Jewish Music has a fascinating history.  Depending on where the Jews have settled, our music has been influenced by the surrounding culture, while at the same holding onto much of our traditional melodic and liturgical practices.  One of the areas that I have begun researching is the Jews of Italy and their musical traditions. 

Did you know that Jewish people have a long history in Italy originating over two thousand years ago.  The music of the Jewish people in Italy has three distinct influences: “…Italian, Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, with Italian musical culture and its innumerable cultural, regional and linguistic differences.” (Source: ON THE MUSIC OF THE JEWS OF ROME – Francesco Spagnolo, University of California, Berkeley) I learned on the Cantors Assembly Mission to Spain in 2016 that Sephardic Jews from Spain emigrated to Italy and Greece to escape the Inquisition.

Most of us are familiar with Italian music as Opera, sung by amazing voices with power and passion.  And so liturgical music followed with many compositions written in the Operatic style.  As Jewish music developed in Italy during the time of the Haskalah (Emancipation) in the 19^th Century, Cantors and lay composers began creating amazing choral repertoires and even adding instrumental music to the prayer experience. 

The music of the Synagogue was not the only place where the Jews had their presence felt.  Jewish musicians were active during the late Renaissance / Baroque period.  After the Haskalah, Jewish performers and composers became involved with Opera and even composed operettas. Some served at court as concert masters where they entertained Dukes and their guests. 

Much of the origins of the Italian music culture can be found in the works of Salamone Rossi, an Italian Jewish composer and violinist (ca. 1570 – 1630).  Rossi is unique because he not only composed and entertained for court, he also wrote Jewish liturgical compositions using popular music of his time (Baroque), and using the Hebrew language.  His music represents the blending of the Italian Musical style during that time period and the liturgical style of the Synagogue.

By the beginning of the 20^th century Jewish involvement in the Italian music scene became prominent, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists, performers, and music historians, several of whom taught in universities.  Unfortunately, by the late 1930s Mussolini’s regime enacted strong Anti-Semitic laws, which forced the Jewish presence out of the general Italian musical community.  Many of the composers of the time fled Italy and only a few of the families returned. 

Though we have a lot of records of the music of the Jewish people in Italy, much of the creativity came to a sudden halt during the time of the Holocaust.  After the Holocaust there has been a reconstruction of Jewish communities and their liturgy in Italy.  Much of this was done via recordings, public performances and education.  There was a strong oral musical tradition that kept Italian Jewish Music alive during troubling times.

Much of the work created by Jewish composers, not only in Italian music but also Liturgical music was lost during this period.  Only now, through research are we finding out names of many of these composers, performers, and musicians, and their musical works. 

As Hazzanim, it is important that we keep ourselves in four places musically:

1. Our Roots – we need to have a strong understanding of where our music began, it’s origins.  We have to retain our knowledge so as not to forget where we started musically in our liturgical/musical background.
2. The “Golden Age” – this of course referring to the late 1800’s early 1900’s.  What is it that made Cantors so great during that time.  The Choirs; the great voices; the Synagogues clamoring for great voices; the Congregants coming to listen to those great voices.
3. Today – not just the contemporary style of people like Debbie Friedman (z”l), Rick Recht, and Craig Taubman, but the music that our young Congregants listen to.  We need to be able to blend those styles with the styles of the past, keeping true to Nusach while at the same time keeping “musically” in touch with all of our Congregants. 
4. The Future – As Cantors – the keepers of our rich, musical traditions – we have to always be open to the new, not just discount it because it is “not what we would listen to”.  We have to be able to integrate musically the future with our current, and our past.

This always makes our job as Hazzanim fresh, challenging, and at the same time exciting. 

When I meet with Colleagues and speak about this subject, many of them will go to different extremes.  Either they only look to the past, the “Golden Age” and attempt to emulate that style.  I am not saying this is a bad thing, however this can restrict the Congregants that we can musically reach and entice to come to services.  Or some look to the contemporary style and state that the “Golden Age” is through and this is the “new-Golden-Age”.  Again they are only reaching a certain faction of our Jewish Community. 

There are of course other factors, and we need to continue a dialogue on musical styles and musical adaptation in our services while keeping true to ourselves. 

Can we blend the old with the new?  Can we adapt?  Historically Judaism has been able to do that throughout our history.  When the 2nd Temple was destroyed by the Romans circa: 70 CE we adapted.  No longer were we part of a Sacrificial Cult.  We moved on and moved forward.  Our music has adapted throughout our wanderings in the Diaspora.  Many of these musical trends can be found in several Scholarly works. 

It is important that we continue to evolve – at least for us Hazzanim – musically.  I do not believe that we have to do only one or the other – I believe that we can blend the old and the new. 

“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The inside might be as black as the night, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” (Andrew Lloyd Webber from the musical “Starlight Express”)

These lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber have a different meaning today than when he wrote them for the musical Starlight Express in 1984. As we went through the past year during the pandemic of Covid-19, we kept looking for that light to get us out of this tunnel of darkness. During all these months since March of 2020, we have experienced loss, severe isolation, depression, anger, and much more. Then the vaccines which were promised began to be dispersed, albeit more slowly than we wished. However, once vaccinations started, that “light at the end of the tunnel” began to dimly appear.

As in the Parsha of B’shalach, which we read from the Torah on January 30th, the ancient Israelites experienced their own “light at the end of the tunnel;” it is called Shirat Hayam, the “Song of the Sea.” In front of them was the Sea of Reeds, and behind them was Pharoah and his Army on Chariots. G-d provides passage by dividing the Sea of Reeds, giving the Israelites a path to walk to freedom. Imagine that the vaccines represent the dividing of the Sea of Reeds for all of us to cross to freedom from the slavery of the pandemic. Like the ancient Hebrews, we will not reach the promised land immediately. We will continue to move forward and shake those chains of isolation, quarantine, and loss of freedom.

How does one shake those chains? The ancient Hebrews did that with music, a song – Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea – “Az Yashir Mosheh uv’nei Yisrael…” “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Eternal…” (Source: The Torah, A Modern Commentary Revised Edition, Plaut, pg 439). They celebrated in song.

All cultures which have gone through some form of oppression, whether a pandemic, slavery, or any other form of oppression, use music to help them deal with the situation, and also to celebrate their freedom once attained.  Regardless of culture or situation people use music to help us understand and express our emotions.  “Music has even been described as a ‘language of the emotions.” (source: What does Music Express? Basic Emotions and Beyond, Patrik N. Juslin, Published Sep 6, 2013 from “Frontiers in Psychology”).   We use Cantillation to read from the Torah, the HafTorah, and the Megillot. Music is a conduit for prayer in every religion. Even a seemingly tuneless chant is a form of musical expression.

During these past 12 plus months of the Covid-19 pandemic, we all turned to music to express various feelings and emotions and to help us deal with this situation. Remember the TikTok post by Nathan Apodaca in which he lip syncs to Fleetwood Mac’s song “Dreams” while holding a bottle of juice? So simple, but the feelings expressed in the video resonated with all of us.

During these days, many of us listen to music which helps inspire us, to let us know that we are not alone in what we are going through. It doesn’t matter the type of musical style we connect with because music reaches out to people in a way that  helps them feel and deal with situations, whether joyous, sad, angry, or fearful.

In Judaism, the songs of our people, the Nusach of our T’fillot express our emotions. A prayer like the Sh’ma, which we sing to a melody notated by Solomon Sulzer, might mean something different to each of us depending on our emotional state when davening. The melodies of our prayers in the entire service, help to convey the words of the T’fillot. And even those words, those melodies, which many of us have known most of our lives, will have a different meaning to us each time we sing them.

We are once again nearing the holiday of Pesach. Like last year, this will be a celebration in which we have to follow health and safety protocols to protect our loved ones and friends. The melodies we sing from the Passover Seder will once again have a digitized feel to them. But we must take consolation in the fact that there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” and that our Seders, our religious services, our concerts, Holidays, will soon be enjoyed together as a community, hand-in-hand. May we continue to acknowledge that “light at the end of the tunnel” and may we soon be blessed to share in each other’s presence as one people, one community, one family.

Hazzan Steven Hevenstone

March 9, 2021

ZOOM, golly, golly, golly! As the shutdowns began and Synagogues emptied it almost seemed as if the song had ended.  Cantorial Concerts across the country, and even in the world were cancelled due to the pandemic.  Bimas across the globe became barren and hushed. Sanctuaries seemed suddenly hauntingly silent.  And then there was Zoom.  When it became clear that during the Pandemic we could no longer gather in our sacred spaces to lead davening, to raise money for our Synagogues through Concerts, or to teach, we Cantors found another avenue, another opportunity to continue the song. 

Through technology, Cantors across the globe were able to continue davening, continue performing concerts, and continue teaching Bar/Bat Mitzvah and students of all ages about our Prayers, Chanting the Torah, and the rich history of our Musical Tradition.  Cantors began offering Kabbalat Shabbat Sing-a-longs on Zoom, Facebook, and even YouTube livestream.  We offered concerts to our communities, not for “Fund-Raising” but for “Fun”-Raising giving our congregants a well needed respite from the daily stress of Covid.  Many of us worked in coordination with each other to help organizations like JNF; UJA; USCJ; and many other worthy causes. 

During this time I had the opportunity to work on a Sub-Group of the USCJ Covid-Task Force on utilizing Zoom and other on-line Meeting Technologies.  I worked with Rabbis and Executive Directors on our team.  Our sub-group discussed ways to continue having services, classes, and even preparing for what would be the most unusual High Holy Days any of us have experienced in our lifetimes.   The most important thing was that regardless of the situation in which we found ourselves, our traditions would continue. 

My colleagues and I have been working and putting much thought into how to provide the most spiritual services in these new formats for worship.  Every prayer has been studied in new ways and it has been amazing to implement and watch as we all grasp onto these new ways of providing spiritual connection through our T’fillah.  It’s also been sad to let go, at least for 2020, of long standing traditions, like Hin’ni, the Cantor’s prayer, and the drama of Kol Nidre three times.

Our song keeps going, the music keeps playing, and our Prayers continue to flow regardless of the situation.  We all gathered together on a Jewish version of “Hollywood Squares”.  We prayed together, we learned together, we sang together.  We found out that regardless of the situation – the Jewish Community will continue as strong as ever.  

Zoom has many challenges.  To keep sound from becoming cacophony we have to sometimes mute each other or ourselves.  Regardless, our song continued.  We have not missed a Minyan since we moved to this format.  Life-cycle events were presented on Zoom.  The Zoom Bar/Bat Mitzvah became a hit, having family members who would not be able to attend under normal circumstances joining in.  Our song did not end.  We celebrated Pesach on Zoom – families connecting with family members, whom they had not seen in many years, joining in on the Zoom Seder.  Shabbat Meals were shared with family members throughout the world on Zoom.  And through all of this our song continued. 

At DHJC we purchased a livestreaming service from Live-Control.  At our High Holy Days we had a very successful hybrid style service with a limited number of congregants in the Sanctuary and others able to watch our services on livestream in the comfort of their homes.  Members who have not attended in many years due to health or distance were able to join in to our DHJC services.  Our Bima is no longer silent  – our song did not end. 

No-one can say how long we will be in this situation.  No-one can say if we will ever go back to the way we were.  But through all of this we must remember: that regardless of what happens in the world around us – we here at DHJC continue as strong as ever.  We are TEAM DHJC and all that implies.  We will move forward and adapt.  For our song will never end. 

Go back to your first experience you can remember of being in a Synagogue.  It could be one of the High Holy Days, a Holiday, Religious School, even Shabbat.  What do you remember?  When asked that question, my response is always the music, how the prayers were sung.  Those melodies touch something deep inside of us.  Not only in the Synagogue do those songs, those melodies resonate, but also from Passover Seders, Chanukah, even in our secular lives.

From our early years we all remember the melody to the “A, B, Cs”; “Intsy Wintsy Spider”, and others.  Point of fact – the melody we use for Shehu Noteh Shamayim from the Aleinu is based on the melody of “Intsy Wintsy Spider”.  That melody continues to resonate with us every Shabbat and Holiday.

“Since earliest times, music has universally been a part of G-d’s creatures’ worship of their Creator.  From the very beginning of our national existence, the worship of G-d with prayer and sacrifice has been accompanied by music (noted in Exodus 15:1, 20), and music played an important part of the Temple service as well.” (source: A Guide to Jewish Prayer pg. 370)

The sounds and tones of music weave through Jewish life as a thread through a tapestry.  This tapestry is rich and vibrant, much like Joseph’s coat of many colors.  But instead of colors, we have tones and harmonies which can lift us up and raise our spiritual identity, helping to fill us with sweet sounds.  We only have to listen, and let ourselves be carried away by these sweet sounds.

Growing up going to Shul I would look forward to attending services and singing along with the Cantor and the Congregation.  There truly was and still is something very spiritual that happens when we all join together singing the prayers.  That sense of our community, not only here at DHJC, but the entire Jewish community coming together through the words of our T’fillahutilizing music.  Sometimes our melodies differ slightly from Synagogue to Synagogue.  Sometimes the melodies might be completely different.  That does not make the melody wrong, just different.  However the result is still the same, as we join together in song.

Today, many of the melodies for our prayers represent our differing cultures, blending together different musical Minhagim.  Throughout our services here at DHJC you can hear the Ashkenazic melodies which many of us grew up with.  You can also her Sefardic melodies – including the Ana, Ana we sing in the Torah Service, and the Yemenite melody we use on Friday Night for the first three stanzas of L’cha Dodi.  Etz Chaim, which we sing prior to closing the Ark at the end of the Torah Service, is sung to the melody of HaTikvah.  And as stated above some nursery rhyme music has also entered our services.

Many times we introduce new melodies into our services.  These melodies might take a little bit to grow on us, but those melodies bring a fresh perspective on the prayer.  In previous newsletters I have written about SLBC (Song Leader Boot Camp) run by Rick Recht.  During that conference, which happens during the week of President’s Day every year, new melodies are introduced to those who attend, and you can truly get a new perspective on our T’filah just by learning a new melody.

Our music is another way we represent L’dor Vador – Generation to Generation.  We pass on these melodies to our children and others, and the next generation takes those melodies to heart. As each generation grows into those songs, many come up with new melodies for the T’filah, taking their own personal perspective and becoming a new part of the tapestry of song.

May we all continue to be a part of that musical tapestry that is our tradition, new and old.