RE: Variations on Adon Olam

[W. Morrison <sushiqn...>]

yoel epstein <yoel (at) netvision(dot)net(dot)il> wrote:

>Why isn't it appropriate?  I was recently at a wedding here in Israel,
>where the Rabbi - and we're talking serious Bnei Brak style orthodoxy here
>- sang the seven blessings to the tune of Wagner's Wedding March.  I
>thought about going up to him after and telling him that the tune was
>written by the most vicious antisemitic composer ever, Hitler's favorite.
>But I relented - if the tune has meaning and tradition for him, what
>difference does it make?
>
>In the synagogue in Kfar Shmaryahu (also respectable orthodox, presided
>over by one of Israel's leading orthodox rabbis) the choir sings the
>liturgy beautifully to tunes by Verdi, Rossi, Beethoven.  Why is this
>wrong?
>
>Yoel Epstein

It's obviously NOT wrong, for that cantor and that congregation. This is a
judgement call type of thing -- I don't see any absolutes here. In my
example (Beethoven) it was deemed inappropriate by OUR cantor, for OUR
congregation.

The cantor has an enormous responsibility: not just to choose melodies for
their esthetic appeal, but also melodies which will enhance the kavanah of
the kehilla - to enable the davenners to achieve the concentration and
state of mind necessary for proper prayer. The cantor is well aware that
some people in the congregation are largely there to socialize and enjoy
the music and a sense of fellowship with others. For them, no doubt any
attractive melody is appropriate. But if even one person is there in order
to connect with Hashem, then any melody that distracts, by calling up
undesirable memories or associations, is inappropriate, even if the Shatz
himself is somehow not distracted. Certainly it is difficult to imagine
how, in your first example, the rabbi could sing Wagner without some
awareness of a negative connection.

In my congregation there is a small but significant number of elderly
regulars who were European born. Many of them escaped just in time, a few
of them are survivors. To subject them, on Shabbat Kodesh no less, to
melodies which might call up unpleasant associations, is unthinkable. Even
if there were not such people in the congregation, and the occasion were a
wedding rather than the Sabbath, I know that our cantor (or our rabbi, for
that matter) would not sing Wagnerian melodies.

It makes no difference whether the cantor is Orthodox, Conservative,
Reform, Reconstructionist or freelance - a sensitivity to the needs of the
congregation is essential to the job. I'm not passing judgment on the choir
that sings Verdi, Rossi, and Beethoven - that's appropriate for them.
Wagner at a wedding, that's another thing entirely. The Orthodox don't have
a lock -- they have as much ability to be inappropriate in such matters as
the rest of us.

Wendy Morrison