# Nigun

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Form of Jewish religious song or tune

For niggunei ha-mikra, see [Hebrew cantillation](/source/Hebrew_cantillation). For an overview of similar music, see [Religious Jewish music](/source/Religious_Jewish_music).

Menorah(מְנוֹרָה) Flag of Israel Jewish and Israeli music Religious Contemporary Jewish hip-hop Jewish rock Piyyut Yedid Nefesh Lekha Dodi Shalom Aleichem (liturgy) Zemirot Kol Meqadesh Shevi'i Ya Ribon Menucha veSimcha Baruch El Elyon Ki Eshm'ra Shabbat Nigun Chabad niggunim Pizmonim Baqashot Weekly maqam Jewish western art music Secular Klezmer Yiddish song Sephardic Mizrahi Mainstream Jazz Women Classical Jewish art music New Jewish School Black performance of Jewish music Israel Hatikvah Jerusalem of Gold We Are Both from the Same Village Dance Israeli folk dancing Ballet Horah Yemenite dancing Music for holidays Shabbat Hanukkah Blessings Oh Chanukah Dreidel song Al Hanisim Mi Y'malel Ner Li Passover (Haggadah) Ma Nishtana Dayenu Adir Hu Chad Gadya Echad Mi Yodea L'Shana Haba'ah Lag BaOmer Bar Yochai Studies Milken Archive of Jewish Music Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music Pro Musica Hebraica The Songs of the Jewish Shtetle v t e

A **nigun** ([Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language): ניגון, 'tune' or 'melody'; pl. **nigunim**) or **niggun** (pl. **niggun**) is a form of [Ashkenazi Jewish](/source/Ashkenazi_Jews) [vocal music](/source/Vocal_music) sung in group settings. *Nigunim* are [melodic](/source/Melody) tunes, often using repetitive [non-lexical vocables](/source/Non-lexical_vocables_in_music) such as "bim-bim-bam", "lai-lai-lai", "yai-yai-yai", or "ai-ai-ai" rather than with formal lyrics. Sometimes, a *nigun* is expressed as a mystical musical form of [Jewish prayer](/source/Jewish_prayer) or [glossolalia](/source/Glossolalia).[1] [Hebrew Biblical](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hebrew_Biblical&action=edit&redlink=1) verses or quotes from other [classical Jewish texts](/source/Rabbinic_literature) are sometimes sung repetitively to form a *nigun*. Some *nigunim* are sung as prayers of [lament](/source/Lament), while others may be joyous or victorious in theme.[2][3]

## Musar Movement Nigunim

The [Musar movement](/source/Musar_movement) has also used *nigunim*, based on the realization of how music affects the inner (i.e., spiritual) life. In the 19th century, the Musar movement developed its own distinctive nigun chanting traditions.[4] In the 21st century, *nigunim* may be used at the start and end of [Musar](/source/Musar_literature) [study sessions](/source/Torah_study),[5] potentially fostering an emotional Musar experience.[6]

## See also

- [Niggun of Four Stanzas](/source/Niggun_of_Four_Stanzas)

*Nigunim* by:

- [Nachman of Breslov](/source/Nachman_of_Breslov)

- [The Kaliver Rebbe](/source/The_Kaliver_Rebbe)

- [Moshe Zvi of Savran](/source/Moshe_Zvi_of_Savran)

Other Jewish spiritual practices:

- [Jewish meditation](/source/Jewish_meditation)

- [Dveikut](/source/Dveikut)

## Citations

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["The Nigun"](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-nigun/). *My Jewish Learning*. Retrieved 2024-10-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Haida](http://www.sacredcircles.com/THEDANCE/HTML/DANCEPAG/HAIDA.HTM) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19991007223336/http://www.sacredcircles.com/THEDANCE/HTML/DANCEPAG/HAIDA.HTM) 1999-10-07 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Touchstone Sacred Dance Library, Accessed February 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Music In Kaballah, The Nigun's Influence on the Soul](http://www.nigun.info/kaballah.html) From the book Shirat HaLev (The Song of the Heart) by Shmuel Stern – Translated by Gita Levi. Accessed February 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Muir, S. ["Hasidism and Mitnagdism in the Russian Empire: the (mis)use of Jewish music in Polish-Lithuanian Russia"](http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/76279/21/MUIR%20FINAL%20JOURNAL%20OF%20SYNAGOGUE%20MUSIC%20JULY%202013.pdf) (PDF).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Afternoons of Mussar"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190529144956/https://mussarinstitute.org/Yashar/2015-06/mini-kallot.php). *mussarinstitute.org*. Archived from [the original](https://mussarinstitute.org/Yashar/2015-06/mini-kallot.php) on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-05-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Stone, Ira (2013-05-14). [*A Responsible Life: The Spiritual Path of Mussar*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jrFNAwAAQBAJ). Wipf and Stock Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781620328750](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781620328750).

## General and cited references

- Pinson, DovBer, *Inner Rhythms: The Kabbalah of Music*, Jason Aronson, Inc. 2000. Excellent chapters on the history of Jewish music, the various types and uses of Hasidic nigunim, etc.

- Stern, Shmuel, *Shirat HaLev* (Trans *The Song of the Heart*) Translated by Gita Levi.

## External links

- [CMusic](http://www.cmusic.co.il/) - Lyrics & Reviews for Chasidus Music

v t e Musar movement People Prewar leaders Yisroel Salanter Simcha Zissel Ziv Yitzchak Blazer Nosson Tzvi Finkel Naftali Amsterdam Yosef Yozel Horwitz Yeruchom Levovitz Reuven Dov Dessler Eliezer Gordon Moshe Rosenstain Naftoli Trop Postwar leaders Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler Gershon Liebman Yechezkel Levenstein Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz Nosson Meir Wachtfogel Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg Shlomo Wolbe Contemporary thinkers Yechiel Perr Ira F. Stone Geoffrey Claussen Alan Morinis David Jaffe Hillel Goldberg Yeshivot Kovno Kollel Lomza Yeshiva Novardok Yeshiva Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka) Mir Yeshiva (Belarus) Kelm Talmud Torah Hebron Yeshiva Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim Books Musar literature Practices Jewish meditation Jewish ethics Tzedakah Teshuvah Niggun Terms Mashgiach ruchani Category

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