Music and Worship,Re-examined

WALDOKS, MOSHE

Music and Worship,Re-examined The Lord's Song in a Strange Land—Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship Jeffrey A. Summit. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 203 pp.,...

...In many cases the younger members of today's congregations are products of denominational youth movements and summer camping, where the spirit of song and participation is very much alive...
...Rabbi Summit, Hillel director at Tufts University and a trained ethnomusicologist, provides one of the best introductions yet to the role synagogue services play in our contemporary identity formation...
...Music and Worship,Re-examined The Lord's Song in a Strange Land—Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship Jeffrey A. Summit...
...It is not easy for established congregations to innovate...
...Cantor Levine's book is a mixture of memoir and monograph, weaving his account of long experience in the world of the cantorate with insights into the centrality of Shabbat...
...But there is little evidence to establish what modes of ovodat haShem, liturgical practice, actually took place in either the Mishkan, the traveling shrine described in the Book of Exodus, or later in the Beyt HaMikdash, the holy Temple in Jerusalem...
...Sometimes, the younger ones who will shape its future are neglected...
...The American synagogue service, historically, has had little to do with spiritual transformation of the individual—focusing, rather, on maintaining social solidarity through attendance at coming-of-age or high-holiday services...
...Though it could have been more rigorously edited, it offers many examples of congregations that are taking up the challenge of creating services that engage the personal spiritual dimension...
...the comparisons of the Sephardic and Ashkenazic rites and their respective imagery...
...many are ruled by an understandable desire to please those older members who are substantial sustainers of the synagogue...
...And both provide glossaries and bibliographies for further study...
...Thus, the recent renewal of interest in delving into the deep structure of the service iyyun tefila, in pursuit of spiritual growth, is intriguing...
...These two volumes, ideal for use in academic settings, are also likely to stimulate interest in creative approaches to worship as well...
...New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 203 pp., hardcover, CD included, $29.96 Rise and Be Seated—The Ups and Downs of Jewish Worship Joseph A. Levine Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 2000, 291 pp., hardcover $40 REVIEWED BY MOSHE WALDOKS No Jewish community has ever existed that did not gather its members together on a regular basis to perform "sacred service...
...The author's skillful weaving of anecdotal and historical reference into the fabric of each service make this volume ideal for any serious Introduction to Judaism course...
...While we have hints of psalmistry and choral singing, the mainstay of the Temple service was the coming-closer offerings (korbanot) and their intricacies...
...But there has been an outpouring of guides to Jewish prayer—there are now close to 10fJ—in Hebrew and English, reflecting a variety of perspectives from the classical rabbinic/Hasidic to the neo- Hasidic "hippie...
...Rabbi Moshe Waldoks is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Zion, an independent congregation in Brookline, Mass...
...the success of the Hasidic niggun (wordless melody) in recapturing the participatory nature of communal prayer...
...His lucid and highly readable reworking of an academic dissertation examines the role of melodic choice in the Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat service in several Boston-area synagogues, ranging from a stately Reform "mother" temple, to a free-flowing Jewish renewal fellowship group, with stops along the way at a modern Orthodox shul, a Conservative campus service and a Hasidic congregation...
...These volumes offer wonderful ways for any congregation to begin the process of reexamining its practices in light of both historical authenticity and contemporary communal needs...
...and other gems...

Vol. 26 • October 2001 • No. 5


 
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