The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

260 r Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad

songs was by using a flexible metric system such as this. From Najarah’s
time on, the PSM became widespread in the East and almost the only
meter used by most poets (Beeri 1985, 50).
The influence of Arabic music on Najarah’s work derived directly from
the original Arabic and Turkish songs that he had chosen as models for
his own, and their appearance in his work is of an unprecedented scope
(Seroussi 1990, 290).^14 In his book Zmirot Yisrael (The Songs of Israel,
1587), he describes these songs as nigunim nokhriyim (foreign melodies),
and he states clearly that they are not appropriate for poems written in the
holy language, Hebrew, because they are divrey hesheq vezimah (words of
desire and lechery) (Najarah 1587, 1). Nonetheless, he, as his predecessors,
continued the practice of adapting Hebrew religious texts to foreign melo-
dies of existing secular and popular songs, out of a wish that worshippers
would abandon these foreign songs and adapt the proper ones, his songs.
In addition, Najarah was the first to classify and edit his songs according
to their maqāmāt and not only according to their religious occasion (Tie-
tze and Yahalom 1995, 14).
In the context of the para-liturgical singing, Najarah introduced a new
textual and musical device, the ptihah, a short introductory song suc-
ceeded by other longer ones. Half of the ptihot in the Mishaf are his.

Najarah’s Yihyu Kemos (They Shall Become as Chaff before the Wind)
(first stanza and refrain, author’s translation): Poetic Characteristics,
Content and Melody

1a They who worship their god Chemosh^15 shall become as chaff

before the wind

1b And upon the worshippers of Bel^16 agony shall come

2a To every man who supports his sculptured image

2b And to prevent its fall ties it with rope

3a And in his bosom he shall hide it

3b He sings to it in the midst of the congregation

4a And in time of stress it stops its ear

4b As if his worshipper is not in the same place

5a Happy is the people of the living God

5b And into the bosom of the living God and His lot he has fallen.