Nigun K'Ayal Ta'arog (Admur HaZaken)
The nigun K'Ayal Ta'arog ("As the hart yearns for brooks of water") was transmitted by the Chassid R' Shmuel Gronem Esterman, who learned it from an elderly man who had been part of the group of singers in the court of the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe would sing this nigun frequently, with great devekus — a state of cleaving and deep attachment to G‑d.
That elderly man had been blind as a child, and his father had brought him to the Alter Rebbe to be healed. The Alter Rebbe opened a volume of the Zohar and instructed the boy to read from it. At first the child could see only blurred letters, but the Alter Rebbe rebuked him sharply: "Read aloud!" — and the boy's eyes opened, and he began to read like anyone else. His father left the child in Liozna with the Alter Rebbe, and since the boy had a gift for song and melody, he was added to the Alter Rebbe's circle of singers.
Lyrics and Their Meaning[edit | edit source]
The nigun is built from words drawn from two separate verses that, on the surface, appear to have no connection to each other:
As the hart yearns for brooks of water — and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
— Psalms 42:2; Deuteronomy 6:8
The Chassid R' Shmuel Gronem Esterman explained the inner meaning of the nigun:
K'Ayal Ta'arog — "As the hart yearns" — represents the concept of ratzo (longing), the soul's yearning to ascend and cleave to G‑dliness.
Ve'hayu letotafot — "And they shall be as frontlets" — represents the concept of shuv (return), the drawing of G‑dliness downward, expressed through the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos.
This nigun is Nigun No. 2 in Sefer HaNigunim — the official Chabad anthology of Chassidic melodies.