[HANASHIR:14672] Re: secular music

[sholom <sholom...>]

>
>
>> Why is it so important for us to sing American folk songs instead of
>> these  ageless and timeless words from G-d and from our sages and
>> ancestors?
>
> Why does it have to be an either/or issue?

You can only use the time for one thing or another, and then the time passes.

Most Jews spend a very limited time involved with anything Jewish -- and
so we ought to make the most of our time.

> Can't some be appropriate
> for one  moment while others are appropriate for others.  Some ocassions
> cry out for a  piece that the khal understands and can sing.  Our Hebrew
> texts don't always  fulfill this role. Ignoring the congregations needs
> is a sure fire way to turn  them off.  As a temple educator, I don't
> start with a "volunteer"audience so  a good mix is fine.

Then we need to educate.

I once did the following excersize with a class of students.  I asked them
if they had ever said a heartfelt prayer _outside_ of the synagogue (all
of them answered yes).  Then I asked what they had prayed about.  We made
a big list on the board.

Then we turned to the Amida, and, to the kids' surprise, the 19 prayers
covered every single thing they had prayed for.

My point is that our Jewish texts do cover the full panoply of appropriate
needs, desires, feelings, and so forth.  It's not like anything unique is
happening now that didn't happen at the time when our Sages were composing
prayers, or Psalms were getting written.  Humankind's greatness, and
foibles, herioc acts and moral failures, awesome events and tragedies,
both on a communal scale and on an indivudual level -- they've been
occuring for millennia. "There is nothing new under the sun."  And there
are appropriate Jewish texts for all of this.  The more we play secular
music, the more we give the message that our Jewish tradition has nothing
to say on the matter.


In case we haven't noticed -- our American Jewish population is
hemorraging.  While America's population has grown over 40% in the last
generation, the Jewish population has shrunk 10-15%.  We, as educators,
are on the front line to educate our people, lest they find that Judaism
is irrelevent to their lives and they leave.

-- Sholom




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