Bible Encyclopedias
Ne'ilah

Traditional Melodies.
The traditional intonations of the Ne'ilah are well calculated to excite the emotions of the worshiper. The prevailing chants and melodies are those which characterize the Days of Penitence generally (see Ḳerobot Music, Synagogal Seliḥot ) but in contrast with the other services, a cheerful and more confident note is struck at the outset. This is afforded in the Sephardic ritual by the hymn El Nora in the Ashkenazic, by the especially characteristic melody reserved for the Ḳaddish after the introductory psalm, and by the opening passage of the "'Amidah." The form of this melody preserved in Berlin and some other localities of Germany is notably bright and inspiriting but this modernized development dates only from the eighteenth century (see Marksohn and Wolf, "Auswahl Alter Hebräischer Synagogal-Melodien," No. 11, Leipsic, 1885). The German tradition generally has been influenced in the same direction and this tendency has changed the tonality of the closing phrases from the earlier form, which is preserved by the Polish school of cantors. But these have, on the other hand, modified the original elsewhere in the direction of plaintiveness.

As a complete compilation, the melody took shape rather later than the other prayer-motives and melody-types, which were already definite in the medieval period (see Music, Synagogal ). Its opening and closing phrases are direct quotations, the first (as far as A in the accompanying transcription) derived from the beginning of the "reshut" and versicle theme for the morning of the Day of Atonement (see Ḳerobot ), and the last (commencing at D in the transcription) from the end of the prayer-motive (see Mi Kamokah Music, Synagogal ) of the evening preceding, or "Kol Nidre" service. Prefaced to this closing phrase is an ancient Oriental figure (between B and C in the transcription) occurring elsewhere in the traditional melodies (see Geshem Mizmor Shir ). The intermediate passages, of which the German version is probably the more original, are mere connecting phrases imitated from other passages in the penitential music, but successfully binding the whole in a homogeneous melody.NE'ILAH (Opening Melody) V09p216001.jpgV09p217001.jpgSeveral of the sections quoted from propitiatory poems are accompanied by the tunes for these hymns when forming part of the penitential prayers on the previous days (see Adonai, Adonai Bemoẓa'e Ḳerobot Seliḥot Yisrael Nosha' Zekor Berit ). The others are associated with a tender melody already heard in the Atonement services to the chief refrain-hymn "Ki Hinneh ka-Ḥomer" sung the previous evening. With its closing phrase are also associated strains previously utilized in the services of the day itself so that the melody of the fast is, so to speak, reconcentrated in its final prayers. The last of these extracts when chanted in its proper place eleven days later, after the processions on Hosha'na Rabbah , is sung to the Ne'ilah melody, in musical allusion to the cabalistic fancy that that day saw the final registration of the heavenly decrees sealed as the Day of Atonement came to a close.

The Shemot.
NE'ILAH (Hymn Tunes) I. (As in Other Atonement Services) V09p218001.jpgNE'ILAH (Hymn Tunes) II. (Varied from Other Atonement Services) V09p218002.jpgV09p219001.jpgV09p219002.jpgV09p219003.jpgAs the service nears its climax, the melodies become severer in tone and broader in expression. This is especially marked in the antiphonal responses of Abinu Malkenu and in the solemn profession of the Shemot. Here, however, as in the earlier portion of the service, the strains characteristically associated with the seasón of penitence are often again utilized. The short concluding sevenfold declaration is then chanted to the intonation already given under Adonai Melek (especially version C). The Shema' , with its associated sentence from the Temple service (see 'Abodah ), is at least recited by the cantor if not repeated in the tumultuous response of the congregants, in the noble chant to which the Scriptural verse enshrining this declaration of the Unity is traditionally uttered when the Scroll of the Law is displayed as it is taken from the Ark in the New-Year and Atonement services. The verse was originally rendered to the tune designated by its Accents , in the form of Cantillation which was special to these days and this derivation is still clear under the more melodic form which the rendering afterward took, developing eventually far beyond the original. The melody, by the ingenuity of the Paris cantor Naumbourg, has also been impressively adapted for the successive line of text, on the model of the strain quoted above from the evening service of Atonement.

Sephardic Order and Melodies.
NE'ILAH (Concluding Melodies) I. ABINU MALKENU (Outline) V09p220001.jpgII. SHEMOT (Profession of Faith) V09p220002.jpgIn the Sephardic rite the Ne'ilah differs from the use of the Ashkenazim in the medieval hymns introduced into the public recitation. The traditional intonations lack the haunting tenderness characterizing those of the northern use and they are much more obviously identical with those of the other Atonement services of the rite (see Seliḥot ). There is only one entirely special melody, that for the hymn El Nora 'Alilah which ushers in the service. Corresponding with the quoted melodies of the Ashkenazim there is but the tune of Adonai Beḳol Shofar , from the New-Year service and this had already been repeatedly chanted in the course of the Atonement services. Instead of a melody peculiar to the Ḳaddish and the opening of the "'Amidah," the latter is preceded by the solemn congregational singing of the fragmentary hymn "Adanu," which is likewise prefixed, in its ancient chant, to the Musaf service of Atonement. This is followed by the singing of the penitential reshut (comp. Ḳerobot ) by the ḥazzan, usually to the characteristic Morisco melody of Shofeṭ Kol ha-Areẓ .NE'ILAH-ATANU V09p220003.jpgV09p221001.jpgAmong the Atonement services in the southern use the Profession of Faith is not so special to the Ne'ilah as in the northern use. In the seliḥot of each of the other four services of the day, officiant and congregation have already reverentially sung the Shema' with its Temple response and the words "The Lord, He is God," the latter in the double form in which it originally occurs in 1 Kings 18:39 . In the preceding four services of the day, however, these utterances were associated with a short hymn of Ḳaliric form (comp. Ḳerobot ). In the Ne'ilah they are proclaimed by themselves in the midst of the closing Ḳaddish, first by the officiant and then by the congregation, the double verse being seven times reiterated, and all being immediately followed by a single complete series of the Shofar calls, instead of the weirdly solitary call which is heard in the northern ritual.