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"Ma'oz Tzur" (Hebrew: מעוז צור), is a Jewish liturgical poem or piyyut. It is written in Hebrew, and is often sung on the holiday of Hanukkah, after lighting the festival lights. The name is a reference to the Hasmonean stronghold of Beth-zur. This Hebrew song is thought to have been written sometime in the 13th century. It was originally sung only in the home, but has been used in the synagogue since the nineteenth century or earlier. Of its six stanzas, often only the first stanza is sung (or the first and fifth). In English, there is a popular non-literal translation that is sung, called "Rock of Ages", which is based on the German version by Leopold Stein (1810-1882), and was written by Talmudic linguist Marcus Jastrow and Gustav Gottheil.[1]
[edit] ContentThe hymn is named for its first two words in Hebrew, which mean "Stronghold of Rock" as a name or epithet for God. "Ma'oz Tzur" is thought to be have written in the 13th century, during the Crusades, as Zunz ("Literaturgesch." p. 580) is inclined to believe. The first letters of the first five stanzas form an acrostic of the composer's name, Mordechai (the five Hebrew letters מרדכי). He may have been the Mordecai ben Isaac ha-Levi who wrote the Sabbath table-hymn "Mah Yafit" (Majufes), or even the scholar referred to in Tos. to Niddah 36a. Or, to judge from the appeal in the closing verse, he may have been the Mordecai whose father-in-law was martyred at Mayence (now Mainz, Germany) in 1096. Another acrostic is found in the first letters of the opening words of the final stanza. As in many examples of piyyut, they congratulate the poet with the word hazak (meaning "[may you be] strong"). The poem recalls the many times when Jewish communities were saved from the people around them. The second stanza tells of the exodus from Egypt. The third stanza tells of the end of the Babylonian captivity. The fourth retells the miracle of the holiday of Purim. The fifth tells of the Hasmonean victory that is commemorated by Hanukkah. The first and last stanzas are written in the present tense. The first expresses hope for the rebuilding of the Temple and for the defeat of enemies, who are mentioned in canine terms (menabe'ach, barking). The final stanza once again calls for divine retribution against the enemies of the Jewish people. The term "Admon", meaning "the red one", is understood by some to refer to the emperor, Friedrich Barbarossa, whose name means Frederick "Redbeard". (This reading is likely inaccurate, since the last stanza is generally believed to have been composed around the turn of the 16th Century C.E., some three hundred years after Frederick I died.) It can also refer to Christianity in general, as in traditional Jewish sources Christianity is viewed as being born of Rome, which is called "Edom" (the root of the word "Admon") because the original nation of Rome is considered to consist of the descendants of Esau, who were known as Edom. This stanza was dropped from many printings of the poem, perhaps from fear of a Christian reaction against it, as well as in countries under communist rule, for reasons more than obvious. In her book Ve-Higadeta Le-Vanekha (title meaning "you shall tell your children"), Mikhal Gur-Arie explains (in Hebrew) why "Ma'oz Tzur" is sung especially on Hanukkah rather than Purim or Passover, whose events are also mentioned in the poem:
Thus the singing of "Ma'oz tzur" on Hanukkah may be a substitute for the ritual storytelling that takes place on Purim and Passover. [edit] TuneThe bright and stirring tune now so generally associated with "Ma'oz tzur" serves as the "representative theme" in musical references to the feast (comp. Addir Hu; Aḳdamut; Hallel). Indeed, it has come to be regarded as the only Hannukah melody, four other Hebrew hymns for the occasion being also sung to it (comp. Zunz, l.c. pp. 422, 429; D. Kaufmann, in "Ha-Asif," ii. 298), as well as G. Gottheil's paraphrase, "Rock of Ages," in the "Union Hymnal" (No. 107). It was originally sung for "Shene Zetim" ("Olives Twain"), the "Me'orah," or piyyut, next preceding the Shema in the Morning Service of the (first) Shabat in the eight days of the Feast of Dedication. Curiously enough, "Shene Zetim" alone is now sometimes sung to a melody which two centuries ago was associated rather with "Ma'oz tzur." The latter is a Jewish-sounding air in the minor mode, and is found in Benedetto Marcello's "Estro Poetico Armonico," or "Parafrasi Sopra li Salmi" (Venice, 1724), quoted as a melody of the German Jews, and utilized by Marcello as the theme for his "Psalm XV." This air has been transcribed by Cantor Birnbaum of Königsberg in the "Israelitische Wochenschrift" (1878, No. 51) The present melody for the Hanukkah hymn has been identified by Birnbaum as an adaptation from the old German folk-song "So weiss ich eins, dass mich erfreut, das pluemlein auff preiter heyde," given in Böhme's "Altdeutsches Liederbuch" (No. 635); it was widely spread among German Jews as early as 1450. By an interesting coincidence, this folk-melody was also the first utilized by Luther for his German chorales. He set it to his "Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein" (comp. Julian, "Dictionary of Hymnology," s. v. "Sing praise to God who reigns above"). It is familiar among English-speaking people as the tune for a translation by F. E. Cox of the hymn "Sei lob und ehr dem höchsten gut," by J. J. Schütz (1640-1730). As such it is called "Erk" (after the German hymnologist), and, with harmonies by Bach, appears as No. 283 of "Hymns, Ancient and Modern" (London, 1875). The earliest transcription of the Jewish form of the tune is due to Isaac Nathan, who set it, very clumsily indeed, to the poem "On Jordan's Banks" in Byron's "Hebrew Melodies" (London, 1815). Later transcriptions have been numerous, and the air finds a place in every collection of Jewish melodies. It was modified to the form now favored by English Jews by the delicate liturgical taste of Mombach, to whom is due the modulation to the dominant in the repetition of the first strain, shown in the transcription above. [edit] Modern creative mentionThe piyyut inspired Israeli songwriter Naomi Shemer to write the song "Shivchei Ma'oz" (meaning "praises of the fortress"), as performed by the band Pikud Darom in 1969. In this song Shemer drew a connection between the Jewish hymn and the military positions that were attacked in the War of Attrition of the time. [edit] Text
[edit] Traditional English VersesThe following English translation is a popular, if somewhat loose, version written by Talmud linguist Marcus Jastrow and Gustav Gottheil: Rock of Ages let our song Furious they assailed us,
Yours the message cheering
And His courts surrounding, [edit] References
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. [edit] Bibliography of Jewish Encyclopedia
[edit] External links
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