Baqashot - בקשות של שבת

Overview

The custom of singing Baqashot originated in Spain towards the time of the expulsion (~1490), but took on increased momentum in the Qabbalistic circle in Safed in the 16th century. Baqashot evolved out of the tradition of saying petitionary prayers before dawn and was spread from Safed by the followers of Isaac Luria (16th century). With the spread of Safed Qabbalistic doctrine, the singing of Baqashot reached countries all round the Mediterranean and became customary in the communities of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Rhodes, Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Turkey and Syria. By the turn of the 20th century, Baqashot had become a widespread religious practice in several communities. The songs principally consist of the praise of God, songs for Shabbat, songs of longing for the Holy Land and so on.

The Syrian tradition was introduced to Jerusalem by Raphael Altaras, who came to that city from Aleppo in 1845 and founded a Baqashot circle at the Kehal Sion synagogue. In this way, the custom of Baqashot became part of the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardic tradition. Another important influence was Jacob Ades (1857-1925), who immigrated to Jerusalem in 1895 and introduced the tradition to the Persian and Bukharan communities. The main center of the tradition today is the Ades Synagogue in the Nahlaot neighborhood, where the leading spirit was Haim Shaul Aboud.

The first Baqashot book, called "Miqra Qodesh," was published in Aleppo in 1864, and only had 43 Baqashot songs. Nine years later, in 1873, a new version of "Miqra Qodesh" came out with more than 70 Baqashot songs. In 1930, the Aleppo community living in Cairo, under the leadership of Hakhamim Aboud Antar, Abraham Shehebar, and Yosef Ashkenazi, published another Baqashot song book also called "Miqra Qodesh," and this is similar to the 1873 book. The Baqashot in our current collection only has 66 songs.

Cover page of "Miqra Qodesh," Aleppo, 1873

Order of Baqashot

In the 9 years from 1864 to 1873, there was a huge surge in baqashot and pizmonim. Small reduction of songs from 1873 to 1964.

Cover page of "Miqra Qodesh", Cairo, 1930