[HANASHIR:14430] Re: singing in Hebrew

[ilana axel <iaxel...>]

I absolutely agree, and certainly did not intend for
anyone to think I have no interest in teaching the
meaning! I was merely pointing out that even the basic
levels of Hebrew singing have intrinsic value as well.
Thanks for clarifying this Kristin!
Ilana
--- KRISTIN STERN <stern730 (at) msn(dot)com> wrote:
> 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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