[HANASHIR:4632] Re: Rabbi Eric Yoffie's Sermon at the Biennial

[Andy Curry <acurry...>]

My Beautiful Friends (as Reb Shlomo Z"L might say),

I must take issue with the assumption that it's simply a matter of which
melodies to use.  Rabbi Yoffie's remarks were not intended to foster
replacing old music with new music, but rather to foster a change which is
both backward and forward looking.  What's old is new today.

Last Shavuot, at a Conservadox congregation, a guest rabbi (sorry, can't
remember his name, but he's a macher) started his remarks by saying "We're
the baby boomers, and we're now in charge."  We don't want to be spectators
while the rabbis and cantors perform.  We want to participate.

I'm not saying that we should stick with the same versions of liturgy all
the time.  Good new melodies can and should be introduced.  I'm saying that
we can also keep the tried-and-true ones, but instead of singing them as
performance pieces, with the choir and the organ, we should try altering
our kavanot.  If you are blessed with a small room in which to pray, try
singing them a capella or with guitar.  Lewandowski's "Tzadik Katamar" is
beautiful in any setting, especially if you have a handful of people
willing to try harmonies.  Take the "standard" Shalom Alechem and try it in
waltz time.  Add a "back beat" to Rothblum's "V'shamru", or have somebody
play a camel-trot part on a tof on "Yism'chu".

If, on the other hand, you have a sanctuary which, as one local rabbi says,
"sleeps 700", you're pretty much out of luck unless you have the gantze
band a la Craig Taubman.

Make no mistake:  There is going to be some pain as we baby boomers assert
our wishes.  It may involve insisting on alternating services in different
modes, or holding multiple minyanim concurrently.


Andy Curry
6016 Holmes St
Kansas City MO 64110-3034
Home: (816)363-8381
Work: (913)312-4739

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