“Who Can Retell...:” Celebrating Hanukkah With Music  

By Dr. Marsha Bryan Edelman

 
“Who can retell the things that befell us, who can count them?
In ev’ry age a hero or sage came to our aid...”

The long history of the Jewish people is filled with stories of oppressors who tried to wage war on Jewish life and culture. The lyric above is most closely associated with the Hanukkah story, when a particular tyrant, Antiochus, failed to quash the Jewish spirit.  It is just one of a myriad of popular songs with which the Festival of Lights is celebrated.

Some favorite Hanukkah songs are “inherited” from our Yiddish-speaking (great) grandparents, and have been translated into English or Hebrew to serve the linguistic needs of singers in the US and Israel – songs like “I Have a Little Dreydl” (originally in Yiddish) and “Oh Hanukkah” (available now with lyrics in Yiddish, English and Hebrew) Listen to Y’me HaHanukkah.  Some songs have come to us via circuitous routes: the best known melody for Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages) started its life as a German battle song, later became a Lutheran hymn, and finally found its way into the Jewish repertoire Listen to Maoz Tzur Ashkenaz; another melody for that text, once popular in Italy, made its way to Israel, and then came to the attention of American Jews looking for “authentic” holiday fare Listen to Maoz Tzur Italian. 

Some songs that really did originate in Israel have also become popular, especially in Jewish day schools, where holiday favorites are often introduced by Israeli teachers.  “Ner Li” and “Hanukah, Hag Yafe” have made the transition easily, in part due to their easily-learned melodies and brief Hebrew texts Listen to Ner Li and Listen to Hanukah Hag Yafe; other songs have needed to undergo some revision, since in Israel, the spinning top is a reminder that a “great miracle happened here,” while in the Diaspora, Jews sing of the great miracle that happened “there.”

In today’s “global village,” songs from other Jewish communities are being added to the repertoire as well.  Ladino songs from the descendants of a once-thriving Jewish population in Spain sing songs referencing special Hanukkah delicacies like burmuelos (sweet cakes fried in oil, like doughnuts, and eaten with honey) Listen to Burmuelos; other songs composed as recently as the 20th century rejoice in the lighting of the kandelikas on eight festive nights Listen to Ocho Kandelikas.  Even a version of the familiar “Mi Y’mallel” (quoted above), this one based on a Sephardic folk song, is gaining in popularity Listen to Mi Zeh Y’mallel.

Partially to compete with “another” holiday that occupies American attention at the time of the Winter solstice, a raft of Hanukkah songs have been written - or adapted - making a musical “mountain” out of what is really only a pleasant molehill on the Jewish calendar.  Jewish music organizations proudly list the singing of Handel’s “Judas Maccabeus” on their December calendars (when other communities are singing a different Handel oratorio), and one of the most famous choruses from that work, “Hail, the Conquering Hero Comes” has been translated into Yiddish and Hebrew Listen to Havah Narimah  (and, like virtually every other melody, adapted to the tune of the liturgical hymn, Adon Olam).  But composers more closely identified with the Jewish community have also written new settings of texts associated with Hanukkah.  The best known of these is Al HaNissim, in which God is thanked for the wonders performed for the Jewish people “in those days, at this season of the year.”  (Bayamim haheym, bazman hazeh) Settings reflecting a variety of musical styles enhance the pleasure of the holiday - and there are more than enough songs to last for the full eight days. Listen to Al Hanissim Frimer; Listen to Al Hanissim Safam; Listen to Al HaNissim Isaacson.