Yom Tov is rich with niggunim that honor our most precious treasure

P

erhaps a reason there doesn’t seem to be that buildup of songs heralding in Shavuos is that the holiday of mattan Torah is preceded by Sefiras Ha’omer. But in fact, this Yom Tov is rich with niggunim that honor our most precious treasure. Is there a story behind your favorite Shavuos niggun?

Mendy Werdyger: Forgotten Word

“Kad Yasvun Yisrael,” one of the most popular Shavuos niggunim of all time, was first recorded by Chazzan Dovid Werdyger on the Songs of Camp Kol Reenah album in the summer of 1969. The first part, “Kad yasvun Yisrael ve’askin b’simchas haTorah,” as well as the third part, “demishtakchin betzarah dilhon…” was sung in a duet by two of his sons — Mordechai, then 18, and Mendy, who was 10.

The words were said to have an illustrious provenance — the style pointed to the Zohar, and it is known that the song was sung by both the Vilna Gaon and the Chazon Ish, but Reb Dovid couldn’t locate the exact source. He therefore couldn’t verify the prefix of the word “mishtakchin” (“they forget about their own suffering and instead engage in My delight”): Was it “demishtakchin” or “shemishtakchin”? It was already time for the final recording, and still no authoritative source appeared. What to do? Reb Dovid thought of a creative solution. “Eventually, my father instructed us to sing “ooh ooh mishtakchin to sort of garble the prefix,” remembers Mendy Werdyger of Aderet Music.

(Years later, Yerushalmi researcher Yisrael Gellis unearthed an ancient machzor with the song written beneath the text of hakafos for Simchas Torah, and a comment that the Vilna Gaon had written the lyrics. And it was written “demishtakchin…”)

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 762)