RE: Debbie Friedman article

[Dick Rosenberg <drosenberg...>]

I would like to add, that, in my adult experience, which means belonging
to a unaffiliated Reform/Reconstructionist synagogue, contemporary
"tunes" like Debbie Friedman's "Mi Shebereyach" and "Ose Shalom" and
Chana Senesh's "Eli, Eli" are as moving to me as, for instance, "Atz
Chayim Hi" and what I would call the traditional "Ose Shalom" (although
I have no idea how old or traditional it is). Also, the contemporary
tunes I mentioned are "more" moving to me then, for instance "Ein
Keloheinu", which I learned as a kid in the Orthodox synagogue I
attended. For that matter, Shlomo Carlebach's "Ein Kelokeinu" is more
moving to me than the one that is usually sung in synagogue.

I think that being "moved" by the music and the message thereof is of
paramount importance.

Dick Rosenberg


>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Ari Davidow [SMTP:ari (at) ivritype(dot)com]
>Sent:  Monday, April 19, 1999 9:26 AM
>To:    World music from a Jewish slant.
>Subject:       Re: Debbie Friedman article
>
>Bob,
>
>I guess my problem with your statement about nusah is that it is not, in my
>experience, true.
>
>>I am not trained by a cantor's institute, but I do know that it is
>>through nusah that, with my eyes shut, not even hearing a word, I can
>>tell where I am in Jewish time -- the Jewish day (e.g., holiday,
>>shabbat, weekday) and the time of day (e.g., morning, evening).  Nusah
>>is our leitmotif (yes, we had it before Wagner).  Nusah is a Krazy
>>Glue that binds us together.
>
>If you are in a Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, or other, non-
>Ashkenazic or non-Orthodox congregation, the melodies will be different. 
>More important, if you are in a Teimani or Sephardic congregation, there 
>will similarly be differences, some bigger, some smaller, and by the time 
>you get to the music of groups such as the Bukharians or Mountain Jews 
>from the former Soviet Union, things are very different, at least in terms 
>of the limited amounts that I have heard. (And, of course, their popular 
>song diverges even further!)
>
>It is, of course, entirely legitimate to enjoy a tradition, including a
>tradition of melody, that is hundreds of years old, but nusah does not
>come from Mt. Sinai (at least, not that I know of, or that anyone can
>provide evidence of), so it may yet change further. That doesn't mean
>that any given change is good, just that what we take as "the way things
>are," isn't necessarily the way things are for all or most Jews, even today.
>
>Just my two cents,
>ari
>
>
>Ari Davidow
>ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
>list owner, jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>the klezmer shack: http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/
>

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