“Ya Shema Evoynecha,” performed by Carla Berg, original poem in Hebrew by Yehuda Halevi, Ladino lyrics by Rabbi Reuven Eliyahu Yisrael, uploaded September 15, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2QlJLkgeZw.

Reviewed by Lealiza Lee

The piyyut “Ya Shema Evoyonecha,” by Yehuda Halevi, is most widely known as a component of the Sephardic selichot service. Carla Berg is a vocalist who brings to light a long-forgotten Ladino version of the piyyut in a recording released for Rosh-Hashana.

Piyyutim, a form of Jewish liturgical poetry, is thought to stem from a tradition of writing chants or songs for use in services, dating from Temple times. Writing was classically in Hebrew or Aramaic. Medieval Spain was an important center for the writing of piyyutim. Documents in the Cairo Geniza demonstrate evidence of a highly active period of poetry writing as well as the mixing of Jewish and Arab poem-writing communities that indicate a fertile cross-cultural creative environment. The poet, Yehuda Halevi, was born in Toledo, Spain in 1075. Halevi was a physician, philosopher, and prolific poet known for his expressions of religious passion and his yearning for Jerusalem. His work, “Ya Shema Evyonecha,” is a solemn plea for salvation. The source for the melody is not clearly known and covers of the song available today demonstrate a range from Andalusian to Arab styles, primarily by Israeli artists.

Born in Brazil and currently residing in the US, Berg, a pre-school teacher, channels her passion for education into increasing access to the piyyut and revealing how use of the piyyut changed in some diaspora communities. 

In this recording, Berg brings to the spotlight a little-known Ladino version of the piyyit. A long-time Jewish choir participant, Berg is a granddaughter of Cantor Youssef Eliahou Diwan of Syria. Diwan emigrated to Brazil. Syria is home to both Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew characters) speaking and Judeo-Spanish speaking communities in which the vernacular language was Ladino. Diwan was conversant in Ladino songs but devoted his attention to liturgy of the Judeo-Arabic dominant community he served, where synagogue melodies were often based on contrafacted Arab folk songs and Arab maquamat (semitonal musical scales). Worship was in Hebrew and the vernacular in this community was Arabic. Berg heard virtually no Ladino from her grandfather.

It was on a trip to Bulgaria that Berg was inspired to learn more about Ladino and to sing in Ladino. Bulgaria is home to a unique Sephardic community where songs have been preserved by a community of now-aged singers who were able to avoid deportation to concentration camps because of the actions of King Boris protecting his citizens from Nazi decrees. The community was featured in the award-winning 2015 documentary The Ladino Ladies’ Club, by Bulgarian filmmakers Georgi Bogdanov and Boris Missirkov. [1] Berg was able to spend time with some of the singers of this community and emerged from the experience with a strong desire to contribute to the musical heritage that is a major form of preservation of the language.

During early COVID-19 lockdowns, members of Sephardic communities realized that working online allowed connection and collaboration to provide networking and learning opportunities available to participants all over the world. Berg began studying Ladino by taking online classes offered by Rachel Amado Bortnik through Sephardic Brotherhood. In developing her dream of singing in Ladino, Berg consulted closely with Bortnik on details of pronunciation, striving to maintain consistency and correctness in her dialect; Bortnik is from Izmir, with Ottoman influences in her dialect, in contrast to other European or Maghrebi dialects. 

Berg’s main interest was to record songs in Ladino for the holiday cycle, and she researched material in Ladino for Rosh Hashana. She connected with Hazzan Isaac Azose. For 34 years, Azose sang from Rhodesli traditions kept at the synagogue Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle [2], and has become a major figure contributing to documentation of Sephardic traditions in different parts of the world, as well as contributing to documentation of Festival liturgy and Ladino Romanzas. Azose directed Berg to a source compiled by Rabbi Reuven Eliyahu Israel, who led the Sephardic community of Craiova Romania. Israel’s text, published in 1910, translated piyyutim from the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur machzor into Ladino, and included a Ladino translation of Halevi’s “Ya Shema Evyonecha.” The Jewish community of Romania was initially comprised of Sephardim from Turkey and the Balkans, arriving in Transylvania via trade routes from those well before German culture became dominant in the region. 

The lyrics in Hebrew are as follows. [3] The translation in the linked reference is not necessary fully literal. It reflects a plea that, in the way of a caring father, that G-d hear us, remember us, and answer us as we consider our acts and hope for grace and pardon.

יָהּ שְׁמַע אֶבְיוֹנֶיךָ

הַמְחַלִּים פָּנֶיךָ

אָבִינוּ לְבָנֶיךָ

אַל תַּעְלֵם אָזְנֶךָ

יָהּ עַם מִמַּעֲמַקִּים

יִקְרְאוּ מֵרוֹב מְצוּקִים

אַל נָא תְּשִׁיבֵם רֵקִים

הַיּוֹם מִלְּפָנֶיךָ

הַוּוֹתָם וַעֲוֹנָם

מְחֵה וְרֻבֵּי זְדוֹנָם

וְאִם לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה לְמַעֲנָם

עֲשֵׂה צוּרִי לְמַעֲנֶךָ

וּמְחֵה הַיּוֹם חוֹבָם

וּרְצֵה כְּמוֹ שַׁי נִיבָם

וּלְךָ תָּכִין לִבָּם

וְגַם תַּקְשִׁיב אָזְנֶךָ

דִּמְעַת פְּנֵיהֶם תִשְׁעֶה

וְתֶאֱסוֹף עֵדֶר תּוֹעֶה

וְתָקִים לְךָ רוֹעֶה

וּפְקוֹד בְּטוֹב צֹאנֶךָ

הוֹלְכֵי בְּדֶרֶךְ נְכֹחָה

תְּבַשְּׂרֵם הַיּוֹם סְלִיחָה

וּבִתְפִלַּת הַשָחַר

הַמְצִיאֵם חִנֶּךָ

The Ladino lyrics are not a literal translation of the Hebrew; however, in a poetic fashion, they maintain the spirit of the piyyut.

Oye Dyo a Tus menesterozos,
Hear, o, G-d, your needy ones,

Ke rogan a Ti ansyozos,
Who plead with you anxiously,

Son Tus ijos kerensyozos,
They are your loving children,

No sean abandonados de Ti.
May they not be abandoned by you.

Tu puevlo esta profondido,
Your people are downcast,

En la miseria i ferido,
In the misery and the hurt,

No desdenyes sus djemidos
Don’t ignore their cry,

Ni tornen vazios delantre de Ti
Do not allow them to turn away empty-handed in front of you.

Tolera sus delitos i sobervios
Tolerate their crimes and their insolence

 Az para sus males remedios
Apply remedies for their ailments

 I si no azes por eyos, 
And if you don’t do it for them,

Az, Kriador, solamente por Ti.
Do it, creator, only for yourself.

YA SHEMA EVYONEHA,
G-d, hear your destitute ones,

AMHALIM PANEHA,
Who implore your countenance.

AVINU LEVANEHA AL TALEM OZNEHA. 
Our father, do not hide your ears from your children.

Perdonales oy sus defektos,
Pardon, today, their defects,

Resive sus atorgamientos
Receive their apologies

Az disponer sus sentimientos
Put their sentiments in order

Ke sean syempre konsagrados a Ti
May they always be consecrated unto you

Mira lagrimas ke an versado 
Look at the tears they have shed,

Rekoje Tu revanyo transyerado
Collect your straying flock,

Venga el Pastor esperado,
May the awaited shepherd come,

I Tu oveja sea protejada de Ti.
May your sheep be protected by you.

A los ke siguen Tu doktrina sagrada,
To those who follow your sacred doctrine,

Alegralos en esta tadrada,
Make them happy on this afternoon,

Kon Tu perdonansa esperada,
With your awaited pardon,

Sean eyos grasiados de Ti.
May they be favored by you.

YA SHEMA EVYONEHA,
G-d, hear your destitute ones,

AMHALIM PANEHA,
Who implore your countenance.

AVINU LEVANEHA AL TALEM OZNEHA. 
Our father, do not hide your ears from your children.

YA SHEMA EVYONEHA,
G-d, hear your destitute ones,

AMHALIM PANEHA,
Who implore your countenance.

AVINU LEVANEHA AL TALEM OZNEHA. 
Our father, do not hide your ears from your children.

AL TALEM OZNEHA
From your children

AL TALEM OZNEHA
From your children

Resources were historically made available in Ladino for women, who were not trained in Hebrew. For example, Siddur Tefillot: A Woman’s Ladino Prayerbook was originally published prior to 1492 specifically for women. [4] The presence of this translated machzor raises the question of whether efforts were made to make High Holiday worship more available to women.

The information made available to Berg provided no indication of what melodies for this liturgy were used by this community. Berg wished to remain close to the familiar melody; however, the Ladino lyrics contain more syllables than the Hebrew. These differences required variations on the melody, which Berg accomplishes, while maintaining recognizable characteristics of the traditional melody, which is in Maqam Bayat. Utilizing Hebrew lyrics as a chorus also helps to ground the Ladino version in its Hebrew predecessor. When considering Maquam Bayat in the context of western musical scales, the basic pattern represents a minor scale starting on the third degree, with a semiflat fourth; i.e. Bayat starting on D is Based on Bb major/G minor, with E semiflat instead of E flat.

The instrumental accompaniment includes string instruments utilizing semitones indicative of Andalusian style, along with lute and dumbek. The percussion additionally includes the agogô, which is used in Latin American and some African musical traditions to express a call to attention. Berg felt that including this instrument allowed the arrangement to bridge her influences from both Brazilian music and the sentiment of the Shofar call and its relevance to the themes of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The audio was recorded in Brazil.

With her background in preschool education, Berg had a strong desire to include children’s voices in the production and seeking a children’s choir conversant in Ladino, she turned to Izzet Israel Baja of Istanbul, director of Estreykias d’Estambol, to collaborate remotely. This highly regarded choir, based at Comunita Ebraica-Italiana D’Istanbul, was experienced with the Hebrew version of “Ya Shema Evyonecha,” and worked to transition to the different melody and lyrics. The children’s voices also allow the recording to reflect the traditional call and response nature of the liturgy.

For her own vocals, Berg was able to record in Brazil at the same time as the instrumental team, noting that she feels most connected to Hebrew and Ladino lyrics in comparison to other languages; she also sings in English and Portuguese, among other languages. In this work, Berg in fact channels the gravitas of a song carrier, reflecting Ladino’s main position in Jewish consciousness today as a language kept alive through songs passed down throught generations, especially by women. The children’s voices add lightness to the solemnity of the song and a sense of hope that Halevi’s pleas will be answered and that Ladino will be carried forward. 

Lealiza Lee, Singer-Songwriter

[1] The documentary can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN8piaBBiqM.

[2] For an example see Hazzan Isaac Azose’s “Liturgy of Ezra Bessaroth,” hosted on Soundcloud, https://soundcloud.com/user-759773508/sets/liturgy-of-ezra-bessaroth-hazzan-isaac-azose.

[3] The lyrics were translated from Hebrew to English on Lyrics Translate, https://lyricstranslate.com/en/yah-shema-evionecha-god-hear-your-wretched.html.

[4] Available today as Moshe Lazar and Robert Dilligan, eds., Siddur Tefillot: A Woman’s Ladino Prayer Book (Lancaster, CA: Labyrinthos, 1995).