17. "Varshever Marsh"- Dance Niggun

^{Community singing, Tish marking the yortsayt of R. hayyim Meir Hager of Vizhnitz, Benei Berak, 17 April 1986.}

It is a Hasidic custom to hold a festive meal on the yortsayt (anniversary of the death) of a Tsaddik (known in Hebrew as a hillula). The Vizhnitz Hasidim do so, with the participation of the "reigning" Rebbe and a large crowd, on two such occasions: 9 Nisan, and 2 Sivan, the yortsayt of R. Hayyim Meir Hager (1888-1972), and that of his father, R. Yisrael Hager (1860-1936). These feasts, considered no less important than the Sabbath or festival Tish, are not devoted to singing the praises of the deceased. The reigning Rebbe delivers a sermon and the Hasidim sing niggunim of different types, some especially meant for the hillula, others that the Rebbe has found appropriate for the occasion. The Vizhnitz Hasidim also mark the anniversaries of the deaths of R. Hayyim Hager of Kosov and of his son, Menahem Mendel, founder of the Vizhnitz dynasty, but these are celebrated with a modest gathering, at which no sermon is delivered but stories are told of the deceased.

Hasidim differ as to the origin of this niggun. The Boyaner Hasidim, who attribute it to the Stefanesti Hasidim, a branch of the Ruzhin dynasty, sing it at every opportunity. The Bratslav Hasidim often sing it, although it is not considered one of the early Bratslav niggunim. They took it up in the early 1960s, when it was brought to Israel from the Ukraine by a Bratslav Hasid named R. Yohanan Galant ("Berditchever"). According to one of the Jerusalem Bratslavers, Aharon Kheshin, Galant called it "Moshe Hayyim Varshever's march," or briefly, "Varshever marsh." This was the name Kheshin used when he brought the niggun to Meron for the klezmorim to play there. However, there is some evidence (see, e.g., Mazor 2000, no. 34, p. 166) that Hasidim used to sing it in Jerusalem before the foundation of the State of Israel. Vizhnitzer menagnim have confirmed that the niggun was already being sung at the Vizhnitz court when R. Hayyim Meir was the Rebbe (Interviews, March, April and August 2002). Nahum Brecher, a Vizhnitz elder from abroad who was appointed "Rosh ha-qahal" of the Benei Berak Vizhnitz community in the early 1950s, brought the niggun to Vizhnitz.

Brecher used to sing it and Festival Tish when it occured on the Sabbath to the words of "Mizmor le-David" (Psalm 23). The Skverer Hasidim in the United States have named the niggun for one Pressman. In this recording the niggun was performed after the Rebbe's sermon. He began to sing, and the congregation immediately joined in. As the enthusiasm increased, the young men and boys on the "parentches" (benches placed in a stepped structure around the table during the Tish) danced where they were standing.