THIS IS THE INSIDE FRONT COVER EDITOR: Joseph A. Levine ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Richard Berlin EDITORIAL BOARD Rona Black, Shoshana Brown, Geoffrey Goldberg, Charles Heller, Kimberly Komrad, Sheldon Levin, Laurence Loeb, Judy Meyersberg, Ruth Ross, Neil Schwartz, Anita Schubert, Sam Weiss, Yossi Zucker TheJournal of Synagogue Music is published annually by the Cantors As- sembly. It offers articles and music of broad interest to theh azzan and other Jewish professionals. Submissions of any length from 1,000 to 10,000 words will be consid ered. GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING MATERIAL All contributions and communications should be sent to the Editor, Dr. Joseph A. Levine—[email protected]—as a Word docu- ment, with a brief biography of the author appended. Musical and/or graphic material should be formatted and inserted within the Word document. Footnotes are used rather than endnotes, and should conform to the fol- lowing style: A - Abraham Idelsohn, Jewish Liturgy (New York: Henry Holt), 1932: 244. B - Samuel Rosenbaum, “Congregational Singing”; Proceedings of the Cantors Assembly Convention (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary), February 22, 1949: 9-11. Layout by Prose & Con Spirito, Inc., Cover design and Printing by Replica. © Copyright 2009 by the Cantors Assembly. ISSN 0449-5128 ii FROM THE EDITOR: The Issue of Niggunim in Worship: Too Much of a Good Thing? ..................................................4 THE NEO-HASIDIC REVIVAL AT 50 Music as a Spiritual Process in the Teachings of Rav Nahman of Bratslav Chani Haran Smith. 8 The Hasidic Niggun: Ethos and Melos of a Folk Liturgy Hanoch Avenary . 48 Carlebach, Neo-Hasidic Music and Liturgical Practice Sam Weiss. 55 The Glantz / Pinchik Conundrum Joseph A. Levine . 76 The Hasidified World of Hazzanut Seen through the Eyes of an Analytical Cantorholic David R. Prager . 101 “Don’t Conduct!” Velvel Pasternak. 118 Hasidic Dance Samuel Abba Horodetzky . 126 M’sirat Nefesh: Dancing in the Face of Death Duvid Werdyger. 129 Music Subjects in the Zohar Amnon Shiloah, assisted by Ruth Tene. 132 Two Dialogues with Zalman Schachter-Shalomi: 1) The Hasidic Approach to Song, and Its Application to Camp Ramah William Berkowitz. 137 2) The Amidah and Atsilut Shoshana Brown . 142 1 Point / Counterpoint: 1) The Hasidic World’s Attitude towards Hazzanut Akiva Zimmermann. 148 2) Hazzanut in a Hasidic Court between the Wars From the Yizkor Book of Tchortkov (Czortkow) . 151 Hasidism in Jazz John Katz. 158 NUTS AND BOLTS A Report on the Ernest Bloch Conference: The Man and His Music 50 Years Later Malcolm Miller . 163 Singing the Bible with a Modern Inflection: Scriptural Events, Places and Personalities in Israeli Popular Music Naomi Cohn Zentner. 171 A LITERARY GLIMPSE Hasidim and Mitnagdim in Vilna Between the Wars Chaim Grade . 198 MAIL BOX Under a Cloud in Central Europe—The Trials of Leopold Hilsner Charles Heller . 202 About the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries Nathan Tinanoff. 204 The Power of a Well-Placed Niggun Alan Sokoloff. 205 A Masorti Cantor in Sweden–33 Years Later Maynard Gerber . 205 2 REVIEWS Continuity, Change and Retrieval: The New Reform Siddur Ruth Langer . 208 The Worlds of S. An-Sky, including a CD: The Musical World of S. An-Sky, by Gabriella Safran & Steven J. Zipperstein Joseph A. Levine . 224 Jerry Glantz’s The Man Who Spoke to God —including 2 CDs Daniel S. Katz. 227 Aaron Blumenfeld’s Mea Shearim: 100 Hebrew Songs in Chasidic Style and 101 Nigunim: Hebrew Songs in Chasidic Style. Erik Contzius. 235 Michael Isaacson’s Jewish Music as Midrash: What Makes Music Jewish? Jack Kessler. 237 IN MEMORIAM Saul Hammerman (1926-2008). .240 Pinchas Spiro (1922-2008) .............................................. .242 Larry Vieder (1922-2008) .................................................244 MUSIC A Minyan of Niggunim for Our Time 1 T’fillah Zakkah the Rebbe of Poltava, arr. S. Epstein. 246 2 Hodu l’Adonai attributed to Moshe Kraus . 252 3 Atah Ehad after a Ukranian folk song . 253 4 Mah Tovu after Charles Davidson’s Hinei Mah Tov. 254 5 Ki Anu Amekha Lubavitch, after Hasidei Munkacsz. .. 256 6 Shevah Not’nim Lo Abba Yosef Weisgal . .257 7 Hoshana L’ma’an Amitakh after Ben Zion Shenker’s Mizmor L’David . 258 8 L’Kha Dodi after Reb Yankel Talmud’s Ashreinu ................ 259 9 V’-Kareiv P’zureinu after Rav Shlomo Carlebach’s Addir Hu. 260 10 Simhah Niggun Traditional, arranged by Sholom Kalib. 261 3 The Issue of Niggunim in Worship: Too Much of a Good Thing? How does a Hasid achieve awareness of the joy and wonder of this world along with an abiding love for all God’s creatures? Through singing the melody of his prayer with such intensity that it is as if his soul were ready to expire in longing for God, as it brought down the divine Emanation from the upper worlds. Solomon Zalman of Kopust, Magein Avot, ca. 1870. For 200 years after their movement was founded by Israel Baal Shem Tov, Hasidim—with their fervid belief that the Heavenly Palace’s gates open only to song—kept pretty much to themselves. Then their ranks were decimated halfway through the 20th century when over three million Hasidim perished in Eastern Europe during the Shoah. A scant generation later, by an unlikely coincidence the persistence of their undilutedly ethnic practices proved a godsend to North American synagogue practice, which had run out of ideas. A repertoire of Hasidic-style tunes, popularized through recordings of annual song festivals in Israel, were the catalyst; they gave Jewish worship worldwide a boost of adrenalin that has lasted into the next century and gives no sign of abating. Even Reform worshipers felt an urge to join in the singing. But after a life- time of prayer through English readings they were ill equipped to do so, a fact alluded to in a songster “conceived as the musical component of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations’ Religious School Curriculum.” One of its songs, The People in My Synagogue,1 succinctly describes Reform worship as previously understood by the congregation (emphasis added). Oh, the Rabbi leads us all in prayer… Oh, the Cantor sings our songs. Suddenly that formula was turned around; the Cantor was now the one who led prayer, and Reform worshipers hadn’t a clue as to how they should follow. Latter-day niggunim came attached to unfamiliar Hebrew words that 1 Manginot, Stephen Richards, ed. (New York: Transcontinental Music), 1992: 195. 4 had been long since excised from the Union Prayer Book. Moreover, Israeli Rock-style niggunim demanded energetic participation, which was far re- moved from organ-accompanied hymn singing. To circumvent the difficulty, an alternate means of lay involvement was introduced: mass handclapping. It quickly spread to all the national movements and, in a strange turnabout, the only worship currently distinguished by a lack of clapping is Hasidic. Once the tsunami of neo-Niggunim engulfed synagogues with pulsating waves of Rock-inspired rhythm, a significant portion of the old European-bred Hasidic-style congregational refrains like V’-taheir Libeinu or even the new Israeli imports like Oseh Shalom seemed to lose their freshness. After four decades of being sung on demand to syncopated finger snapping, the latest tunes prove no more effective than the old ones. If the traditional melodies— based on time-honored prayer modes—were felt to be too drawn-out, their replacements are so percussively offbeat that people can barely enunciate the syncopated torrent of syllables. The early Hasidim had done away with words altogether; their intent was to “break the vessels” imposed by a set rubric of prayer, to move beyond a fixed formula into the higher spheres of God’s Presence. Their fervidly sung niggunim functioned as musical bridges between heaven and earth, melodies in space, via which they tried to ascend as many of the ten sfirot leading to Ein Sof as they were able. Niggunim are specifically set up as “journeys to the Infinite,” composed to induce a spiritual transformation… The slow, meditatived’veikut niggunim sung by Hasidim are extremely powerful. Each of their sections contains its own experience, so you don’t have to build up to a certain high point. You feel the pulse immediately… The melodies are written to express specific feelings, which become keys to unlock doors of what theH asidim call shefa, which roughly translated means Godly benevolence.2 Sung with the right intention (kavvanah), d’veikut niggunim offered a potential means of realizing the Psalmist’s recurrent dream (27: 4), “One thing only have I desired ... to behold the graciousness of God and to visit His Heavenly Palace”; they were never viewed as an end in themselves. Our religious leaders have failed to understand this; their ill-conceived abuse of niggunim for the sake of retaining control over worship has led to ut- ter boredom. Worshipers are generally boxed into singing every section of every service to the same pounding beat, even though a third of all Hasidic niggunim—including the latest ones—are neither foot stompers nor table bangers. With all the current interest in relaxation as a stress reducer, we 2 David Sears, “A Conversation with Andy Statman,” Farbrengen, Fall 2000. 5 might anticipate hearing at least one truly meditative niggun during a typical service. Sadly, this doesn’t happen. Potentially effective candidates for reflective treatment—Adonai, S’fatai Tiftah 3 (Eternal God, Open Thou My Lips), normally whispered as a private invocation prior to the Amidah) and Al Sh’loshah D’varim 4 (The World Stands on Three Pillars), meant to be sung reverently while the Torah scroll is dressed—are bounced into boop-a-doop rhythms better suited to the lyrics of a Broadway musical (I’d like to coo with my baby tonight5) or a campfire- cookout singalong (I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad 6).