Ephraim Abileah (אפרים אביליה) is a composer known for writing one of the most widely used tunes for the Jewish
Pesach
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or ...
prayer
Ma Nishtana
Ma Nishtana ( he, מה נשתנה) are the first two words in a phrase meaning "Why is tonight different from all other nights?" The phrase appears at the beginning of each line of The Four Questions, traditionally asked via song by the youngest ...
, in 1936 as part of his oratorio "
Chag Hacherut".
Abileah was born in Russia in 1881 as Leo Nesviski (Niswizski), and was the son of a
chazzan
A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.
In English, thi ...
. He was one of the founders of
The Society for Jewish Folk Music in
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He was one of three representatives to present and win the case for the Society's legalization in November 1908. He and his brother Arie left Russia and came to Israel en route through Egypt in 1922 due to their Zionist inclinations.
Ephraim married Miriam in Warsaw, Poland and the young couple moved to Vienna Austria, where Ephraim taught and composed music.
Abileah's little known oratorio, "Chag Hacherut" (Festival of Freedom) tells the Passover story and was performed on stage only once in Haifa.
It is from this piece that the popular tune to Mah Nishtanah originates.
Abeliah also wrote the music of the wedding piece "Seven Blessings".
Selections by Abilah were performed by the Jewish National Workers' Alliance choir in 1940. Abileah died in 1953.
Mah Nishtanah credit
Prior to Abileah's composition, the Mah Nishtanah portion of the Haggadah was not sung, and instead "intoned as a talmudic, study-like chant".
Reformjudaism.com notes that as his melody was "so quickly learned and passed down by oral tradition", the composer for many years was known as the mythic 'anonymous', which was the case as recent as 1987.
However, according to musicologist Dr. Eliyahu Schleifer, the melody was written by Abileah in 1936.
Ethno-musicologist Dr. Naomi Cohn Zentner asserts that "the melody gained popularity not only because of the
ingleperformance but also due to its dissemination among songsters and singalongs".
Almost every haggadah includes the Mah Nishtanah, but two are believed to credit Ephraim Abileah as the composer.
As of 2004 the song was listed as a 'folk melody', though in this year Dani announced on Israeli radio that he had enough research to prove his grandfather was the composer, and that the family should be entitled millions of dollars in royalties.
According to My Jewish Learning, "the tune that today is nearly universal is a modern invention and speaks to
bileah'sZionist vision to create a new Jewish culture".
External links
News articles about the Abeliah family
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abileah, Ephraim
1881 births
1953 deaths
Russian Jews
Musicians from Saint Petersburg
Russian Zionists
Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine