Re: making judaism cool

[Eliezer Kaplan <zelwel...>]

Yes- it's a fairly famous theory in Cultural Anthropology. Especially
evident in the US.
                                EK


----- Original Message -----
From: Rachel Fischer <ruchelk (at) mediaone(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: making judaism cool


> I don't know much about this, and don't remember everything that was said
at the
> lecture, but it seemed like it wasn't specific to a certain group but can
be
> applied to any.
> rachel
>
> Eliezer Kaplan wrote:
>
> > > He said that the revival has to do
> > > with the "third generation effect."  That is when the third generation
> > > of a family that immigrated to another country like america becomes
> > > interested in learning about their culture.  The first generation
wanted
> > > to asssimilate and didn't pass down much and so the 2nd generation is
> > > very assimilated.
> >
> > That is a theory of Margaret Mead's. I'm not so sure it applies here,
unless
> > you're talking primarily about the descendents of Holocaust survivors
whose
> > families fled to America. I feel as if the 'yishuv' here is for the most
> > part older than that.
> >                                 EK
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Rachel Fischer <ruchelk (at) mediaone(dot)net>
> > To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 1:14 PM
> > Subject: re: making judaism cool
> >
> > > Hi everyone!
> > >     Thanks, Ari, for letting us know about that article.  It's a very
> > > good discussion piece.  I'll introduce myself first, since I don't say
> > > much on the list.  I'm Rachel, 17, and will be going to u. of Hartford
> > > in the fall.  I play flute/piccolo with the Maxwell St. Junior Klezmer
> > > Orchestra.  I've been playing klezmer music on and off for seven years
> > > and hope to continue.  Somehow my mom found out about the band
starting
> > > up, when I was in 6th grade, and I thought it would be a good
experience
> > > to learn the music of my culture.  At first I thought it would just be
> > > Hava Nagila type of songs, but when I actually started playing it I
> > > realized it was very different and "cool".  I guess I might be
> > > considered one of the Radical Jewish Culture people, although I never
> > > thought about it till recently.  I did go to Sunday school, but my
> > > parents raised me in way that made Judaism my culture and not just a
> > > religion.
> > >     I read that article very carefully and found several points I
> > > disagree with.  I'll just stick with the music subject, though.  To me
> > > the author doesn't like the direction that klezmer music is going in,
> > > and infact doesn't like where it went in the first half of the 20th
> > > cen.  With his use of quotation marks it seems to me that he doesn't
> > > think that that music was truly klezmer music, because it was a little
> > > different than what was played in Europe.  Klezmer music along with
this
> > > world is constantly changing.  Music is like a language.  It has to
> > > change with the time, or else people will loose interest and it will
be
> > > lost.  People always borrow  words from other languages and music from
> > > other cultures, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.
In
> > > the latter part of the first half of the 20th cen.  people were
loosing
> > > interest in klezmer music because of the popularity of jazz.  Besides
> > > making klezmer music interesting in a different way, historically, it
> > > helped keep people interested in it.
> > >     Today, it's a little different.  I don't know first hand about the
> > > revival, since it happened when I was very young and didn't even know
it
> > > was a revival when I started playing klezmer music.  I like literally
> > > all kinds of klezmer.  At the Midwest Klezmer weekend, Avi Hoffman
spoke
> > > in a lecture about yiddish culture.  He said that the revival has to
do
> > > with the "third generation effect."  That is when the third generation
> > > of a family that immigrated to another country like america becomes
> > > interested in learning about their culture.  The first generation
wanted
> > > to asssimilate and didn't pass down much and so the 2nd generation is
> > > very assimilated.  Right now there are many of those third generation
> > > members, like me, trying to find out more about their culture.  A lot
of
> > > them feel very connected to american culture, which is a mish mosh of
> > > many cultures around the world.  Reggae, for example, has always been
> > > popular.  To me it's almost a natural occurance that someone Jewish
who
> > > likes Reggae would come up with Jewish Reggae.  I personally don't
like
> > > the lyrics of the example in the article.  They are just combining two
> > > things they are familiar with.  Kind of like cross polination of a
> > > flower that doesn't happen naturally.
> > >     As for religion being more popular, I don't think it has much to
do
> > > with the music.  It's not only Judaism.  There are many people I know,
> > > from unrelilgious families, that have done there own research and have
> > > turned to other religions, particularly Christianity, Budhism, and
> > > Taoism.
> > >     I think I'll stop there for now, since this is the first post
about
> > > it.
> > > rachel
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+