An Ancient Melody Inspired the “Lechatchila Ariber” Niggun
Musical notes printed three centuries ago in a Kabbalistic sefer by Italian Kabbalist Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi inspired the Rebbe Maharash to compose the Chabad niggun known today as “Lechatchila Ariber.”
by COLlive Reporter · COLliveBy COLlive reporter
Three centuries ago, a Jewish composer in Amsterdam inscribed a melody in musical notation at the end of a Kabbalistic sefer. Generations later, those notes caught the attention of the Rebbe Maharash and inspired one of Chabad’s most recognizable niggunim.
The unusual musical notation appears at the end of Hon Ashir, written by Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi, the Italian Kabbalist and author of Mishnas Chassidim, who lived during the era of the Baal Shem Tov.
Abraham Caceres, a Jewish composer in Amsterdam descended from Spanish exiles, recorded the melody.
Its connection to Chabad emerged generations later.
In Sefer Hatoldos, edited by the Rebbe in 5707 (1947), it is related that the Rebbe Maharash read the notes printed in the sefer and said that the melody had inspired him to compose a new niggun.
He then sang what Chassidim came to know as “Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier,” also called “Niggun Ein Sof.”
The niggun later became better known as “Lechatchila Ariber,” the name the Rebbe used over the years.
The Rebbe Maharash did not simply reproduce the centuries-old melody. Instead, the musical notation inspired a new composition that became closely associated with the Rebbe Maharash and his famous approach of “Lechatchila Ariber.”
The niggun also held a special place with the Rebbe, who learned it from his grandfather, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, the Rov of Nikolayev and a composer of niggunim.
Rabbi Yanovsky had been among the “Yoshvim” of the Rebbe Maharash and was known for his exceptional musical ability.
Recordings of the Rebbe singing the niggun reveal subtle but consistent differences between his version and the notation published in Sefer Haniggunim.
At farbrengens where the Niggunim of the Rebbeim were sung in sequence, “Lechatchila Ariber” was sung as the niggun of the Rebbe Maharash. It was also sung on Beis Iyar, his birthday, Yud-Gimmel Tishrei, his yartzeit, and on other occasions when the Rebbe discussed the concept of “Lechatchila Ariber.”
One of the niggun’s distinctive passages is known as “Ein Sof.” At times, the Rebbe would signal with movements of his head for the passage to be repeated again and again.
In several recordings, it can be heard repeated 10 times in a row. In one recording, the Rebbe repeats the passage 20 times, followed later by another 10 repetitions.
A melody first printed in an old Kabbalistic work in Amsterdam thus traveled across centuries and communities, ultimately inspiring a niggun that became inseparable from the Rebbe Maharash and the Chabad concept of “Lechatchila Ariber.”
VIDEO:
Seder Nigunim: “Lichatchila Ariber” ft. Benny Friedman
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