Re: Davvening Music (this is long)

[HEBASS <HEBASS...>]

On Wed, 21 Dec 1994, Adrian A. Durlester wrote:

> Henrique:
> (...)
> Why should it matter if I sing about the greatness of G-d to the tune of 
> a silly German waltz, a 700 year old chant, or a 10 year old popular 
> tune? Who presumes to speak for G-d as to what G-d wants to hear? [not 
> intended as a personal attack or flame, I assure you]
> 
Eventhough you did not intended it as a flame, the judegmental tone of 
your question "a silly German waltz", should serve as your own answer.  I 
believe that what we sing is loaded with personal meaning.  And my job as 
a Hazan is to transmit this meaning to those who have yet to find meaning 
in prayers (among other things that I do, as well).  But if a tune speaks 
to you, be it a *** pretty *** German waltz or anything else, that is the 
tune we should assume that God likes.  In Judaism God is communal rather 
than personal, but we cannot deal with any other God than the one we 
perceive.  My perception of what God listens to is just as important as 
yours, but for me personally, your idea of God is secondary to mine.  
>From your stand point, it is the opposite.  It has to be!  I presume to 
speak for God because I have a personal relation with God.  I believe 
that every one should presume to speak for God.  As long as it stops in a 
presumption, 
and we do not become radicals who cannot accept other perceptions of 
God.  I know what I want God to hear, and I know that God listens to the 
tunes I sing.  If I don't presume to know this I might as well not 
believe in God.

I believe that it matters.  I believe that God listens to more than one 
type of music, and God has arrived in the 20th century.  But my God, the 
God I want to believe in, has a way to be approached.  Some can call it 
encantations, but the prayers of our ancestors worked well for two 
thousands years.  The music to the prayers is just as old, eventhough it 
has only been notated in the past two or three hundred years.  (by the 
way, the way the Sephardim - for instance - approach God is completely 
different)  The way our ancestors approached God worked for them.  The 
only reason it does not work for us is because we evolved.  

Well, God evolved as well.  God is not male anymore, neither does God 
know how to write.  The God of the 20th Century is not anthropomorphic.  
God communicates with the people in the language of the people.  Be it 
the Torah or personal revelations.  But I chose a system that makes God a 
supreme Ruler.  And I approach God in the name of my worthy ancestors, in 
a way that speaks to me as a 20th Century male.   That way, my way, is to 
base my melodies in the pretty chants of my ancestors and blend that with 
my own taste for music.  Not only does that carry the weight of the 
words, but it carries the importance of tradition and the character of my 
personal revelation.  I can relate to a God that understands that, and 
God does.  God understands my people's History when I davven.  And God 
understands my prayers and the congregation's.

That is my way.  And it matters.  Your way matters as well.  I would love 
to hear how you came to it.

----------------------------------------

In your other message (sorry, my computer can only quote one at a time) 
you say three things:  What if we could go back in time and discover...  My 
answer is sure, if we went back in time and discover that The Shirat 
Hayam melody was sung to a tune similar to Grandma Got Run over by a 
Reindeer or whatever then that represents the tradition of our people.  I 
would try to incorporate that in my davvening, always trying to strive 
for the balance between tradition and personal taste.  But we cannot go 
back in time, God made sure that we can only have access to books.  So if 
research found out, same answer applies.

Second thing you say is about the Hazan as a liturgical representative of 
God.  I am not appointing anybody anything.  I was engaged by my 
synagogue and they appointed me.  Other Hazzanim have similar stories.  
If a synagogue does not engage a Hazzan, they have other liturgical 
representatives.  But that is what we are trained to be:  liturgical 
representatives to God.  

And the third point is really connected to the second.  You say that you 
did not see God's stamp of approval in any piece of music in the 
past(sorry if I misquote).  I disagree with this.  I see God in every 
single piece of music, and God's approval as well.  Even the ones that 
are not religious have God's approval there.  But I (and other Hazanim as 
well) will choose to sing the ones that relate to me and the way that I 
approach God.  And I happen to listen to what my congregation wants and I 
try to sing somethings that they find holy or traditional.  And when I 
sing, and when somebody comes to me after services or whenever and says 
that this song allowed me to connect with God - or did not allow me - 
then I see it in big red letters:  APPROVED BY GOD.


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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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