Zemirot

Zemirot or Z'miros (Hebrew: זמירות zǝmîrôt, singular: zimrah but often called by the masculine zemer) are Jewish hymns, usually sung in the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, but sometimes also in Yiddish or Ladino during Shabbat[1] and to some extent the Jewish holidays. As a result of centuries of custom, albeit with some communal variations, each of the zemirot has become associated with one of the three obligatory meals of Shabbat: the Friday evening meal, the Saturday day meal, and the third Sabbath meal that typically starts just before sundown on Saturday afternoon. In some editions of the Jewish prayerbook (siddur), the words to these hymns are printed after the (kiddush) for each meal.

The term zemirot is one of many that can be used to describe the table hymns of Shabbat, and the term is particularly popular in the parlance of Ashkenazi Jews. When used by Spanish and Portuguese Jews, zemirot refers to the sequence of psalms in the morning service, known to other communities by the Talmudic name p'suqe d'zimra.[2] The Sephardic communities often use the term pizmonim to describe their own tradition of extra-liturgical, domestic songs, albeit these songs are more commonly sung at times other than Shabbat.

In Yiddish, the variant zemerl (plural: zmires) is also used.[3]

  1. ^ Neil Lavin. The Zemirot Anthology. Page viii
  2. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia Entry on Zemirot. Joseph Jacobs and Francis L Cohen. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15239-zemirot
  3. ^ "Zemerl", Jewish Music Research Centre

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