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Music in prayer a personal journey
- 1. Beth Sperber Richie Yesodot Halimud 2012-2013 5772-5773
- 4. Adon olam, asher malach, B’terem kol yetzir nivra L’et na’asah v’heftso kol, Azai melech sh’mo nikra Crown of all time, the one who reigned before all mortal shape was made, and when God’s will brought forth all things then was the name supreme proclaimed.
- 5. It is a good thing to give thanks to Adonai, and to sing praises to your name, O Most High Tov l’hodot l’adonai Ul’zamer lshimcha elyon
- 6. Ki mitzion, teitzei Torah ud’var Adonai m’Yirushalayim Behold, out of Zion emerges our Torah and the word of Adonai from Jerusalem’s heights
- 10. The power of worship is song. First we sing, then we understand. First we praise, then we believe. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
- 11. • Danny Freelander • Jeff Klepper • Debbie Friedman
- 14. Music is central to the Judaic experience. We do not pray; we davven, meaning we sing the words we direct toward heaven. Nor do we read the Torah; instead we chant the weekly portion, each word with its own cantillation. Music is the map of the Jewish spirit, and each spiritual experience has its own distinctive melodic tonality. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
- 16. Beyond language, Kaddish is more than the sum of its words. First and foremost, it is an experience of the senses. Like music, there is no understanding Kaddish without hearing and feeling it and letting go of the words. Anita Diamant, Saying Kaddish
- 17. - - Adonai, mi ta-gur be-ahalecha; mi tish-kon, b-har kodshecha. God, who shall live in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy mountain? Ho-le-chet t'mima, u-po-elet tzedek; ve-do-veret emet, b-levava She who walks uprightly and works for justice, and speaks truth in her heart.
Editor's Notes
- When we began YesodotHalimud, Myrna and Rachel asked us to describe our Jewish journey and why we were taking the course. So much of my Jewish journey is tied up with music that I really feel as though the reason I am Jewishly connected at all begins and ends with music.
- My Jewish journey actually starts with my parents, neither of whom could tell an aleph from a bet. They wanted their kids to have a Jewish education so they joined a Reform synagogue in Boston. We all went to Hebrew school and religious school through Confirmation.
- My Jewish journey actually starts with my parents, neither of whom could tell an aleph from a bet. They wanted their kids to have a Jewish education so they joined a Reform synagogue in Boston. We all went to Hebrew school and religious school through Confirmation.
- Temple Israel was deeply steeped in classical Reform musical tradition. There you would have heard music like that of the 16th century Italian composer Salamone Rossi who composed settings that were similar to secular madrigals and church music for use in synagogue. Here’s a clip from his AdonOlam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOmUEOpC6QA
- In the 19th century in Europe the “reformed” tradition brought new music, including church music into synagogue. Some examples include Schubert’s setting of Psalm 92, written in 1828 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBczCvUEfB4
- Schubert was encouraged to write for the synagogue by Solomon Sulzer a Cantor in Vienna who had a huge influence on Jewish music. Sulzer composed the Shema and Ki Mi’tzion tunes we still use. Edelman disc Track 13 Ki Mitzion
- Just like the choirs of those times, our family’s synagogue choir in Boston included both Jews and non-Jews, with the focus on getting the best voices, not whether the singers were able to understand what they were singing. As a result each Rosh Hashanah I had a chance to greet my high school choir director, Roy Kelley, who to this day still has an elfin look fitting his Irish Catholic heritage. And this is what they would have been singing: Edelman Track 7 High Holiday Ma’ariv service
- I learned to read Torah and Haftarah and learned the chanting by listening to the tapes my Cantor made for me to practice with. Almost no one at the synagogue understood or even followed along as I read. I now understand that this experience was much like those of Jews in ancient times. When Ezra began the practice of chanting the Torah in the market place it was to share the Torah with Jews who weren’t educated enough to read it themselves. The chanting helped him emphasize and punctuate the portion and helped to communicate its meaning to the ancient Hebrews.
- Much later, the Ba’al Shem Tov, ShneorZalman and the Kabbalists apparently shared a similar idea, but instead of Torah and learning they felt that spirituality and prayer could be brought to the masses of uneducated Jews through music. Who knew that I was actually a Chasidic Jew? Words were unnecessary; in fact Zalman believed words could interrupt the emotions and outpouring of the soul that music can bring. A pure and wordless melody, or niggun, could express this spiritual instinct. (Edelman and Idelsohn) Niggunhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYLvriG9L74
- Apparently I also shared these beliefs with Heschel, who wrote: The power of worship is song. First we sing, then we understand. First we praise, then we believe.
- As teenagers, my brothers and I were very involved in NFTY, the Reform Jewish youth movement. In high school it was a rare weekend when I wasn't involved with something Jewish either in my home synagogue or at the regional or national level. This was the time I felt the most spiritually connected and it was usually music that helped me make that connection. I led a few services and did some song leading as well. But I was often singing songs or saying prayers that I only understood in terms of global themes. I found them moving spiritually but I didn’t always know why. Track 57 Klepper Or Zarua or sing/play Klepper and Debbie Friedman examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad04SrEcWi4 Shalom Rav
- At the beginning of the course when I described my Jewish journey I wrote: I feel like there are huge holes in my Jewish learning. I'm not even sure what they are, sort of like the child at the seder who doesn't even know what to ask. I participate actively at shul so I run into things all the time where I miss the reference or where it's clear to me that my understanding could be so much deeper. I don't just want to learn to help lead services mechanically; I want to have access to the meaning underneath.
- So in an attempt to access the meaning I took this wonderful course and then embarked on this short study of Jewish music. I’ve learned that I’m not the only one who feels this way about the connection between Judaism and music. This is from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Music is central to the Judaic experience. We do not pray; we davven, meaning we sing the words we direct toward heaven. Nor do we read the Torah; instead we chant the weekly portion, each word with its own cantillation. Even rabbinical texts are never merely studied; we chant them with the particular sing-song known to all students of Talmud. Each time and text has its specific melodies. The same prayer may be sung to half-a-dozen different tunes depending on whether it is part of the morning, afternoon or evening service, and whether the day is a weekday, a Sabbath, a festival or one of the High Holy Days. There are different cantillations for biblical readings, depending on whether the text comes from the Mosaic books, the prophetic literature, or the Ketuvim, 'the writings.' Music is the map of the Jewish spirit, and each spiritual experience has its own distinctive melodic tonality. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
- Jewish music is Reconstructionist in that it responds to the musical traditions of the society in which it finds itself. Nusach and cantillation were added as synagogue prayer replaced Temple worship. The nusach of Sephardic and Ashkenazic prayer is different because each was influenced by the music of its surrounding area. And as we saw earlier, Rossi and others composed music for the synagogue that was really similar to the secular madrigals and church music of the time. Some nigunnim came from pub songs and other local tunes. Debbie Friedman and Jeff Klepper are American Jewish musicians who responded to the ‘60s folk and protest musical traditions.
- Six months ago when my mother died, I read Anita Diamant’s book Saying Kaddish and was shocked to discover that you were not supposed to listen to or make music in the first year of mourning your parent. I didn’t see how I could get through this difficult mourning period without music for comfort. But I also read that in some ways the words of the mourner’s Kaddish are like music: “Beyond language, Kaddish is more than the sum of its words. First and foremost, it is an experience of the senses. Like music, there is no understanding Kaddish without hearing and feeling it and letting go of the words.” Anita Diamant, Saying Kaddish And this has been my experience as I say Kaddish daily for my Mom. Each day the sounds of that prayer land in a different way on my ear and reflect a different part of my mourning. In her wisdom, Hazzan Rachel encouraged me to consider the tradition when I think about using music as a comfort during this time when she wrote: …adhering to quiet (or, let’s say no music) for a period of time is a way to be with what is, not to hide from it or otherwise try to diminish it, even when it's difficult. So I continue to go back and forth between music that helps me to grieve and music that gives me joy. And I leave time for quiet with no music, not allowing the music that I love to crowd out what is true for me as I mourn.
- I’d like to finish today by asking you to turn to Psalm 15, which is on p. 1425 in the JPS Tanach. This was the psalm we chose to read at my mother’s funeral to describe how she always tried to live her life. Stephanie Firestone was kind enough to translate the first few lines for me and changed it into the feminine form. I’ve written a setting of the Psalm which is first in the original masculine form and then incorporates the feminine form, which I’d like to share with you.