I walked into the synagogue a bit late yesterday morning. After saying Shabbat Shalom to my parents, the first thing I did was find my Uncle Joe Pessah – the former acting rabbi of the Karaite Jews of America. I said, “Are we reading Kelil Yofi today?” He said, “You’re favorite! Yes it is coming soon.” I then made my way over to the bima to get the hazzan’s attention to let him know that I’d read Kelil Yofi. It never really occurred to me that Kelil Yofi was my favorite piyyut (liturgical poem), but I think it undoubtedly is.
In reflecting on *why* it is my favorite piyyut, I realized something important about Jewish learning.
I know. I know. It’s not even Shavuot and here I am talking about lamentations for the month of Av. But I can’t stop listening to these snippets I received from Hazzan Rotem Cohen. He recorded the introductory words of a well-known Karaite lamentation for me in two renditions: once with the Egyptian tune and once with the Crimean tune. Today, I want to see if you can identify which is which.
