Re: Davvening Music (very long)

[HEBASS <HEBASS...>]

Hi Philip.
Thank you for your very eloquent argument.  I agree with every thing that
you said, and I believe we trust the same arguments to arrive in
different conclusions.  I will try to respond point by point.  But before
I do, let me thank you also to bring God into this discussion.

On Sat, 17 Dec 1994, Philip wrote:

> I find that most modern Jews and many Rabbis have a hard time with
> addressing spirituality.

> Certainly, I am able to find it with "Kedem".  Kedem is the familiarity
> that most of us have with things that are nostalgic.  On Shabat we repeat
> the words of The prophet Zachariah said as he looked on the destroyed
> Temple:  May things be as they were in times past (kedem).  Bring back the
> good old days.

> Although, I get peace and comfort from the familiarity of the Service and
> sometimes, I can reach a spiritual state with it,  it takes a certain
> amount of luck and the right circumstances to feel the presence of the
> Shechinah in a service.

I could not agree more.  I believe that God is everywhere, and every time
that ten grown up Jews are together we can feel God's presence
(Shechinah) among us.  But that might not be enough for everybody.  There
might be a need to more connection, and the music is certainly a way to
do it.  I would only add to your list of "luck and right circumstances"
the word will.  That is not to say that if people don't  feel God is
because they do not want to, but will is stronger than any other factor,
and certainly helps me feel God in other realms, not only services.

> I find that Debbie's music and many of the new Jewish music writers have
> opened a portal to help me to find the essence of the prayers.

> The chants and music that many of us hear are not very old.  Almost every
> tune that we sing in the Traditional Synogogue are not more that 100 or 150
> maybe 200 years old ... Tops!  The music that we sing the Shma to in almost
> every Synogogue world wide, did not come down from Mount Sinai as many
> people might suppose...it was written by Seltzer in the mid 19th century.
> Bayom Hahu...has a very interesting tune similar to the Farmer in the
> Dell(Very Traditional).  One very popular traditional version of Adon Olom
> is sung to a tune like a 19th century German Drinking Song. Our musical
> tradition is a living vibrant thread that we continue to weave and enhance
> our tradition.  We are talking about a tradition of 1000's of years!  It
> did not end in Europe.

One small correction.  No one can actually account for the dates of the
Jewish chants which we sing in synagogue nowadays.  The most one can say
is that they were notated at a certain date.  Music notation was not
available for a number of years, and since it has been accessible for
Jewish composers they have started writing them down on paper.  It is
most amazing to me that a good number of Jewish musicians from the
Hashkenazic branch notated very similar melodies, independent from the
time period when they wrote it, or even the regions in Europe.  And while
you might say that Sulzer was not there in Sinai to write down 'his'
melody for the Shma', I have no question that he was inspired by God.

So was Debbie Friedman.

And the Farmer in the Dell is not a traditional melody in the service
because it did not use to be sung along.  And "They said they would sink
the Bismarck" (She huh noteh Shamayim) also did not come from our rich
European heritage.  And Adon Olam is a proper place in the service to add
local melodies, as long as they reveal the awesome quality of the words.
It sounds silly to me to sing about the Master of the World Who visits us
in the night and Creates us anew every day to the tune of a silly German
Waltz.  Come to my synagogue and you won't hear it.

> Jewish Music has traditionally evolved to take on the flavor of the culture
> in which we lived.  Therefore we have Yiddish Music, Yemenite chants,
> Sephardic music, Hasidic prayers, and the list goes on.  It is only natural
> that the music of today's American Baby Boomers is taking on the culture in
> which we live.  Never Before have there been so many educated Jews.   If
> the music does not evolve to enhance the spiritual needs of the people
> today, then we will lose them.  That does not mean to completely throw out
> the old. It means to enhance, add to, and broaden

No question about it.  I believe it was Joel (forgot your last name) who
wrote that we should find a balance.  Totally agreed.  My question is one
of appropriateness.  As with the Adon Olam, there are many other prayers
in which the music of the Baby Boomers does not capture the meaning of
the words. ( This is strictly subjective, I am not trying to convince
anybody, just expressing my oppinion.)  But in the instances where it
does, I am the first one to try to find a place for it in my service.
Have not found many, yet;  still looking...

> When Debbie Friedman takes a final point out of the Haftarah ... NOT BY
> MIGHT AND NOT BY POWER BUT BY SPIRIT ALONE SHALL WE ALL LIVE IN PEACE  ...
> and turns it into a hit song that speaks to MY heart and that my children
> love to sing is telling me that she has made the TEXT come alive.  We are
> singing in 20th Century Music not 19th Century Music.  I wonder if Henrique
> thinks that Maoz Tzur is more compelling.  It has Kedem but it is a slow,
> boring march that turns most people off and the majority of Young People
> and even old congregants sit passively by as a Cantor or soloist or choir
> leads a few people in weakly singing.

How would you incorporate it in the service?  I sing that song as an
after thought during junior congregation.  But Ma'oz Tsur's melody I sing
during the weeks preceding chanukah, applied to Lecha Dodi, Mi Chamocha
and the Kedushah of Mussaf.  I am backed by at least 200 years of
tradition, and I thought the congregants in my synagogue to appreciate it.

At home, where the traditional Chanukah celebration should occur, I sing
Ma'oz Tsur, in every traditi0onal tune I can find.  I also sing Not By
might...  And other Chanukah songs.  Have to confess I avoid the "Little
Dreidl" bore.

> Debbie took the bedtime prayer, and really made it come to life.  May the
> wings of Shechina.  In this prayer, we have the Chutzpa to ask that G-d
> changes place with us.  That we have his four Angels surrounding us while
> we rest.

Again I love that song.  It is not a synagogue song, in my oppinion.  It
is for the home, to sing with your child.

> Her songs are a source of inspiration for me and I think that they bring me
> closer to the reasons that I come to shul for.

That is where I think we differ.  I hear you saying that "Kedem" is a
factor in your life.  I understand that you think that Debbie Friedman's
songs capture the mood of your generation, and in several cases, it
captures the mood of the prayers as well.  But I do not come to synagogue
to find God, or to renew my spirituality.  I come to synagogue out of a
feeling of duty.  I am a Jew, therefore I pray.  I find God in the trees,
in the birds and in the child which is in my wife's belly (No, she did
not eat it).  I am spiritually uplifted when I hear good music, taste
good food, have a wonderful therapy session.  But in the synagogue, There
I pray.

> In today's world, it is the hard to remember that we are always in the
> Presence of G-d.   I can listen to these tapes in my car, at home or
> wherever I want.  In a way, I am creating my own Kedem.

My thoughts exactly.  Maybe this Kedem that we are creating nowadays will
be nostalgic to our children.  But just as I do not wish it for me, I
hope they do not find it compelling to live in this nostalgic feeling.
To paraphrase Captain Jean-Luc Pikard:  "Memories are to be cherished,
not to be lived in."

> I find it hard to beat a Great Cantor do Kol Nidre.  The Musical Service at
> The Great Sephardic Synogogue in New York City is Awesome and Inspiring.
> In most situations though, songs like the ones Debbie does that the Whole
> Congregation can learn and sing Clearly FITS AND BELONGS in a synogogue
> service.  I believe People are now returning to Jewish Houses of Worship in
> search of Spirituality more than Performances.

Let us get closer in our differences:  Music in the synagogue was not
created to build community.  It is a phenomenon as old as the first draft
of the Bible (literally).  Spirituality should be achieved through the
words, and it is unfortunate that many congregants do not relate to the
words as I do.  The music is a way to transmit the words, so that people
can be spiritually uplifted.  I think it is sad that several Synagogue
goers cannot be spiritualy uplifted just by listening and responding in a
traditional manner.  I also think it is sad that many people would like
to superimpose their secular experiences into their religious
experiences.  Rav Kuk says:"there is no separation between Holy and
secular; there is only those things which are Holy, and those which are
waiting to achieve holiness."
In other words:  If you are spiritually uplifted when you listen to songs
in your tape recorder, and you want to bring those songs to the
synagogue, although I disagree I would never say it is wrong, because it
ain't.  But I do not feel that one can disregard the meaning of prayer in
order to find a familiarity with their day-to-day lives.  What excites me
is to find that I am connected to 2000 years of history of a people
chosen by God to find God everywhere.

PS:  I find it lamentable that you should use the words Spirituality and
Performance in capital letters in the same sentence.  I do not think one
precludes the other.  I believe that the connotation you are trying to
imply to the word Performance is one of no participation.  I disagree
with you, and I reiterate that participation does not need to be a
sing-along.  I know I am coming down strong on you, but I am responding
to previous comments, and I do not mean to be personal, after all, I
don't really know you personally.  Sorry, there is no intent on hurting you.

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Henrique Ozur Bass                      Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Cantorial Student                       21 Pilgrim Lane
hebass (at) JTSA(dot)EDU                        Westbury, NY 11
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