About

The text of Miryam Han’via (“Miriam the Prophet”) was written by Leila Gal Berner in 1987, as one of the early efforts to include Miriam in our contemporary liturgy, in this case as a parallel to “Eliyahu Hanavi” as sung at Havdalah. It has since then become a widely used song, sung to same melody as is most traditionally used for “Eliyahu Hanavi.” In 2001, I was asked to write several melodies for The Open Door, a new Haggadah published by the Reform movement, and decided to write a new melody for “Miryam Han’via.”

When I was asked by the Zamir Choral Foundation to choose one of my melodies for a new choral arrangement for a Comminuty Sing of the 2019 North American Jewish Choral Festival, I was delighted to write this arrangement of “Miryam Ha’nvia,” adding a new niggun melody (heard at the very beginning, and then throughout the piece) as a way to expand on the original melody.

The piece was commissioned for HaZamir: the International Jewish Teen Choir by Hynda Feit, in memory of her mother, Muriel R. Schwartz, through the Mandell Rosen Fund for New Music, a program of the Zamir Choral Foundation. Miryam Han’via received its concert premiere by HaZamir in March 2022 at Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center.

—Gerald Cohen

Score

Transliterated Text and Translation

text by Rabbi Leila Gal Berner
Miriam ha-n’vi’a oz v’zimra b’yada.
Miriam tirkod itanu l’hagdil zimrat olam.
Miriam tirkod itanu l’taken et ha-olam.
Bimheyra v’yameynu hi t’vi’einu el mey ha-y’shua.

Miriam the prophet, strength and song in her hand.
Miriam, dance with us in order to increase the song of the world.
Miriam, dance with us in order to repair the world.
Soon she will bring us to the waters of redemption.

Performances

Premiere: March 2022: HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
July 2022: Hazamir, The International Jewish Teen Choir, American Jewish Choral Festival, Stamford, CT.
June 2023: Nashir! chorale, Ben Gruder conductor, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY.