Bar Yochai (song)

Jewish and Israeli music
Religious
Contemporary Piyyut Zemirot Nigun Pizmonim Baqashot
Secular
Klezmer Sephardic Mizrahi Mainstream and jazz Classical Jewish art music
Israel
Hatikvah Jerusalem of Gold We Are Both from the Same Village
Dance
Israeli folk dancing Ballet Horah Yemenite dancing
Music for holidays
Shabbat Hanukkah Blessings Oh Chanukah Dreidel song Al Hanisim Mi Y'malel Ner Li Passover (Haggadah) Ma Nishtana Dayenu Adir Hu Chad Gadya Echad Mi Yodea L'Shana Haba'ah Lag BaOmer Bar Yochai
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"Bar Yochai" (Hebrew: בַּר יוֹחַאי) is a kabbalistic piyyut (poem or hymn) extolling the spiritual attainments of Simeon bar Yochai, the purported author of the preeminent kabbalistic work, the Zohar. Composed in the 16th century by Rabbi Shimon Lavi, a Sephardi Hakham and kabbalist in Tripoli, Libya, it is the most prominent and popular kabbalistic hymn, being sung by Jewish communities around the world. The hymn is sung by Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews alike on Lag BaOmer, the Yom Hillula (festival day) of bar Yochai, and is also sung during synagogue services and at the Shabbat evening meal by certain groups. Incorporating expressions from the Tanakh, rabbinical commentaries, and the Zohar, the hymn displays its author's own mastery of Torah and kabbalah. According to Isaac Ratzabi, the song's use of "bar Yochai" (rather than "ben Yochai," the patronymic used by Talmudic texts) is the probable reason for "bar Yochai"'s modern ubiquity.^[1]