Festival Services

THE FESTIVAL SERVICEs

The Festival EVENING SERVICE has its own sound (see below).

NOTES ON FESTIVAL ON SHABBAT: If a festival evening service happens to be on Erev Shabbat, there would be no kabbalat shabbat - the service starts with Psalm 92 (mizmor shir). (If shabbat is during Chol Moed, a usual shabbat service is celebrated but also without kabbalat shabbat and with the insertion ya'aleh veyavoh, but all other tunes would be the shabbat tunes during chol haMoed as a shabbat during chol haMoed is a shabbat, not a festival service.) (For details see the Overview over the Nusach for the whole year.)

The Festival MORNING SERVICE is in many ways similar to a shabbat morning service but with some striking differences:

-- Whereas on shabbat the core of the service would start with shokhen ad, on a festival it starts earlier, with HA-EL beta'azumot uzekha. This is chanted with a very specific tune (see below). [You can use this Festival tune also for shokhen ad and bemakalot, but many switch already here back to Yishtabach mode. Yishtabach on Festivals is chanted in the usual "Shabbat" Yishtabach mode (this mode indicates celebratory events - and shabbat is one, too!.)]

-- Barkhu and Qeriyat Shema is chanted like on a shabbat morning morning service.
But Mi chamocha should be chanted to the Festival tune.

The Pessach Festival tune is the melodie of Adir Huh.
The Shavuot Festival tune is the melodie of Akdamut. (Note that the Festival Kiddush is also using Akdamut motives - if you know this kiddush, than you could use this tune that you know.)
The Sukkot Festival tune is the tune for waving the Lulav (Ana Adonai...).
[click on the link to hear these "Mi-Sinai" tunes)

[These FESTIVAL IDENTIFYING TUNES are also used in certain verses of the Hallel (hodu ..., anah...) and may be used at other places in the service, for example for Adon Olam or parts in the Opening Prayers you would like to sing together with the congregation.]

-- A major change comes within the Festival Amidah. The first three blessings are chanted in the Adonai Malach - exactly as on shabbat (as shabbat is a celebrative, too!), but then - during the kedushah - we switch to the specific Festival nusach for the rest of the Amidah. The nusach is a form of Psalm mode. (Examples see below.)
Hallel has its own nussach, but often congregations use modern tunes to chant the psalms together. For some verses in Psalm 118 (Hodu ladonai, ana adonai hoshi'ah na, Hodu Ladonai use the Festival tune.)

-- The torah service can be sung as on shabbat, but note that we insert adonai adonai el rachum. You can use the same melody as for Yom Kippur. (Some congregations have the custom to use different tunes for the torah service on Festivals - but theses tunes were also originally just some of many tunes for shabbat.) The concluding parts of the service are chanted as in all shabbat and weekday services.