D'ror Yikra 

With the emphasis on celebrating the major holidays in the Jewish calendar, our weekly observance of Shabbat is sometimes overlooked. However, our tradition as produced many special Sabbath table songs called “z’mirot” to help us enhance the joy of this weekly “taste of the world to come.”  This selection offers a medley of three traditional settings of the popular piyyut (religious poem) D’ror Yikra by Dunash ben Labrat. First written in the 10th century, the regular meter of these verses have inspired countless melodies, including these from the Oriental tradition, arranged for choir by Israeli composer Yehezkel Braun.

Tzur Mishelo 

Tzur Mishelo is yet another of the popular Sabbath z’mirot,  typically chanted on Friday evening immediately prior to the recitation of Birkat HaMazon (Grace After Meals) because its lyric speaks of thanking the “Rock from Whose bounty we have eaten” and through whose omnipotence we have been satisfied. This setting, from the Ashkenazic tradition, was arranged for choir by Israeli composer Gil Aldema.