zemirah

n. A religious song or tune, typically sung when seated for Shabbat dinner before eating.

"Let's sing some zemirot between courses. You start us off, Daniel." (Glinert)
"The most famous of the zemirot is 'Shalom Aleichem' (Peace be upon you), which traditionally is sung as the family gathers around the table on Friday night to welcome the 'angels of peace.'" (source)
"The Hasidic circles in Zawiercie, with their shtiblekh and with their Hasidic rebbes occupied an important place in the city. It is clear that they did not visit theaters and cinemas. They actually lived musically and artistically in zmires or at particular celebrations such as Siyum haSefer, Simkhas Torah and, mainly, delighting themselves with the praying of a good bal-tfile." (source)

Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
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zemiros, zmiros, zmirot, zemirot, zemira, zemer, zmira, zmire

plural: 'zmirot' or 'zemirot' or 'zmires'

"Zemirot are religious poems, medieval for the most part but sung to a variety of melodies. German Jewish zemirot remind one vaguely of carousing songs, many Chasidic numbers sound as if they've waltzed right out of a Viennese ballroom..." (Glinert)

"The Ashkenazim use the term for the songs sung during and after the Sabbath meal, while the Sephardim use zemirot to refer to the psalms recited before the main part of the morning service." (JPS)

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