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After opening Ark to get sefer Torah on Shabbos and Yom Tov in Ashkenazy custom many congregations sing verses:

כִּי מִצִּיּון תֵּצֵא תורָה. וּדְבַר ה' מִירוּשָׁלָיִם: בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּורָה לְעַמּו יִשרָאֵל בִּקְדֻשָּׁתו:

What is a reason for a double repetition of phrases: כִּי מִצִּיּון תֵּצֵא תורָה and בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּורָה, i.e. what was the intention of the composer of the tune?

The fact that the word תּורָה is repeated as תּורָה-תּורָה when singing בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן sounds as if it refers to both written and oral Torah in opposition to Reform not accepting the oral Torah. Why would some chazanim avoid making these repetitions?

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  • What repetition are you talking about? Some particular tune repeats words?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 29 at 6:59
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    @DoubleAA correct. The tune is standard in modern orthodox communities. It sounds like a reference to 2 temples and 2 givings of Tora (Sinai and Ezra) but i don't have a source.
    – Y DJ
    Commented Sep 29 at 7:08
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    You're asking about the intent of the composer of this alleged tune? Probably better to just pick another tune and assume the composer was just aiming for aesthetic music.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 29 at 7:12
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    You are probably right about בה אנא רחיץ. It is like מודים, מודים. I would imagine you would not like repeating the last line of Aleinu, ושמו אחד,ושמו ושמו ושמו אחד, I guess it can be interpreted as people of 3 faiths coming together. I do not know what was the intention of their composer. Some of these repetitions do not appear random because the tune requires it. It appears the tune was made to reflect the idea.
    – Y DJ
    Commented Sep 29 at 16:02
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    I think the Maharil standardized general tunes for most of the davening on Shabbos, Yom tov, and Yomim Noraim, but that’s different from the songs like we have been discussing
    – J. W. Tanner
    Commented Sep 29 at 17:22

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There are many melodies written for the paragraph beginning "Vay'hi Binsoa", but by far the most common one is by Salomon Sulzer. Interestingly, his setting is in his Yom Tov section of his book; he has a different Shabbat setting that no one uses.

He does indeed repeat the phrase כִּי מִצִּיּון תֵּצֵא תורָה twice. It's hard to infer exactly what his intent was here, but suffice to say it is a classic example of a sequence ascending by a tone, which is a typical compositional technique, and is pleasing to the ear as we recognise what we've already heard.

But Sulzer's melody stops at "Mirushalayim" and does not have anything written for בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּורָה. So what you hear in North American congregations where the same melody from כִּי מִצִּיּון is applied to this verse is a later adaptation that Sulzer never wrote. I have heard some Rabbis and Chazzanim are opposed to this repetition of the word Torah for theological reasons, but know that it was never part of the original composition.

Outside of North America, it is more common to attach on a different, rising ending for בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּורָה which actually comes from an earlier traditional melody. You can hear that full composition here: https://youtu.be/mGm22rCCnIA?si=8gghQvz_LrNhVZwM

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  • I've listened to a few of your recordings the other day, because I really enjoy cantorial classics. I suppose you have a quite good voice, but it seems to me that you don't do the harmonies by simply overlaying the different voices, or you just use way too much pitch correction. This makes these harmonies "flat," instead of a rich and pleasing sound, which is usually owing to the small imperfections of human voice. Sorry for the unsolicited advice, but I suppose with your abilities you can do much better.
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Nov 9 at 18:38
  • To add to the @Kazibácsi comment, I think one can see this point by comparing the music of two klezmer giants: Naftule Brandwein (who did not know any musical notation) against that of Dave Tarras (who played every note exactly as written). Each Brandwein's piece was unique and did not get a smell of solfeggio exercise.
    – Y DJ
    Commented Nov 10 at 3:51

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