Fabulous rendition of this beautiful setting of Numbers 24 : 5-9 ❤ “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel”. This is the version we sing in Edinburgh Synagogue, albeit with a very slightly altered introit, as arranged by our late, great choirmaster, David Mendelssohn (no relation!). My uncle Joe Aronson, who passed away, aged 81, in 2020, had the loveliest voice ever and the 30 guys of our Synagogue Choir back in the day used to sing this with all the verve and exultation embodied in the words of Balaam: “How shall I curse, whom the Lord hath not cursed, and how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?”
I will always cherish this melody. The youth choir I was in (4-8 singers) sang it every Saturday morning for the Shabbat service. Yes, this version is a little slower than how we sang it but that's okay with me. It's a beautiful heartfelt rendition. Love that organ part!
I just found my way back to this rendition of the great Lewandowski Ma Tovu. Got a kick out of reading the comments I posted 9 years ago. Now I see several people complaining that this is too slow. In the '80s and '90s, I sang in a High Holy Days choir at a Conservative shul for 5 years and then at a traditional shul for 7 years. In both choirs, the tempo was about the same as this one.
Beautiful! 27 years ago I was in my synagogue's choir. While I was making tapes to learn this piece, my son, not yet 3, also learned it. Surprised me by singing the whole piece as a soprano, changing to a slightly nasal tone on the solo (I had spliced in our cantor's voice); then straight through on the alto part. He's now a professional singer.
This prayer, from the Bible, is generally recited or sung upon entering the synagogue. Lewandowski was born in 1821 in what is now Poland. His musical training and working life were in Berlin, where he died in 1894. From Wikipedia: "His arrangements of ancient Hebrew melodies for choir, cantor, and organ are considered masterly productions, characterized by great simplicity and a profound religious sentiment."
It may be a tad slow. Nevertheless it is a pleasure to hear and see a first-class choir and skilled conductor and soloist. The audio and video quality are also very good. This contrasts very favorably with the often rag-tag nature of video on RU-vid and poor performances and far lesser arrangements of this prayer. I'll take Illinois slow over just about everything else I see on this website.
This piece was written in the classic Ashkenazi dialect/pronunciation: therefore, Yisra'el becomes Yisroel, Mishk'notecha becomes Mishknosecho. Not a mistake, just different :)
Dear Christopher or viewers, I forwarded a link to this post to several friends. One old college chum would love to get more music by this choir. She's blind, which makes searching a challenge. Do you happen to know how we can help her?
Ziv - I am quite familiar with the differences between Ashkenaszik and Sephardik pronunciation. My issue was not a 'patach' vs a 'komatz'. My point was they pronounced 'Yisra'el' with a 'yud' in the middle of the word.
I note that several of my rabbinic colleagues have commented on the slow pace of this piece. Historical recordings notwithstanding, I have heard it performed hundreds of times, and never so slow. This rendition does not do justice, I fear, to the joyous sense of the lyrics.
@marasu66 I LIKE IT! MAJESTIC IS WHAT THE MAJESTY DECIDES IT IS MAJESTIC, BECAUSE HE IS THE MAJESTY.... SORRY, NOT TO BOTHER, BUT IF HE LIKES IT, WHAT CAN I DO? BLESS U!
the extra "y" is a common linguistic phenomenon having nothing to do with an extra letter--it's just the way people speak/sing/whatever. similar to what happens when people say "have a good day" and it comes out "haff a good day"--wonder what you do with the other half :-)
@ Ziv - I am familar with Ashkenazic pronuciation. Occassionally, points get confused in transliteration. The mistake remains as I originally stated- they insert a 'yud' in the middle of the word after the 'reish' before the 'aleph'
Why are they singing this at half speed - it should be a joyful upbeat opening to every service, instead it is slow, draggy and funerial. The tuning and choir clarity is great, but the tempo is SO wrong. I should know, my synagogue choir sing this at every festival service.
Sorry, no, this was composed by Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) and published in 1882. You can read more information I posted here 9 years ago about this great composer and choirmaster.
So now there's only one way to sing a song! Surely singers can interpret songs differently. What's it matter so long as the words are the same? A Bach chorale is a back chorale whatever the person's religion, culture, nationality or race. I have heard dirges and the above did not sound a dirge to me. But there again, the other commentators are obviously better singers than the the ones in the clip and no better how it should be sung.
