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Wayekullu

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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The concluding verses of the story of Creation, deemed from Talmudic times an essential portion of the prayers for Friday night, as the eve of the Sabbath (Shab. 119b). While the whole congregation remained standing (Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 268, 7), the "Wayekullu" was recited aloud in the synagogue after the silent reading of the "'Amidah." In the homes it was recited before the domestic ḲIDDUSH. Thus the precentors were tempted to dwell upon it when reciting it; and in the course of time they developed for it, out of the simple CANTILLATION of the Law, an elaborately melismatic intonation in their most florid style, for an example of which see Jew. Encyc. 6:290.