Wordless Prayer

Let’s talk about a gorgeous aspect of Jewish spirituality for a moment, shall we? The niggun.

A niggun is a wordless melody (niggun means “tune”) that’s often repeated many times to create a sense of immersion, elevation. It holds you as you sing the same notes again and again, trancelike. It’s a powerful form of prayer, like a mikveh/ritual bath of song and sound.

Its roots are really in 18th c. Hasidic culture—Eastern Europe. Music has always been an important part of Jewish culture, from the psalms the Levites would sing and play as they ascended to the Temple to medieval piyutim, liturgical poetry. But the Baal Sham Tov (Israel ben Eliezer or Yisroel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760, western Ukraine), the founder of Hassidut, really brought it to another level, emphasizing vocal music as a way to achieve deveikut, clinging to the Divine. A place beyond words, where there is only expansive sound.

This niggun is attributed to the Baal Shem Tov; sung by Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe.