El Nora Alila, ham’tzei lanu m’chila, bishat ha’n’ilah.

God of awesome deeds, grant us pardon, as the gates begin to close.

El Nora Alila אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה is a piyuut (liturgical poem) that begins the Neilah service which concludes the long day of Yom Kippur. The piyyut is recited as part of the Sephardic and Mizrahi liturgy and has been adopted by some Ashkenazic communities including OURS!  It has become one of our temple’s Yom Kippur favorites, second only to the Full Chassidic Kaddish sung pretty soon after El Nora. 

These favorites worked out well this Yom Kippur with the participation of both the Professional Choir and with the CSS Singers on El Nora.  Some of our Neilah regulars truly look forward to these pieces. Each year I receive comments about how enlivening both pieces are at this low energy moment at the end of a dizzying Yom Kippur Day.

El Nora consists of eight stanzas and the hymn is one of the last impassioned pleas for Divine pardon on the Day of Atonement. The initial letters of the first six stanzas of the piyyut are an acrostic and spell out משה חזק, "Moses, may he be strong", in reference to the piyyut's author, Moses Ibn Ezra, of 12th century Spain.

Today, I am sharing with you a very unusual recording of El Nora Alila.  It represents an amalgam of cultures. Here is a statement from the liner notes; “Our intention is to spread a message of peace and unity to Jews and Muslims and to all, no matter what they believe in.  We would love to remember that we all are God’s creation, sisters and brothers in humanity and with all creatures, on our precious planet and within the whole universe.”

We see and hear the Sephardic Jewish tradition in the setting - voice and shofar, as well as Sufi elements in voice and drum and the use of the Australian aboriginal didgeridoo. This is a complex piece that honestly, if you have the time, needs to be watched a few times. There is a lot going on and it was after a few viewings that I think I began to crack the code. The liner notes of the video explains that the above instruments, which includes our voice, are all the oldest instruments known to mankind and are deeply spiritual, transcendental, help activate healing powers and strengthen the connection to the source of life. Lovely! 

We have some extremely gifted artists featured in this alluring video with countertenor Yaniz d’Or of Holon, Israel. Yaniz’s parents are of Magrabi Jewish origin, and his grandparents were Libyan Jewish. With his exceptional talent, he studied voice and music in the finest music schools in Jerusalem and London and he now performs in operas around the world. He is the younger brother of superstar Israeli singer David d’Or who is also a renowned countertenor!!!

Countertenor is the rarest of voice types and is a conscious decision – the performer must train to use his falsetto voice, which is usually quieter and softer in tone than the lower lying main voice, in order to produce a powerful sound. A countertenor will rarely sing in his lower voice, as doing so will weaken the finely honed falsetto mechanism.

Many of the roles for this voice type were written for the castrati. This poses problems for the modern singer however today’s rare countertenors may share the same vocal range as the castrati of old; they might be able to hit the same notes, but without the big lung capacity to sing the same long phrases in that falsetto range. In very rare cases adult men can sing in the soprano range using their full voice. This might be because their vocal chords didn’t develop fully or because of endocrinological reasons. Countertenor voices are startling! What a pleasure to hear this unusual sound, sharing this meaningful text from this pivotal moment of our Day of Atonement.

And as we speak of unusual sounds…. How flawlessly does the ancient aboriginal didgeridoo, performed by Marvin Dillmann, fit into this splendid mix! 

As always, we travel the world together, a bit at a time, through the lens of Jewish music, with a very open mind!

Chag Sameach!

Cantor Arlene Frank