Niggun by Shalom Kharitonov of Nikolayev Ukraine performed by soprano Sara LeMesh

Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad, is believed to have said, “Here are gates in heaven that cannot be opened except by melody and song.” Hasidism, of which Chabat is part, is a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academic nature of rabbinic Judaism. The movement sought a direct experience of God through ecstatic song and dance, and other rituals guided by the Rebbe, a charismatic leader. Music became just as sacred, if not more, than liturgical texts. Nigunim are wordless songs that stem from Hasidism and are considered a fundamental part of Ashkenazi culture and, as one Hasidic master said, “they are the pen of the soul.”

“Shalom Kharitonov (1886-1933) (and possibly his brother, Aharon) composed this wordless melody from the Chabad legacy. The words were set to the piyyut, Ki hiney kakhomer, sung during the High Holidays which translates approximately to: “We are in your hands like clay in the hands of a potter, he who remembers lovingkindness, Look toward the covenant and not to the evil inclination!” Later this melody was used for a Hebrew lullaby after the 1929 riots in pre-state Palestine.” - Dr. Naomi Cohn Zentner

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