Weekly maqam

In Mizrahi and Sephardic Middle Eastern Jewish prayer services, each Shabbat the congregation conducts services using a different maqam. A maqam (مقام), which in Arabic literally means 'ascent', is a standard melody type and set of related tunes. The melodies used in a given maqam aims effectively to express the emotional state of the reader throughout the set liturgy (without changing the text). This article primarily describes the musical practices of Syrian Jews, though the musical traditions of other Mizrahi Jews communities are also based on the maqam system. Ashkenazi nusach includes a simplified system including three main modes or steyger and several minor variants. Muslims share the same practice of conducting services using the maqam, but differ substantially in many ways.

The maqam that is used each Shabbat depends on the theme, story, or main message of the Sabbath weekly Torah portion. The cantor, or hazzan, of the congregation leads the worshippers with the melodies of the particular maqam, which is preset and standardized on an official list.

Widely different lists of maqam are found in different communities, e.g. the Aleppo list does not always agree with the Damascus and Beirut lists, and the Egyptian and Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Sephardic) lists are different again. Even within the Aleppo tradition there is not total agreement among the written sources, though the underlying pattern of the lists is usually the same. Other determinants of the maqam include whether or not there is a holiday approaching in the upcoming week: when this is the case, or there are two Torah portions for the week, the hazzan has some discretion which maqam to use. As a general rule, the same maqam will never be used two weeks in a row. Also, the list tries to rotate the maqamot in such a fashion that the ten maqams are spread out almost equally in time as to avoid the redundancy of hearing the same maqam within a short period of time.

Most of the prayers in the Shabbat morning service are rendered in a prose recitative, the exact tune of which varies with the maqam of the week. However, certain important passages, such as Nishmat and Kaddish, are sung to the tunes of specific Pizmonim, which are chosen according to a rota so as to fit the maqam of the week.

The cantillation of the Torah does not follow the maqam of the week, but is almost invariably performed in maqam Sigah. Similarly the Friday night service is usually in maqam Nawa or Nahawand.

There are a few patterns that determine which maqam will be used on a given week. There are some very obvious patterns and some not so obvious ones (which are disputed as a result).

Maqam Rast is used to mark the beginning of something new, such as the beginning of reading a new book of Torah (raʾs, in Arabic, means 'head'). For the first parasha of each book of the Torah (the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and theoretically, but see under Hijaz, Deuteronomy, this maqam is applied. Another application of Rast is for the afternoon services on Shabbat, when Jews read the new parashah of the upcoming week, thus beginning a new week.

Maqam Mahour, which is related to Maqam Rast, is applied when someone is angry and feels emotional instability. The only two parashiyyot to have this maqam applied are Toledot and Balak when the main characters, Esau and Balak, respectively, are angered. This maqam is used in other instances according to the manuscripts of Hakham Moshe Ashear and Cantor Gabriel A. Shrem.