SEPHARDIC HERITAGE

David M. Betesh

With great pleasure, we present the 2012 annual update of accomplishments of the Sephardic Pizmonim Project at www.pizmonim.com.

About Us: The Sephardic than 165,000 website visitors from ‘Library’ section). Much of this year Pizmonim Project, dedicated in around the world. has been devoted to populating our memory of Hazzan Gabriel A Shrem Overview: We focus our website’s database of pizmonim (1916-1986) and in honor of Hazzan attention on preserving materi- with recordings and manuscripts Isaac J Cabasso, is an organization als from our community’s Red from both the Blue Book and our that promotes the preservation of Pizmonim Book, Shir Ushbaha 19th century manuscripts. the liturgical traditions of Aleppo’s Hallel VeZimrah (Shrem, Sephardic Overall, this effort is not yet com- Sephardic Jewish community. Our Heritage Foundation, 1964), but pleted and is not yet perfect, but digital music archive collection con- have also expanded our efforts to the infrastructure of what we would sists of more than 2,000 recordings include materials from both the Blue constitute as a perfect product has from some of the most venerated Pizmonim Book, Shirah Hadasha been created. Syrian cantors and famous classi- (Amram, Zimrat Ha’aretz, 2002), as Preservation: Due to our cal musicians. Since April well as from old manuscripts from efforts, we narrowed our preser- 2006, we have welcomed more 19th century Aleppo, Syria (see our Continued on page 00 SEPHARDIC HERITAGE

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vation list of missing pizmonim Sassoon Manuscript #647 melodies to approximately 88. (1850), and the Moshe Discovering the remaining missing Ashear Manuscripts pizmonim melodies has proven to be (Brooklyn, 1925). an increasingly difficult task. Joseph Contributors to the man- E. Mosseri has been instrumental in uscript efforts include: the melody identification process. Alberto Attia (San Diego), New and improved recordings of the Sassoon Family already-known pizmonim continu- (United Kingdom), Isaac ously get added to the website. J. Cabasso, and Joseph Paragraphs: Updated Maqam E Mosseri. of the Week paragraphs can be New Format: The found in the ‘Miqra’ section, as well new format of the web- as in print in the weekly Aram Soba site has enabled us to Foundation Newsletter that is dis- provide separate pages tributed weekly by Congregation devoted to biographies, Bnai Yosef. Included are the correct holidays, international Sephardic time. This will be an instrumental maqamat to apply for the , definitions of Arabic tool for all students (i.e. bar mitzvah) morning prayers, selected pizmonim music terminology, pronunciation, to practice their Miqra reading skills. and Hazzanut notes associated with Hazzanut origin and history, prayer Another endeavor is to incorporate the weekly parashah (as per H. applications, rare maqamat, etc. some of the lesser-known melodies Moshe Ashear), the proper Syrian These additional sections allow the that we don’t have pizmonim for into Torah Aliyot Stops, and Mishmarah web visitor to obtain a more compre- the website. readings. H. Mordechai C. Nadaf, hensive view of the subject matter Conclusion: 2012 will go down Joseph E. Mosseri, and Haim Shayo as well as knowledge of who we are in the history books as the year that have graciously contributed to these and what we represent. the city of Aleppo, our ancestral paragraphs. In Memoriam: Unfortunately, hometown, was hit by the devas- Face Lift: In January 2012, with the passage of time, we are tating Syrian Civil War; destroy- a revamping of the entire website gradually losing the elders and ing many historical artifacts of all took place with the combined efforts role-models of our community. the ancient communities, including of Sam Franco (website designer), Last year, the Sephardic Hazzanut some destruction in our Jewish cem- Sauly M. Betesh, and others. The world lost one of the most vener- eteries where many of our esteemed new website design is more user- ated cantors of the past genera- ancestors were laid to rest. friendly and is designed to work tion. Hakham Hazzan Raphael Yair Preserving our Syrian Sephardic ideally with an iPad. Special atten- Elnadav passed away in December way of life is very worthwhile, but is tion has been devoted to the digi- 2011. He was the former cantor of becoming a major challenge with the tal version of the Red Pizmonim Congregation Shaare Zion and had passage of time. We must preserve Book where one can listen to a a major impact, especially on our our Aleppo heritage—our cuisine, pizmon while reading a brief com- Brooklyn community. Our project our societal and ethical values, our mentary on the pizmon as well as attempts to preserve his memory by unique Halakhic approach to Torah, view old handwritten manuscripts including his biography, his pizmon- and last but not least, our litur- (19th century) of the pizmon. im compositions, and his record- gical practice, which includes our Some of these manuscripts, only ings. May his memory be blessed. Baqashot and Pizmonim. Putting recently obtained (some from the Pipeline: Some of our 2013 conscientious effort into preserva- former Sassoon Library), include: endeavors include: obtaining com- tion needs to be organized by our the Eliahou Hamaoui Manuscript plete digital recordings of the Torah community leaders and encouraged (Cairo, 1880), the Yehudah Attia and the Tehillim, as well as obtaining by our institutions.‰ Manuscript (Aleppo, 1858), the Ezra a digital copy of these books where Attia Manuscript (Aleppo, 1845), the web visitor can view the text and David Betesh is a founder of the Sephardic the Ya’abess Manuscript (1850), listen to a recording at the same Pizmonim Project and a dental student.