Eli Ẓiyyon

The alphabetical hymn closing the series of "ḳinot" chanted in the northern rituals on the morning of the Fast of Ab, where it comes as a comparative relief to the series of dirges which precede it. The tune is not older than the later Middle Ages, and is probably of South-German origin. As the most prominent melody of the "Three Weeks" (i.e., the time between the Fast of Tammuz and the Ninth of Ab), in the chant of the officiant it is taken as the representative theme forecasting and recalling that period (compare Jew. Encyc. i. 187, 302), and as such is utilized very generally for the refrain to the hymn "Lekah Dodi." (See music on following page).

Bibliography:

  * Sulzer, Shir Zion, No. 148;
  * Baer, Ba'al Tefillah, No. 213;
  * Marksohn and Wolf, Synagogale-Melodien, No. 16;
  * Cohen, in Young Israel, i. 192. On the hymn as a "representative theme," compare Baer, l.c. No. 327;
  * Hast, The Divine Service, i. 29, 152;
  * Cohen and Davis, Voice of Prayer and Praise, p. 19.



A. F. L. C.