ezra, Shirei ha-kodesh ha-‘ivrit biymei ha-beinayyim (Jerusalem: Keter, 1975), 448–67Google Scholar, esp. 471–73.

6. MS 8972, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, analyzed by Schmelzer, Menahem, “Mashehu ‘al piyyutim le-nisu'im be-’ashkenaz,” in Essays on Hebrew Literature, ed. Ginor, Zvia Ben-Yosef (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 2003), 31–52Google Scholar.

7. The piyyutim bore superscriptions identifying them for use at weddings and had references to marriage woven into them. They were associated with specific liturgical stations, such nishmat, or were grouped together as insertions in the yoẓer prayer, or in the Torah service when the bridegroom was called up to the Torah; see Schmelzer, “Mashehu,” 33. Piyyutim of this genre are documented in the late eleventh-century Mahzor Vitry; see ibid., 35, referring to Mahzor Vitry, ed. S. Hurwitz (Nuremburg: Y. Bulka, 1923), 593, 599. Schmelzer has now analyzed MS Oxford 1099 listing similar piyyutim embodied within yoẓerot and reshuyyot written between the tenth and thirteenth centuries; see “Piyyutim le-nisu'in le-rishonei ḥakhmei ‘ashkenaz,” in Le-’ot zikaron: meḥkharim ba-shirah ha-‛ivrit uve-moreshet yisra'eil: sefer zikaron le-Aharon Mirski, ed. Efraim Hazan and Yosef Yahalom (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 2006), 173–85, esp. 175–79; 175 n. 6 lists additional MSS containing marriage-related piyyutim. The writer is grateful to Professor Schmelzer for his assistance and for drawing my attention to his “Piyyutim le-nisu'in” article.

8. Schmelzer, “Mashehu,” 39 n. 14.

9. Shiloah, Jewish Musical Traditions, 160; Hamburger, Shlomo, “Zemer le-ḥatan ba‘aliyato la-torah,” in Shorshei minhag ’ashkenaz (Jerusalem: Makhon Moreshet ’Ashkenaz, 2001)Google Scholar, 3:369–72. In Morocco, there was a genre of piyyutim known as ma‘alot ha-torah—an indication of the reverence attached to them—to honor those called to the Torah on this and other special occasions; see Zafrani, Hayyim, Ha-shirah ha-‘ivrit be-moroko, ed. Tobi, Yosef (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1984), 144–45Google Scholar.

10. A convenient overview is found in Rubin, Ruth, Voices of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000, 1974)Google Scholar.

11. On the Sabbath of shabbat nisu'in, the bridegroom recited a special, festive haftarah (שוש אשיש, Isaiah 51). Eric Zimmer demonstrated that in France, and somewhat later in Austria, this haftarah frequently took precedence over the talmudic-based prophetic readings for special Sabbaths; see Zimmer, , “Keri'at haftarah likhvod ḥatan,” in Olam ke-minhago noheig: perakim be-toledot ha-minhagim, halikhoteihem ve-gilguleihem (Jerusalem: Merkaz Zalman Shazar, 1996), 273–80Google Scholar; Fleischer, Shirei ha-kodesh, 153, 472.

12. Shamash, Yiptha Yuspa, Minhagim de-kehillah kedoshah vermaiza le-rabbi Yuspa Shamash, ed. Hamburger, Benjamin Salomon and Zimmer, Eric, 2 vols. (Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, 1988)Google Scholar. Seventeenth-century Worms had the fourth-largest Jewish community in Western and Central Europe, after Prague, Frankfurt, and Vienna; see Shamash, Minhagim, introduction by Zimmer, 1:61.

13. Kirchheim, Juda Liva, Minhagot vermaiza, ed. Peles, Israel Mordecai (Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, 1987)Google Scholar.

14. Shamash described the elaborate folk customs concerning confinement and its termination; Minhagim 2:256–64, section 288. Cross-cultural influences between the Jewish rite of passage for the birth mother and the Christian Ausgegang ritual have recently been examined in Baumgarten, Elisheva, “Tiksei nashim: minhag ‘shabbat yeẓi'at ha-yoledet’ be-heksheiro ha-tarbuti be-reishit ha‛eit ha-ḥadashah,” in Meḥkarim be-toledot yehudei ashkenaz: seifer yoveil likhvod yiẓḥak (eric) ẓimmer, ed. Bacon, Gershon, Sperber, Daniel, and Gaimoni, Aharon (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2008), 11–28Google Scholar.

15. The poetic expansion of the yoẓer blessing comprises of three sections, starting with ha-kol yodukha. See Hammer, Reuven, Or ḥadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2003), xxiiiGoogle Scholar.

16. Shamash, Minhagim 1:37, hag. [annotation] to par. 34 (MS Warmaiza). The second ḥazzan would have been a lay member of the congregation. For more on the responsorial singing of ha-kol yodukaha and ’eil ’adon, see Goldberg, Geoffrey, “Ḥazzan and Qahal: Responsive Chant in Minhag Ashkenaz,” Hebrew Union College Annual 61 (1990): 211Google Scholar, 214–16.

17. Shamash, Minhagim 1:119, section 120, annotation in MS of Yair Hayyim Bacharach (1639–1702, rabbi in Worms from 1650) and n. 4 to same by Hamburger.

18. Translation of Jules Harlow, Hammer, Or ḥadash, 108.

19. Grunwald, Max, “Die Statuten der Hamburger-Altona Gemeinde von 1726,” Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für jüdische Volkskunde 11, no. 1 (1903): 9Google Scholar, par. 19. For some reason, however, the song was referred to not as semeiḥim be-ẓeitam but as kara laschemesch, (God summoned the sun, whose light shone forth), a subsequent verse of the text.

20. Grunwald, Max, “Mattersdorf,” Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde 26–27 (1924–26): 509Google Scholar. Grunwald did not provide the date of the statutes (takkanot), but by their character, they are unquestionably pre-emancipation. The “festive intoning” of semeiḥim be-ẓeitam was also recalled in Alfred Fürst's reminiscence of Eisenstadt in the same region of western Hungary; see Fürst, , Sitten und Gebräuche: Einer Judengasse (Minhag Asch.) (Székesfehérvár: E. Singer, 1908), 52Google Scholar.

21. See the section on “The Emancipation and Life-Cycle Song” in this essay.

22. Flamm, Wilhelm, Noten-Beilagen zum Handbuch für Cantoren (Prague: Samuel W. Pascheles, 1868), 14–15Google Scholar, no. 9.

23. Scheuermann, Selig, Die gottesdienstlichen Gesänge der Israeliten für das ganze Jahr (Frankfurt: J. Kauffmann, 1912), 21Google Scholar, section I/E, no. 14.

24. Scheuermann did not indicate whether the remainder of the piyyut was sung to the same melody. Flamm, however, stated that the following verse starting kara la-shemesh was recited (in free style) by the ḥazzan, while the third and last verse repeated the opening melody. Both melodies are of relatively recent origin and lack archaic or modal musical elements.

25. Other celebrations included the special festivity (referred to by Shamash as the zakhar) on the preceding Sabbath known as shabbat zakhar. This took place in the home after the Friday night Sabbath meal.

26. Goldberg, Jewish Passages, 45–46.

27. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:67, section 240; Kirchheim, Minhagot Vermaiza, 83. Kirchheim gives an explanation for this honor: the first letters of the Hebrew phrase מוהל יורד לפני התבה, “the moheil leads the service,” spell the word milah (ibid., gloss to Shamash, 'ה).

28. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:67, section 240. In minhag ’ashkenaz, the service began with the opening hymn, ’adon ‘olam; see Gumpil, Mordechai, Sefer minhagim de-kehilateinu (Fürth: Hayyim Zevi Hirsch, 1767), 3Google Scholar, par. 7. In some communities, the moheil led from yishtabah onward; see Shamash, Minhagim, 2:47, section 240, n. 50 of Hamburger, quoting David Leib of Lida, Sod ’adoshem, section 39.

29. Kosman, Joseph Juspa, Noheig ka-ẓon yoseif (Frankfurt, 1718)Google Scholar, repr., ed. Judah Miller (Tel Aviv [s.n.], 1969), 51.

30. Shulhan ‘arukh, yoreh dei‘ah, section 265, par. 11.

31. I Chronicles 29:10–13; Nehemiah 9:6–11; Exodus 14:30–15:19; Psalms 22:29; Ovadiah 1:21; Zekhariah 14:9; Deuteronomy 6:4.

32. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:65, section 240; Kirchheim, Minhagot vermaiza, 82–83.

33. Kosman, Noheig ka-ẓon yoseif, 51. Nevertheless, this was not the custom in Fürth (Bavaria), where evidently only the moheil sang ve-kharot, and possibly the subsequent passages as well. See Gumpil, Mordechai, Sefer minhagim de-kehilateinu (Fürth: Ḥayyim ben Ẓvi, 1767), 3Google Scholar, par. 7.

34. Carlebach, Salomon, Ratgeber für das jüdische Haus: Ein Führer für Verlobung, Hochzeit und Eheleben (Berlin: Hausfreund, 1918), 66Google Scholar.

35. Geiger, Salomon, Seifer divrei kehillot (Frankfurt am Main: J. Kaufmann, 1862), 26Google Scholar, excursus 17; Kosman, Noheig, 108, par. 8.

36. Baer, Abraham, Baal T'fillah: oder der practische Vorbeter, 2nd. ed. (Gothenberg: privately printed, 1883; reprinted by Sacred Music Press, Out of Print Classic Series, Vol. 1, 1953), 6Google Scholar, no. 30; Minhagei … kehal ‘adat [Adass] yisra'eil poh berlin (Berlin, 1938), 8. In other parts of northern Germany, at least by the nineteenth century, the ḥazzan tended to lead the responsorial chanting of shirat ha-yam; see Carlebach, Ratgeber für das jüdische Haus, 66.

37. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:65, section 240, n. 27 of Hamburger, referring to Magein ’avraham, OH, section 51, par. 9.

38. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:66, section 240, n. 29 of Hamburger; Kirchheim, Minhagot, 82, hag. 7.

39. Shamash, Minhagim, annotation of Havvat ya'ir (Bacharach). Division in the middle of verses was disapproved of by Joseph Kosman of Frankfurt; see Kosman, Noheig, 32, par. 13, 319. Even so, here, too, this later became the practice; see Divrei kehillot, 53, excursus no. 3.

40. Baer, Seligmann, ‘Avodat yisra'eil (Rödelheim, 1868; repr., Berlin: Schocken, 1937), 72–74Google Scholar. Somewhat surprisingly, ‘Avodat yisra'eil included irregular breaks in the shorter ve-kharot section of va-yevareikh david, a phenomenon also found in all the musical transcriptions of shirat ha-yam for a berit milah.

41. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 6, nos. 30–32. Comparatively similar divisions were also recorded by Lion Wolff (1835–1934?) of Rostock and Berlin; see Wolff, , Liturgisches Handbuch für alle Kasualien von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (Berlin: Louis Hamm, 1914), 10–13Google Scholar.

42. Kirchheim, Minhagot vermaiza, 83.

43. Kosman, Noheig, 31, section 12; Seligmann Baer, ‘Avodat yisra'eil, 73 (rubric to shirat ha-yam); Ogutsch, Fabian, Der Frankfurter Kantor: Sammlung der traditionellen Frankfurter Gesänge, ed. Levy, J. B. (Frankfurt: J. Kauffmann, 1930)Google Scholar, no. 7, starting at tevi'eimo.

44. The transcriptions of the melodies sung in Hürben, transcribed by Isaak Lachmann, sometimes present serious problems because some of them, which he identified as Western European, actually represent Eastern European versions.

45. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 71, no. 257.

46. “A double-edged sword in their hand,” the phrase וחרב פיפיות בידם in this verse was interpreted as referring to the knife used by the moheil.

47. In Frankfurt, according to Moshe Berlove, ’adon ‘olam was sung to the special berit milah melody. See Berlove, , “Music and Ritual Practices in the German Synagogue,” Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy 9 (1986–87): 21Google Scholar. Divrei kehillot and Der Frankfurter Kantor do not, however, provide any corroboration for Berlove's statement.

48. In the following sources, the shirat ha-yam section is written in bold numbers: (1) Frankfurt: Fabian Ogutsch, Der Frankfurter Kantor, no. 8, 14; (2) Bavaria, Munich: Kohn, Maier, Der Vorbeter in der Synagoge von München (Munich, 1839–44)Google Scholar, MS, Birnbaum Collection, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Mus. Add. 4, nos. 14–15; (3) Bavaria, Nuremberg: Rosenhaupt, Moritz, Schire Ohel Yaakov, Gottesdienstliche Gesänge für Israeliten III, Werktags-Gottesdienst (Leipzig: privately printed, 1895)Google Scholar, Anhang, nos. 6–9; (4) Bavaria, Hürben: Lachmann, Isaak, Awaudas Jisroeil, I Teil, Wochentags-Gottesdienst (Hürben: privately printed, 1899)Google Scholar, nos. 33, 42–45, 58–59; (5) Berlin: Friedmann, Aron, Schir Lisch'laumau (Berlin: Deutsche-israelitischer Gemeindebund, 1902)Google Scholar, nos. 11, 13, 16, 23 no. 16; (6) Silesia, Breslau: Deutsch, Moritz, Vorbeterschule: vollständige Sammlung der altern Synagogen-Intonationem (Breslau: J. Hainauer, 1871)Google Scholar, nos. 475–82; (7) Posen, northeast Germany (and northwest Poland): Baer, Abraham, Baal T'fillah, 1883Google Scholar, nos. 257 (yigdal), 25, 26, 28, 30–32, 49–51 (third melody); (8) Moravia: Wodak, Maier, Hamnazeach: Schule des isr. Cantors (Vienna: privately printed, 1898)Google Scholar, nos. 13–17, 21–22 (the core melody pattern), 27–28, 41 (pe'eiro ‘alay).

49. In col. 7, the abbreviation .מ. פ stands for minhag polin.

50. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:65–66.

51. Francis L. Cohen (1862–1934) held that this melody probably coalesced during the eighteenth century; see Cohen, “Shirah Ḥadashah,” Jewish Encyclopedia, 11:293–94. In support of his contention is the fact that the London version, as transcribed by Cohen, includes a recurring cadential phrase found in numerous Ashkenazic synagogue melodies of the time. See Idelsohn, Abraham Z., The Synagogue Song of the German Jews in the 18th Century, Hebräisch-orientalisicher Melodienschatz 6 (Leipzig: Friderich Hofmeister, 1932)Google Scholar, for many examples of this musical phrase.

52. Idelsohn, The Synagogue Song, 213, no. 36. Parts of this setting were probably sung by a boy soprano vocal assistant (singerl) to the ḥazzan; see Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 13, nos. 49–50; 14, no. 5. The melody pattern niggun berit milah was also used in minhag ‘ashkenaz for the chanting of 'elohim ẓivita lididkha, “God, You Commanded Your Beloved,” a piyyut recited following the circumcision at the ritual meal (se‘udah), which was sometimes held in the synagogue or in an adjoining room. The piyyut includes a recurring short refrain, berit ‘olam. See Maier Kohn, Der Vorbeter in der Synagoge 7, no. 16; the melody of Baer, Baal T'fillah, no. 276, is merely according to the customary chant pattern of the birkat ha-mazon. ’Elohim ẓivita lididkha was inserted toward the end of the second blessing of the birkat ha-mazon after לעולם ועד “[by the mouth of all the living] continually, forever.” Shamash describes how, if two persons had carried out the berit, the moheil and a moẓeẓ, then both were honored with chanting the piyyut responsively; see Shamash, Minhagim, 2:76, section 241.

53. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:79, section 244, where he writes .ח. מ (ḥazzan menagein); Kirchheim, Minhagot, 85. Shamash and Kirchheim both use the term menagein to differentiate between the lay precentor and the ḥazzan; see Shamash, Minhagim, 2:52–53; Kirchheim, Minhagot, 79. Later, in hasidic circles in Eastern Europe, ba'al menag'n (Yiddish) was used for a ḥazzan who composed and introduced new melodies (niggunim).

54. Moellin, Jacob, Seifer maharil, minhagim, ed. Spitzer, Shlomo (Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, 1989)Google Scholar, 486, section 21; Shamash, Minhagim, 2:79, section 244.

55. Seligmann Baer, ‘Avodat yisra'eil, 798–802. For the wider context of change in the liturgical use of piyyut in Ashkenazic communities, see Langer, Ruth, To Worship God Properly: Tension between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1998), 136–47Google Scholar, 183.

56. The musical example (example 6) is from Scheuermann, Die gottesdienstlichen Gesänge 18, section 1/E, no. 3. Other notations of ’azurei ’eimah include Isaac Lachmann, Awaudas Jisroeil, Mus. Add. 39 (2), Birnbaum Collection, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, part 2, 122, no. 271; Bochner, Bernard, Schirë David: Recueil des chants et récitations religieux d'après les airs traditionalles alsaciens (Strasbourg, 1951), 294Google Scholar, no. 455.

57. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 126, no. 529.

58. Fleischer, Shirat ha-kodesh, 448–49; Nulman, Macy, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer: Ashkenazic and Sephardic Rites (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996), 127–28Google Scholar. There were eight such ’eloheikhem poems: six for special Sabbaths, and one each for shabbat nisu'in and berit milah. In Worms, they were recited only for two life-cycle occasions and Rosh Ḥodesh (New Month); see n. 2 of Hamburger, to Shamash, Minhagim, 1:57.

59. For the full text, see Seligmann Baer, ‘Avodat yisra'eil, 244.

60. Schmelzer, “Mashehu,” 38–39; Moellin, Seifer maharil, 486, section 21; Shamash, Minhagim 1:57, section 54, 2:80, section 244; Gumpil, Sefer minhagim de-kehillateinu, 4, par. 12.

61. “Who says unto Zion, ‘Your God reigns brightly’” (האמר לציון מלך אלהיך זהורית); Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, nos. 615–16. In Frankfurt, according to Fabian Ogutsch, the words were sung to the melody used for כבודו מלא עולם in the kedushah; see Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor, rubric, 104.

62. Minhagei … kehal ‘adat [adass] yisra'eil poh berlin, 8. There is a possibility that in this Berlin synagogue, the hymn was also recited on weekdays, although this was a rather rare practice. For a musical transcription, see Wodak, Hamnazeach, no. 41.

63. Hammer, ’Or ḥadash, 186. Edom was the nation descended from Esau, “the ruddy one” (אַדְמוֹנִי) in Genesis 23:25. A literal translation of the second line reads, “When from treading Edom's winepress he comes”; see Birnbaum, Philip, Daily Prayer Book (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1949), 417Google Scholar.

64. The text is in accordance with Fraenkel, Yonah, Maḥzor Pesaḥ le-fi minhagei b'nei ’ashkenaz le-khol ’anafeha (Jerusalem: Koren, 1993), 475–76Google Scholar.

65. In this stanza, there are allusions to Ezekiel 16:8: וָאָבוֹא בִּבְרִית אֹתָך, the berakhot of the berit milah ceremony: להכניסו בבריתו של אברהם אבינות, and Genesis 34:22: כַּאֲשֶׁר הֵם נִמ ֹלִים.

66. Klausner, Abraham, Seifer minhagim le-rabbeinu Avraham Kloizner (minhagei Maharak), ed. Disen, Yonah Yosef (Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, 1978), 12Google Scholar, section 13, par. 3–4.

67. The minhag books of Mainz, Worms, Fürth, and Frankfurt include no references to the recitation of yom le-yabashah.

68. Seligmann Baer, ‘Avodat yisra'eil, 645.

69. “In mehreren deutschen Gemeinden wird יום ליבשה nicht gebetet”; see Heidenheim, Wolf, Gebete für das Pessachfest mit deutscher Übersetzung (Rödelheim, 1860), 96Google Scholar. Yonah Fraenkel, Maḥzor Pesaḥ, 474, states that recitation of yom le-yabashah on the seventh day of Passover (which points to its use at berit milah as well) belonged to minhag polin.

70. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, no. 691, annotation.

71. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, no. 647. This melody was also sung on Shabbat beshalaḥ and on the seventh day of Passover; see annotation to no. 881. However, Baer adds that “In den meisten deutschen Gemeinden fällt יום ליבשה weg,” which leads to the possibility that while some German (minhag ’ashkenaz) communities did recite the piyyut on that day, this was not normally the case when there was a berit milah.

72. Deutsch, Vorbeterschule, nos. 166–70; Friedmann, Schir Lisch'laumau, no. 249; Wodak, Hamnazeach, no. 312, explicitly stating that it was for a berit milah on the Sabbath, as well as other occasions. Deutsch's setting is in major, but with modulations to the minor mode; that of Friedmann also begins in major, but thereupon expands into the ’Adonai Malakh mode (major with lowered seventh and tenth); Wodak's setting is in the ’Ahavah Rabbah (augmented second interval between second and third tones and lowered sixth) mode.

73. Marcus, The Jewish Life Cycle, 99. Yuspa Shamash's use of the words “the bar mitzvah (boy)” points to a recent development; see Marcus, The Jewish Life Cycle, 98, quoting Shamash, Minhagim 2:164, section 289.

74. In Germany, this was invariably the same person, as there was no separate Torah reader. The emergence of a separate office in Eastern Europe of the ba‘al keri'ah requires further study.

75. Shamash, Minhagim, 1:222, section 288. The special melody appears in Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor, 54, no. 159, נגון בר מצוה; Geiger, Divrei kehillot.

76. Geiger, Divrei kehillot, 360, section 2. In footnote, no. 19, to Shamash (vol. 1), Hamburger states that in Frankfurt, the ḥazzan sang ve-ya‘azor ve-yagein, but Geiger wrote בנגון שמנגן בר מצוה, “in the melody that a bar mitzvah boy uses.”

77. The bar mizvah niggun, at least according to the joyful melody transcribed by Fabian Ogutsch (see n. 75 herein), had a strictly metrical rhythm and was sung in a major key, good indications of its later origin.

78. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 28, no. 104a.

79. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 139, no. 590; Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor 20, no. 51.

80. Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor, 29. Geiger refers to four melodies, all settings of the “Full Kaddish” (nos. 125–28).

81. The donation was made to the hekdeish, probably the hostel for wayfarers; Shamash, Minhagim, 2:2.

82. Shamash, Minhagim, 2:2; Yehudah Leyb ben Moshe of Zelichov [Zelichover] (d. 1701), Shirei yehudah (Amsterdam: Asher Anshil ben Eliezer, 1696), 26b, be-kol ram. The statement of the author (who originally was from Poland) that this was the practice “in these states” could refer either to the Dutch Republic or to the western Ashkenazic lands in general. Two and a half centuries later, Bruno Stern, in his memoir of small-town life in pre-Holocaust Württemberg, recalled the festive calling up; see Stern, , Meine Jugenderinnerungen: an eine württembergische Kleinstadt und ihre jüdische Gemeinde (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1968), 122Google Scholar.

83. Lachmann, Isaak, Awaudas Jisroeil: Der israelitische Gottesdienst: traditionelle Synagogengesänge des süddeutschen und osteuropäischen Ritus (Hürben, Bavaria, 1898–99), 153Google Scholar, no. 120, Birnbaum Collection, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Mus. Add. 2–3. While the text underlay here is for a bar mitzvah, יעמוד פלוני בן פלוני בר מצוה שלישי חזק, Lachmann signifies that the same melody is used for calling up a bridegroom.

84. Shamash, Minhagim 2:9–10, section 229, n. 1 of Hamburger; 52–59, section 235 (Shamash's complete description of Shabbat Breilaft), and n. 18 of Hamburger, quoting Yoseif ’omeẓ; Kirchheim, Minhagot, 79. The original intent of the “Sabbath wedding” was to save expenses, following the massacres of 1096 and the impoverishment of the Jews.

85. Breiluft, Bruitloft, Brautloft, i.e., “wedding”; see Shamash, Minhagim, 2:52, n. 20 of Hamburger Moellin, Seifer Maharil 464, section 2.

86. M. Ketubot 1:1 (for virgins).

87. Seider ve-hanhagah shel nisu'in ha-ḥatunah breilaft ke-minhag frankfurt-de-main ‛im birkat ha-mazon (Frankfurt: John Wust, 1701; repr., Jerusalem: [s.n.], 1992).

88. Shamash, Minhagim 2:9, section 229.

89. Seider ve-hanhagah shel nisu'in 5, par. 5; 7, par. 11. Strangely, this source makes no mention of the bride being escorted with instrumental music from the synagogue. See the section of Shabbat Spinholz for further on the employment of Gentile musicians on the Sabbath.

90. Shamash, Minhagim 2:52, section 235; Kirchheim, Minhagot, 79–80.

91. Kirchheim mentioned the special musical emphasis; Minhagot, 80. R. Yair Hayyim Bacharach was shocked that this had been the custom in Worms because, in other localities, the interruption occurred at “a more appropriate place,” such as before barukh she'amar—where the pesukei de-zimrah section began—or after nishmat, just before it ended. See Shamash, Minhagim 2:53, n. 26 of Hamburger, quoting Yair Bacharach, Mekor ḥayyim, section 51, par. 5; Moellin, Seifer maharil, 469, section 8, gloss n. 6.

92. Schmelzer, “Mashehu,” 36–37.

93. A similar piyyut in JTS Library MS 8972 was nishmat yesharim, noted for its beauty and simplicity, although it likewise received no mention by Shamash or Kirchheim. Each stanza begins with the word נִֹשְמַת, and its final line concludes with the opening phrase of the second part of the nishmat hymn, אוֹמְרִים] אִילוּ פִינוּ מָלֵא ֹשִירָה כִַיָּם]. It makes references to marriage, the bride and groom (through biblical quotations that constitute the last line of each stanza), and friends who participate in the escorting. It was first printed in 1717 in the prayer book of R. Isaiah Horowitz (ca. 1565–1630), and might have still been sung despite discontinuation of Shabbat Breilaft. The prayer book includes the rubric that the ḥazzan was to sing the piyyut before nishmat. See Schmelzer, “Mashehu,” 34–35; Horowitz, R. Isaiah, Sha'ar ha-shamayim (Amsterdam: Beit ’aharon di shelomo antonis, 1717), 134Google Scholar.

94. In Mainz and Worms, the insertion of piyyutim commenced immediately before barekhu; see Moellin, Seifer maharil, 469–70, par. 8–9; Shamash, Minhagim, 2:52–57; Kirschner, Minhagot, 80–81. In Austria and in the east, the piyyutim started at the end of nishmat; see Tyrnau, Isaac, Seifer ha-minhagim, ed. Spitzer, Shlomo (Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim 1979), 163–65Google Scholar.

95. The remainder of ataneh shevaḥei was sung by the ḥazzan alone. According to Moellin, it was sung immediately after the Torah reading, but Shamash and Kirchheim say it was sung after ’ashrei; see Moellin, Seifer maharil, 470, par. 9; Davidson, א, 8967; Shamash, Minhagim, 57, section 235; Kirchheim, Minhagot, 81. In Frankfurt (and possibly elsewhere), the ḥazzan and his vocal assistants (meshorrerim) also sang ve-ya‘azor ve-yagein בקול נעימה וזימרה, “in a melodious singing tone,” perhaps similar to, or the same as, the niggun bar mizvah; see Seider ve-hanhagah shel nisu'in, 5, par. 6.

96. Seligmann Baer, ’Avodat yisra'eil, 244; Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, nos. 615–16. On change in Ashkenazic liturgical use of piyyut in the early modern period, see Langer, To Worship God Properly, 183.

97. According to one manuscript source, Shamash explicitly stated that “on the day of the wedding the ḥazzan sings shirah ḥadashah in the special melody for a wedding day”; see Shamash, Minhagim 2:26, section 231, gloss. Elsewhere, however, he wrote, “the ḥazzan sang shirah ḥadashah with the melody (for the bridegroom) [of the berit milah] and ẓur yisra'eil with the melody for the berit milah [for the bridegroom].” The seemingly contradictory annotations within square brackets were those of a later manuscript of Shamash; see Minhagim 2:81, long additional note of Shamash to section 245.

98. Ibid., 2:28, section 23; Shamash uses the term teḥinah, rather than the more familiar term taḥanun.

99. Ibid., 2:28, section 231.

100. The word literally means “spinning-wood,” but Marcus argues against any connection between Spinholz and Spindel (distaff, referring to the supposed spinning abilities of the bride); see Marcus, Jewish Life Cycle, 152. In Frankfurt and elsewhere, there were originally two consecutive Spinholz sabbaths; see Shamash, Minhagim 2:4, n. 25 of Hamburger, quoting Yosif ’omeẓ (1723) of Joseph Yuspa Hahn (1570–1637), section 657.

101. Marcus, Jewish Life Cycle, 152.

102. Shamash, Minhagim 2:4, section 227, n. 29 of Hamburger, quoting ’Eileh divrei ha-berit (Hamburg, 1819), 5. Instrumental music for kabbalat shabbat prior to the onset of the Sabbath was not uncommon in a number of Central European communities in the eighteenth century; see Idelsohn, Jewish Music, 205–207.

103. Shamash, Minhagim 2:4. However, Hamburger points out (4, n. 28) that in one manuscript variant, Shamash does not include malkhutekha.

104. Idelsohn, The Synagogue Song of the German Jews, passim.

105. Scheuermann, Gottesdienstlichen Gesänge, 21, section I/E, no. 14.

106. Shamash, Minhagim 2:4, section 227, where he writes hashkiveinu, ki ’eil shomereinu, possibly referring to two separate melodies, but more likely referring to ki ’eil shomereinu within the hashkiveinu; see Raphael, Freddy, “Le Mariage juif dans la compagne Alsaciènne dans la deuxième moiti édu XIX siècle,” Folklore Research Center Studies 4 (1974): 190Google Scholar; Scheuermann, Gottesdienstlichen Gesänge 21, section I/E, no. 14.

107. Shamash, Minhagim 2:4, n. 29 of Hamburger (Amsterdam); Kosman, Noheig, 112, par. 2. A full setting of hashkiveinu for when a bridegroom attended the Friday night service before the wedding was included in the unpublished Dutch cantorial collection, transcribed between 1943 and 1945, of Hazzan Louis Frank (1880–1962), section III, 24–26. See Josée Wolff, Ḥazzanut and Nusaḥ in the Dutch Ashkenazic Community (master's thesis, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, 1991), 73.

108. Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor, 102, no. 315; Idelsohn, The Traditional Songs of the South German Jews, 112, no. 325.

109. Gumpil, Sefer minhagim de-kehillateinu, section 100; Shamash, Minhagim 2:6, no. 42 of Hamburger.

110. Shamash, Minhagim 2:5, 8, section 227. The explanation is that suggested by Hamburger, 6, n. 42.

111. Ibid., 6. It is possible that the melody in question was one of the paraliturgical or folk songs sung at the wedding celebrations following the Sabbath meals on Friday night and Saturday morning.

112. Shamash, Minhagim 2:6–8, and nn. 45–49 of Hamburger. For Gentile musicians playing on the Sabbath, see Abrahams, Israel, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (New York: Atheneum, 1973), 197Google Scholar; Hamburger, 7 n. 47, quoting Shenei luḥot ha-berit, section 2, of R. Isaiah Horowitz, who served in Frankfurt and Prague. In Germany in the seventeenth century, the term leiẓanim had no connection with the role of badḥanim (jesters), while the term כלי זמר (kelei zemer) referred to the musical instruments, not the instrumentalists כליזמרים (klezmorim), as in Poland. The latter term only started to be used in Germany in the mid-eighteenth century; see Rivkind, Isaac, Kleizmorim: Perek be-toledot ha-‘amamit [Jewish folk musicians: A study in cultural history] (New York: Futuro Press, 1960), 15Google Scholar.

113. Marcus, The Jewish Life Cycle, 150–51; Shamash, Minhagim 2:20, section 231, n. 5, where Hamburger provides a detailed explanation of the origins of the word mayen and its alternative spellings.

114. Moellin, Seifer maharil, 464, section 1; Shamash, Minhagim 2:22, section 231, n. 10 of Hamburger.

115. Moellin, Seifer maharil, 464, section 1; Shamash, Minhagim 2:22, section 235.

116. Shamash, Minhagim 2:20–25, section 231.

117. Geiger, Divrei kehillot, 420. In medieval Mainz, weddings were performed inside the synagogue; see Moellin, Seifer maharil, 465, par. 3; Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi Minz, Teshuvot maharam minẓ (1415–80), section 109. However, in the centuries prior to the emancipation, the general custom was to conduct them outside, in the courtyard of the synagogue. Synagogue weddings were reintroduced in Germany in the nineteenth century, this change being arguably less an innovation than a restoration.

118. Stauben, Daniel, Scènes da la vie juive en Alsace (Paris: Michel Lévy, 1860), 188Google Scholar; Raphael, “Le Mariage juif,” 192–93; Rosenhaupt, Moritz, Schire Ohel Yaakov, vol. 3, Werktags-Gottesdienst (Leipzig: privately printed, 1895), 16Google Scholar.

119. Grunwald, Max, “Musik bei jüdischen Hochzeiten,” Jahrbuch für jüdische Volkskunde 1923: 249–51Google Scholar. Grunwald did not identify the name of the 1832 published musical transcription. The triple-time meter fits perfectly into the character of a Ländler, and it bears a strong resemblance to two German ballads; see Salmen, Walter, Jüdische Musikanten und Tänzer vom 13. bis. 20 Jahrhundert (Innsbruck: Hebling, 1991), 129Google Scholar. This melody was also used in south Germany at Purim for a verse relating to the hanging of Haman on the gallows (Esther 7:10). See Ogutsch, Frankfurter Kantor 103, no. 317; Scheuermann, Gottesdienstlichen Gesänge, 91, section 5/D, no. 5.

120. Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 367.

121. Eshel ’avraham to Shulhan ‘arukh, Orah ḥayyim, Section 140:1. Strictly speaking, pizmon refers to a piyyut with a refrain, but Wahrman applied it more broadly.

122. Birkat ha-mazon (Prague, 1580), quoted in Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 378 n. 81.

123. Birkat ha-mazon (Amsterdam, 1694), quoted in Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 397.

124. Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 399–401.

125. Opening of the third stanza.

126. Kosman, Noheig, 112, section 2.

127. Hamburger, “Zemer le-hatan,” 394–97, gives a number of explanations for the connection between yigdal and “rejoicing the bridegroom.” In Worms, guests sang yigdal at celebrations and feasting at the Braut Haus on the night prior to the wedding; see Shamash, Minhagim 2:19, section 230. At the end of the next day, “the men and the boys” sang yigdal again in honor of the newly married couple; see ibid., 44, section 230.

128. Zelichover, Shirei yehudah, 26b.

129. Kosman, Noheig 112, section 2.

130. Seder ve-hanhagah shel nisu‘in, 6.

131. Hamburger, “Zemer la-ḥatan,” 398.

132. References include Samuel Bloch, “Aus dem ehemaligen Kurhessen,” Mitteilungen zur jüdischen Volkskunde 29 (1926): 588 (Kurhessen); Stern, Meine Jugenderinnerungen, 122 (Niederstetten, Württemberg, where it was sung on the Sabbath after the wedding); Carlebach, Ratgeber für das jüdische Haus, 43 (Lübeck, northern Germany); Fürst, Sitten und Gebräuche, 57 (Eisenstadt, western Hungary, where it was sung on the Sabbath after the wedding).

133. Festgebete der Israeliten, fünfter Theil, Succoth, trans. and ed. Michael Sachs (Berlin: Louis Gerschel), 282.

134. Baer, Seligmann, Tikkun ha-sofeir veha-korei (Rödelheim: I. Lehrberger, 1866), xiiiGoogle Scholar.

135. Wolff, Liturgisches Handbuch, 80–81.

136. Flamm, Noten-Beilagen, 5–6, no. 3.

137. Abraham Baer, Baal T'fillah, 206, no. 993 (and liturgical annotation, 139); Lachmann, Isaac, Awaudas Jisroeil: Der israelitische Gottesdienst, III Teil, Die Drei Wallfahrtsfeste, hrs. Andor Izsák (Hannover: Europäisches Zentrum für Jüdische Musik, 1993–95)Google Scholar, 2:242–44, no. 191; Samuel Bloch, “Aus dem ehemaligen Kurhessen,” 588; Idelsohn, , The Traditional Songs of the South German Jews, Hebräisch-orientalisicher Melodienschatz 6 (Leipzig: Friderich Hofmeister, 1933), 126Google Scholar, nos. 356 –58. Baer and Lachmann include rubrics stating that the piyyut was also sung for the ḥatan torah and ḥatan bereishit on Simhat Torah.

138. Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 403–404 (Eastern Europe).

139. Ibid., 406–407.

140. Kosman, Noheig 112, section 2. Yet Kosman only referred to “all four stanzas.” If he was referring to double stanzas, then the complete text would include five, the first possibly serving as a refrain. A more likely explanation is that Kosman only knew of four (single) stanzas, which he took to be the complete text. Seligmann Baer, in his handbook for Torah readers, provided the annotation “in many communities only the first stanza is recited.” See Baer, Tikkun ha-sofeir veha-korei, xiii.

141. Hamburger, “Zemer le-ḥatan,” 405.

142. Ibid., 406.

143. Geiger, Divrei kehillot, 13.

144. Reif, Stephan C., Judaism and Hebrew Prayer: New Perspectives on Jewish Liturgical History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 270CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

145. Invaluable is the comparative study of the Synagogue Regulations by Lowenstein, Steven M., “The 1840s and the Creation of the German-Jewish Religious Movement,” in Revolution and Evolution in German-Jewish History, ed. Mosse, Werner E. (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1981), 255–97Google Scholar. Curtailment of piyyutim, except on High Holy Days, was generally favored. This was facilitated by “a general loss of Ashkenazic interest in piyyut”; see Langer, To Worship God Properly, 182–85. For attitudes toward piyyut by leading nineteenth-century German rabbis, see Meyer, Michael A., Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 88Google Scholar, 106, 124, 150.

146. Synagogen-Ordnung … Mittelfranken, 1838: 7, par. 20.

147. Synagogen-Ordnung der Israelitischen Cultus Gemeinde zu Bamberg (1840s?), 4, par. 15.

148. Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums 1/28 1837, 110, par. 22; Petuchowski, Jacob, Prayerbook Reform in Europe: The Liturgy of European Liberal and Reform Judaism (New York: World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968), 126Google Scholar. However, the regulation no longer permitted any dramatic singing of ya‘amod by the ḥazzan.

149. Königl. israelitische Oberkirchenbehörde, Gottesdienst-Ordnung für die Synagogen des Königreichs Württemberg (Stuttgart, 1838) 23, par. 22.

150. Ibid.

151. This transference occurred early; see Zelichover, Shirei yehudah, 26b. The occasion was on the Sabbath following the betrothal (Shabbat kenas).

152. Kosman, Noheig, 137, section 9; Minhagei… kehal ‘adat yisra'eil, 12; liturgical rubric in Sachs, Festgebete, 282.

153. The ẓulat, “‘ot berit.” Allgemeine Synagogen-Ordnung für das Königreich Hannover (Hannover, 1916), 79, par. 9.

154. Ibid.

155. Sulzer, Salomon, Schir Zion: Gottesdienstliche Gesänge der Israeliten (Vienna, 1840, 1863; New York: Hebrew Union College Sacred Music Press, Out of Print Classics Series, vol. 8, 1954), 357–76Google Scholar, nos. 467–77; Lewandowski, Louis, Todah W'simrah, Vierstimmige Chöre und Soli für den israelitischen Gottesdienst, Part 2, Festgesänge (Berlin: Bote and Bock, 1882), 297–315Google Scholar, nos. 262–68; Naumbourg, Samuel, Semiroth Israël: Chants Religieux, Les Hymnes, les Psaumes (Paris, 1857; repr., New York: Hebrew Union College Sacred Music Press, Out of Print Classics Series, vol. 15, 1954), 24–52Google Scholar, nos. 26–35.

156. Naumbourg, Samuel, Semiroth Israël: Chants Liturgiques de Sabbath (Paris, 1847; repr., New York: Hebrew Union College Sacred Music Press, Out of Print Classics Series, vol. 13, 1954), 60–61Google Scholar, no. 55.

157. Bocher, Bernard, Schirë David: Recueil des chants et récitations religieux d'après les airs traditionnels alsaciens (Strasbourg: Consistoire israelite du Bas-Rhin, 1951), 295–96Google Scholar, no. 456.

158. Weintraub, Hirsch, Schire Beth Adonai oder Tempelgesänge für den Gottesdienst der Israeliten, vol. 1 (Leipzig: Breitkop & Härtel, 1859Google Scholar; repr., Sacred Music Press, Out of Print Classics Series, vol. 19, 1954). The particular items were: (1) ve-nismaḥ from ’ahavat ‘olam on the eve of a bar mitzvah, 21, no. 10; (2) calling up to the Torah, 60, no. 71; ’eḥad yaḥid u-meyyuḥad for a ḥatan and a bar mitzvah, 60, no. 72; keraḥeim ’av (Psalms 103:12–13, 16–17) for confirmation (for boys), 76, no. 89; romemot ’eil and barkuh ha-ba for a berit milah, 80–81, nos. 93 and 92.

159. Examples are the settings of cantor-composers Debbie Friedman and Paul Zim.