Seek peace and pursue it: Rabbi David Buzaglo

“Singing is a kind of dialogue between despair and encouragement, between sadness and joy,” wrote the great Moroccan poet and cantor Rabbi David Buzaglo about dealing with blindness.
Rabbi Buzaglo’s life was full of loss and personal tragedy which he transformed – through his words and his voice – into prayers for the possibility of healing and hope.

In the sixth episode of “Muses” Maya Kosover turns to the life and writings of this cultural figure who revived the tradition of the Sephardic piyut in Israel and turned the war anthem Bab El Wad into a prayer for peace and the preservation of humanity.

Credits:

The quotes from Rabbi David Buzaglo’s piyutim and archival photos courtesy of the Buzaglo family
David Buzaglo, “A Song from Darkness”, Dvar newspaper
Rabbi Haim Louk, Binu Na Mordim, piyut and prayer website of the Snunit Association for the Promotion of Computerized Education
Bab El Wad. Words: Haim Gouri | Music: Shmuel Fershko | Produced: Alex Weiss | Performed by Yafa Yarkoni and a choir conducted by Eliezer Hasson
Portrait of Rabbi David Buzaglo – Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Collection of Photographs, National Library. Photograph by Boris Carmi
Khan Sha’ar HaGai – Roni Manor (from the Dershowitz collection)
Trab pioneers, Aleppo, around 1932 – Shauli Gazala
Panorama de Casablanca – By Jh Boussuge
Eliahu Elias, Casablanca (Morocco) – Center for Jewish History
Map of the Mediterranean Sea - Creator Homem, Diogo Contributors Forlani, Paolo
Duchetti, Claudio 1569
Krayot – by Slavapy
A page from the Lailashi Bible – By Givi Gambashidze
A military post in Kiryat Ono
The use of images in accordance with the section 27A of the Copyright Law