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eli Ẓiyyon ve-areha
vironment. By the time of his premature death from typhoid
at age 29, Eliyia had written 257 poems and had contributed
over 200 articles on Jewish themes to the Great Greek Encyclopedia.
A biographical study of Eliyia (together with 90 of his
poems in English translation) and a Greek edition of his poetry
(sponsored by the B’nai B’rith) appeared as posthumous
tributes to the writer.
Bibliography: J. Eliyia Poems, ed. by R. Dalven (1944); G.
Zographaki, In Memoriam… J. Eliyia (1934); Dymaras, in: Proia (Aug.
1, 1931); Daphnis, in: Nea Estia, 10 (1931), 828. Add. Bibliography:
R. Dalven, The Jews of Ioannina (1990), 167–72; E. Kourmantzi-Panayotakou,
“Josef Eliya and Sabbethai Kabili: Ideological Problems in
Ioannina’s Pre-War Jewish Community,” in: I.K. Hassiotis (ed.), The
Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe, from the Fifteenth Century
to the End of World War II, Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan
Studies (1997), 263–80.
[Rachel Dalven / Yitzchak Kerem (2nd ed.)]
ELI ẒIYYON VE-AREHA (Heb. ָהי רָ עְ ֶו
ןֹ וּיִצ יִלֱ א; “Wail, Zion
and its cities”), the initial words of an acrostic elegy for
the fast day of the Ninth of *Av. This dirge, written in the Middle
Ages but of anonymous authorship, consists of 12 stanzas,
each closing with the refrain: “Wail, Zion and its cities,/ as a
woman in labor pains,/ and like a maiden that dons sackcloth
to mourn for the husband of her youth.” The dirge enumerates,
in detail, the cruelties suffered by Judea and its inhabitants
during the destruction of the Second Temple. Eli Ẓiyyon
is sung by the congregation standing. The refrain is sung
slowly (and in some traditions twice) at the beginning, and
then repeated faster after each stanza. The melody is of an
elegiac character, and has become, for all Ashkenazi communities,
a symbol of the yearly commemoration of the Destruction.
It therefore came to be used also for some other
kinot, such as the last stanza of Az be-ḥata’einu (“Then, for our
sins”), and for Teraḥem Ẓiyyon ka-asher amarta (“Have mercy
upon Zion as Thou didst promise”); and also for *Lekhah
Dodi during the “Three Weeks” (17th of Tammuz to 9th of Av).
It is sometimes considered one of the *Mi-Sinai Niggunim.
The origin of the melody has been discussed by Emmanuel
Kirschner and Abraham Zvi Idelsohn. Kirschner related it
to a 15th-century German court ballad Die Frau zur Weissen
Burg, and to 14th- and 17th-century Catholic songs. Idelsohn
related it to a 17th-century Spanish folksong, and a Czech song
of the same period, both of which belong to a melodic type
which he also found among the Balkan Sephardim. Since all
these comparisons are based upon resemblances of isolated
motives or melodic phrases, and a direct prototype has not
been identified as yet, it seems more probable that it represents
a particular instance of a widespread European “migrant”
tune or melodic pattern. The earliest notated evidence of
the melody found so far is in the manuscript manual of Judah
Elias of Hanover (1743), for Lekhah Dodi (in a slightly varied
form), and in several of the manuals of 18th-century ḥazzanim
published in Idelsohn, Melodien, vol. 6 (1932) (Isaac Glogau,
Moshe Pan, I.L. Wolf). Its earliest appearance in print is
in Isaac Nathan’s very free paraphrase of the melody, for his
setting of “O weep for those that wept by Babel’s stream”
in Byron’s Hebrew Melodies (1815). An interesting version is
given by Moses Margoliouth who states that he heard it sung
by Polish immigrants at the Western Wall on the Ninth of
Av, 1848 (A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers, 2 (1850),
356–9).
The melody can be found in the following publications:
S. Sulzer, Schir Zion (1838), 188, no. 148; M. Kohn, Vollstaendiger
Jahrgang von Terzett- und Chorgesaengen, 3 (1839), 130,
no. 89; S. Naumbourg, Zemirot Yisrael, 3 (1864), 23, no. 25; A.
Baer, Baal T’fillah (18833), 90; A.S. Ersler, T’fillah w’Zimrah, 1
(1907), 48, no. 49; L. Kornitzer, in: Israelitisches Familienblatt
(July 28, 1927), supplement; Idelsohn, Melodien, 6 (1932), 213,
no. 35; 7 (1933), 105, no. 302 a and b; 148, no. 101. It was published
in Israel in Y. Sharett (ed.), Anot, 5 (1938), in M. Ayali,
Ḥaggim u-Zemannim, 1 (1953), 527, and in Sefer ha-Mo’adim,
7 (1957), 16–18 (music section).
In the 20th century, several composers made arrangements
of the melody, including L. Zeitlin and Joseph *Achron.
Its poetical and melodic structure was the inspiration for A.
Luboshitzky’s elegy on the death of Theodor Herzl Eli Ẓiyyon
ve-Nodedeha (“Wail, Zion, and her dispersed ones”; Mivḥar
Shirei Amenu (1921), 59–60). A modern kinah, J.L. Bialer’s Eli,
Eli Nafshi, Bekhi (Wail, wail my soul, cry”), in commemoration
of the Holocaust, was approved by the Union of Synagogues
in Israel for use on the Ninth of Av, and is sung to the
Eli Ẓiyyon melody.
Bibliography: Davidson, Oẓar, 1 (1924), 229; E. Kirschner,
Ueber mittelalterliche hebraeische Poesien und ihre Singweisen
(1914); A. Nadel, in: Gemeindeblatt (Berlin 1924), no. 9; Idelsohn,
Music, 168, 171.
[Haim Bar-Dayan]
ELKABBACH, JEAN-PIERRE (1937– ), French broadcast
journalist. Elkabbach was born in Oran, Algeria. He was a
leading figure of radio and television journalism in France.
From 1970 to 1972 he was a newscaster on the first channel.
In 1975 he was chief editor on the state radio network, France
Inter, and he became director of the news division in 1976.
During the years 1977 to 1981 he was head of the news department
of the second channel of French television. Since
the position at that time was based on a political appointment,
he was replaced when the Socialist government came
to power in 1981. He became an editor and newscaster on the
main daily news report on Europe No. 1 radio station. In 1993
he reached the peak of his career when he was appointed
chairman of France Television, the French public broadcasting
company. His methods of dealing with the strong competition
from private networks were somewhat controversial,
and he was forced to resign in 1996. He wrote about his experiences
and the role of public broadcasting in France in 29
mois et quelques jours (1997).
From December 1999, Elkabbach, a dynamic reporter
noted for his aggressive broadcasting style, was chairman
356 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6