[HANASHIR:14428] singing in Hebrew

[KRISTIN STERN <stern730...>]

Having come from a non-Hebrew speaking background, I must say that 95% of my 
Hebrew knowledge comes from the past 6 years that I have been music director 
of our congregation, not the 20+ years of being Jewish before that.  There 
is a certain pleasure and thrill to recognizing words and their related 
words in songs that I had been singing, but hadn't realized the connection 
between the words.  But this comes ONLY from also understanding the texts 
and knowing the meaning of the Hebrew I am singing.  Just singing syllables 
is just that.  There is no point of connection, no point of reference.  Bim 
Bam is the same as L'cha Dodi.  Without meaning, both are simply syllables.

I think it is important to teach and sing the Hebrew, but while also 
teaching the meaning of what is being sung.  It helps children understand 
why we might sing one song joyously, another with dignity, and yet another 
slowly and thoughtfully.  It gives them the connection to recognize the same 
word in a completely different song and the tools to later figure out the 
Hebrew meaning of an unknown text themselves.  Mah tovu and Hiney Mah tov 
give meaning to each other.

Rote learning may have its place in the teaching of Hebrew, but it can't 
replace the knowledge of the meaning.  At my congregation, we use more 
Hebrew now than ever before, and that's great.  But because we always do the 
same prayers in Hebrew and never in English, I feel some of our most 
beautiful prayers are merely being blindly repeated without meaning.  The 
one that especially comes to mind is the Ma'ariv Aravim.  We read the Hebrew 
each week, and I don't think anyone anymore knows what the prayer itself 
means.

We do need to continue teaching the music in Hebrew.  But we do our children 
a disservice if we give them a language without understanding.

Shabbat Shalom to all--
Kristin Stern
Music Director
Temple Beth-El
Munster, IN

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