Many piyyuṭim are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example, the best-known piyyuṭ may be Adon Olam ("Master of the World"). Its poetic form consists of a repeated rhythmic pattern of short-long-long-long (the so-called hazaj meter). It is so beloved that it is often sung after many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly recitation of the Shema, and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin. Another beloved piyyuṭ is Yigdal ("May God be Hallowed"), which is based upon the Thirteen Principles of Faith set forth by Maimonides.
The author of a piyyuṭ is known as a payṭān or payetan (פיטן); the plural is pay(e)ṭanim (פיטנים).
History
The Palestinian school
The earliest piyyuṭim date from late antiquity, the Talmudic (c. 70 – c. 500 CE)[citation needed] and Geonic periods (c. 600 – c. 1040).[1] They were "overwhelmingly from the Land of Israel or its neighbor Syria, because only there was the Hebrew language sufficiently cultivated that it could be managed with stylistic correctness, and only there could it be made to speak so expressively."[2] The earliest Palestinian prayer manuscripts, found in the Cairo Geniza, often consist of piyyuṭim, as these were the parts of the liturgy that required to be written down: the wording of the basic prayers was generally known by heart, and there was supposed to be a prohibition of writing them down. It is not always clear from the manuscripts whether these piyyuṭim, which often elaborated the themes of the basic prayers, were intended to supplement or replace them, or indeed whether they originated before the basic prayers had become fixed. The piyyuṭim, in particular those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir, were often in very cryptic and allusive language, with copious reference to midrash.[3]
Initially, the word piyyuṭ designated every type of sacred poetry, but as usage developed, the term came to designate only poems of hymn character. The piyyuṭim were usually composed by a talented rabbinic poet, and depending on the piyyuṭ’s reception by the community determined whether it would pass the test of time. Looking at the composers of the piyyuṭim, one can see which family names were part of the Middle Eastern community and which hakhamim were prominent and well established. The composers of various piyyuṭim usually used acrostic forms to hint their identity in the piyyuṭ itself. Since siddurim were limited then, many piyyuṭim had repeating stanzas that the congregation would respond to, followed by the hazzan’s recitations.
The additions of the piyyuṭim to the services were primarily used as an embellishment to the services and to make it more enjoyable to the congregation. As to the origin of the piyyuṭ's implementation, there is a theory that this had to do with restrictions on Jewish prayer. Al-Samawal al-Maghribi, a Jewish convert to Islam in the twelfth century, wrote that the Persians prohibited Jews from holding prayer services. "When the Jews saw that the Persians persisted in obstructing their prayer, they invented invocations into which they admixed passages from their prayers (the piyyuṭ) … and set numerous tunes to them". They would assemble to read and chant the piyyuṭim at prayer time. The difference between that and prayer is that the prayer is without melody and is read only by the person conducting the service. In the recitation of the piyyuṭ, the cantor is assisted by the congregation in chanting melodies. "When the Persians rebuked them for this, the Jews sometimes asserted that they were singing, and sometimes [mourning over their situations]." When the Muslims took over and allowed Jews dhimmi status, prayer became permissible for the Jews. The piyyuṭ had become a commendable tradition for holidays and other joyous occasions.
[4]
The use of piyyuṭ was always considered a Palestinian specialty: the Babylonian geonim made every effort to discourage it and restore what they regarded as the statutory wording of the prayers, holding that "any [hazzan] who uses piyyuṭ thereby gives evidence that he is no scholar". It is not always clear whether their main objection was to any use of piyyuṭim at all or only to their intruding into the heart of the statutory prayers.[citation needed]
For these reasons, scholars classifying the liturgies of later periods usually hold that, the more a given liturgy uses piyyuṭim, the more likely it is to reflect Palestinian as opposed to Babylonian (Mesopotamian) influence. The Sephardic liturgical framers took the Geonic strictures seriously. For this reason the early Palestinian piyyuṭim, such as those of Eleazar birabbi Qallir, do not survive in the Sephardic rite. However, they do in the Ashkenazi and Italian rites.
The medieval Spanish school
In the later Middle Ages, however, Andalusi Jewish poets such as Judah Halevi, Solomon ibn Gabirol , Abraham ibn Ezra and Moses ibn Ezra composed quantities of religious poetry, in correct Biblical Hebrew and strict Arabic metres. Many of these poems have been incorporated into the Sephardic, and to a lesser extent the other rites, and may be regarded as a second generation of piyyuṭ.
The Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria and his followers, which used an adapted Sephardic liturgy, disapproved of the Spanish piyyuṭim, regarding them as spiritually inauthentic, and invoked the Geonic strictures to have them either eliminated from the service or moved away from the core parts of it. Their disapproval did not extend to piyyuṭim of the early Palestinian school, which they regarded as an authentic part of the Talmudic-rabbinic tradition. Although Luria himself would go to Ashkenazic communities at times when they would recite piyyuṭim to recite those from the Eretz Yisrael school, no Sephardic community reinstituted these piyyuṭim, presumably because these had already been eliminated from the service. They regarded it as too late to put them back. (The Kabbalists, and their successors, also wrote piyyuṭim of their own.) For this reason, some piyyuṭim of the Spanish school survive in their original position in the Spanish and Portuguese rite but have been eliminated or moved in the Syrian and other Mizrahi rites. Syrian Jews preserve some of them for extra-liturgical use as pizmonim.
Well-known piyyuṭim
What follows is a chart of some of the best-known and most-beloved piyyuṭim. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it tries to provide a flavor of the variety of poetic schemes and occasions for which these poems were written. Many of the piyyuṭim marked as being recited on Shabbat are songs traditionally sung as part of the home ritual observance of Shabbat and also known as zemirot ("Songs/Melodies").
Double alphabetic acrostic, then spells out "Meir, son of Rabbi Yitzchak, may he grow in Torah and in good deeds. Amen, and may he be strong and have courage." The author was Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak "Shatz" [he]
Hazaj metre; alphabetic acrostic; each stanza begins with the word alei; each line ends with the suffix -eiha (meaning "her" or "of hers", referring to Jerusalem)
Piyyutim have been written in many different genres and subgenres. Most of these are defined by the function that the given poem fulfills in the context of Jewishprayer service; but a few are defined by other criteria, such as content.
Yotzer sequence—a series of poems, which adorn the blessings surrounding the morning recitation of the Shema. Note that the Shema itself is always kept in its statutory form, and not adorned with poetry, because it is made up of passages taken straight from the Bible.
1. Guf yotzer (or just yotzer)—the first poem of the sequence, coming at the very beginning of the blessing Yotzer ohr. In a sequence written for a weekday, this is a very short poem, of one stanza, and leads straight to the conclusion of the blessing; parts 1a, 2, 3, and 4 are skipped.[6] In a sequence written for a Sabbath or festival, this poem can be anywhere from about 12 lines to several hundred lines.[7]
1b. Silluq le-yotzer. A "conclusion" to the guf yotzer, forming a bridge to the Qedusha in the middle of the blessing on the heavenly luminaries.[8]
2. Ofan. A poem bridging between the first and second verses of the Qedusha.[9]
3. Me'ora. A poem forming the bridge between the second verse of the Qedusha and the conclusion of the blessing on the luminaries.
4. Ahava. A poem leading into the conclusion of the blessing regarding God's love for the Jewish people.[10]
(The Shema itself is recited here.)
5. Zulath. A poem leading from the beginning of the blessing after the Shema (about the truth of the Shema‘ and God's redemption of the Israelites from Egypt) to the verse "Mi Khamokha" ("Who is like unto Thee?"), Exodus 15:11.[11]
6. Mi Khamokha. A poem leading from the verse "Mi Khamokha" (Ex. 15:11) to the verse "Adonai Yimlokh" (Ex. 15:18).
7. Ge'ulla. A poem leading from "Adonai Yimlokh" (Ex. 15:18) to the conclusion of the benediction about the truth of the Shema‘ and the redemption from Egypt. In 9th-11th century Middle Eastern yotzer sequences, the Ge'ulla is usually split into two smaller poems, the "Adonai Malkenu" and the "Ve‘ad Matai".[12]
Qerova—a series of piyyuṭim, which adorn the blessings of the Amidah. There are a few types of these:
Shiv‘ata: A series of seven poems, of even length, to adorn the Amidah of a Sabbath or festival. Such Amidot have seven blessings, so there is one poem per blessing. (Note that these were written only for the amidot of Musaf and Minhah and Maariv; for the Shacharit service of a Sabbath or festival, the Amida would be adorned with a Qedushta. See below.)[13]
Shemone Esreh: A series of eighteen poems, of even length, to adorn the Amidah of a weekday. Such Amidot have eighteen blessings, so there is one poem per blessing.[14]
Qedushta: A series of poems adorning the first three blessings of the Shaharit) Amidah of a sabbath or festival. (Or Musaf of Rosh Hashana, or any of the four Amidot of the daytime of Yom Kippur. The Qedushta consists of several parts, each with their own names.
1. Magen
2. Mehayye
3. Meshallesh
4. "Piyyut 4" ("El Na")
5. "Piyyut 5"
6. Qiqlar
7. Rahit. (There may be several rahitim, in which case they are numbered 7a, 7b, 7c, et cetera.)
8. Silluq. A long piyyuṭ, often closer to rhyming prose than to any kind of metrical poetry. The silluq, at its conclusion, leads into the first verse of the Kedushah prayer.
9: Qedusha-piyyuṭim. These poems, often absent from Qedushta'ot, were written to be recited between the verses of the Kedushah.
Qedushat Shiv‘ata
Qedushat Shemone Esreh
Some Shiv‘atot, almost exclusively for great festivals, have expansions:
Guf -- an expansion in the fourth blessing of a festival Amidah. This is the central blessing of the festival Amidah, and the only one whose theme is the festival itself.
Dew (Tal) or Rain (Geshem) expansion: inserted into the second blessing of the mussaf Amidah of the first day of Passover or of Shemini Atzeret, which are the first days that prayers for dew and rain are recited in the summer and winter respectively.
Maarivim - Piyyuṭim recited for the Shema at Maariv. Although in the classical era of piyyuṭ, these were recited on many occasions, in European communities, they are recited exclusively on Jewish holidays.
Bikkur (also known as Tosefet Le-ma‘ariv -- an expansion at the end of a sequence of ma‘ariv piyyuṭim; found only in Ashkenaz and Romania.)
^Seroussi, Edwin (2007). "Music in Medieval Ibero-Jewish Society". Hispania Judaica Bulletin. 5: 23. The prominence of its melodic component and the association of its tunes with those of gentile songs created a certain antagonism to the singing of strophic poetry in Spanish synagogues. In this regard it is worthwhile to cite a famous passage from the tractate Ifhām al-Yahūd (Silencing the Jews) by the 12th century Jewish convert to Islam Sama'ual al-Maghribī in which he describes the performance of a contemporary synagogue service and the role of sacred poetry in it: When the Jews saw that the Persians persisted in obstructing their prayer, they invented invocations into which they add mixed passages from their prayers; and they called these ḥizāna. They set numerous tunes to them. They would assemble at prayer time in order to read and chant the ḥizāna. The difference between the ḥizāna and the prayer is that the prayer is without melody and is read only by the person conducting the service; no other person recites with him. The ḥazzān, however, is assisted by the public in reciting the ḥizāna and in chanting melodies. When the Persians rebuked them for this, the Jews sometimes asserted that they were singing, and sometimes that they were bewailing their lot. So the Persians left them at it. Strangely enough, by the time the dominion of Islam arose and granted recognition to the various denominations of 'protected people', and prayer became permissible unto the Jews, the ḥizāna had become a commendable tradition among them for holidays, festivals and joyful occasions. Although no longer compelled to do so, the Jews were content to substitute ḥizāna for prayer.
