The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 

Ana Bekhoach

• Ana BeKhoach (Zalman)

  Rebbe Zalman Schachter-Shalomi's nigun. I first learned this from Reb Zalman at the Germantown Jewish Center, when he still lived in Philadelphia. Reb Zalman told me that he learned this nigun from Reb Shlomo, who called it "Dem Rizhiners Krechts" - the sighing groan of the Rizhiner.

• Ana BeKhoach (Yakar)

  The nigun as sung at Yakar in Jerusalem normally uses only the
  first line of the prayer. I've recorded it here differently, so that the entire text of Ana BeKhoach is sung.

• Ana BeKhoach (Carlebach)

  The nigun for this version comes from the classic 60's Shlomo song "Higher and Higher".

• Ana BeKhoach (Skolyer) sung by the Berkeley Chevre

  I learned this nigun from the great-granddaughter of the Skolyer Rebbe, who learned it from her grandmother, who would sing the entire prayer sitting in front of the menorah watching the Hanukah candles burn. (It also works for counting the omer.)

  According to Reb Moshe Aharon (Miles Krassen), it is attributed to the Besht (Baal Shem Tov). This is a true deveikes nigun (devekut = meditation/cleaving to God). Doing the whole song ends up being a pretty long meditation, since the Skolyer tradition is to repeat each word seven times (making 42 verses).

  This recording includes the first line alone — see also the adapted version below that goes through the whole prayer. It was recorded when Hillel Lester gathered a bunch of us in a studio to sing some of our favorites together. Here's what we came up with - a rough cut but a sweet one. Starting with one voice, this unrehearsed track fans out to improvised harmonies and then back to unison, one word per verse in the traditional Skolyer manner.

• Ana BeKhoach (Skolyer) [adapted]

  The traditional nigun takes a wonderfully long time to sing. This adaptation goes through the entire prayer in seven verses, which works better for most synagogue settings. When I lead davening, I like to do the first verse in the traditional way and then do the rest like this.

Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006