Jewish Music, Our Values

Guiding Questions:
1) What is the context within which this music was introduced to the synagogue?
2) What value(s) is the composer conveying by setting the prayer in this way?
3) How does that align with your values?

The central idea...concerns the typological significance in Jewish culture of the numbers 7 and 8. If the number seven corresponds with the seven days of Creation and thus with the regular weekly calendar, then the number 8 stands for something above nature or regular conduct.
For this reason, a brit milah takes place on the eighth day of a child’s life. The hanukkah (consecration) of the Holy Tabernacle (the mishkan) took place on the eighth day after the completion of the seven days of miluim, preparation. The menorah in the mishkan had seven branches, but the ḥanukkah miracle entailed lights that burned for eight days, echoing the original consecration of the Mishkan that unfolded over eight days. In the sphere of (religious, temple) music, specifically, it is taught by R. Yehuda in BT Arakhin 13b, that while the harp used in the Temple had seven strings, the harp that will be used in redemptive, messianic times, will have eight.
- Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler

On the basis of Shulhan Arukh (compendium of Jewish law), the organ’s advocates argued that organ playing by a Gentile would be permitted for weddings and for the Sabbath. Although music in the synagogue had been prohibited after the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem’s Second Temple in 70 CE, the organ’s supporters argued that vocal music was allowed for religious purposes, and the Reformers merely wished to extend this compromise to instrumental music.
- Tina Fruhauf (The Organ and its Music in German-Jewish Culture)

Scholars historically linked the cantor’s development to music’s (presumed) emergence as a historical core of the religious service, effectively integrating song and text in Jewish history and valorizing the cantor’s voice as a vessel of communal spirituality. As recitation of the prayer text required greater musical skill, the contemporary cantor became a fixture of Jewish ritual, and consequently a barometer of sonic authenticity.
- Judah M. Cohen ("Professionalizing the Cantorate - and Masculinizing it?")

[Chabad niggunim] (wordless melodies) are believed to be effective in elevating the animal soul because they are seen as sounded metaphors for core Lubavitcher (Chabad) beliefs; performing them is not only a blessing, it is a spiritual necessity. Niggunim, because of their position as the closest of all musics to the divine source, are so powerful that even a performance by an evil person, or perhaps for an evil purpose, can transform both the performer and the event into something of good.
- Ellen Koskoff ("Music in Lubavitcher Life")

[Debbie] Friedman was the first American Jewish woman to have a major impact on Jewish liturgy. Through her feminist-inspired, religious popular music, as well as in her role as a highly charismatic song leader, she fostered Jewish egalitarianism and thus encouraged women to take ownership of synagogue worship. In the course of time, not only did Friedman's songs become an integral part of synagogue services across the Jewish denominations, but she also inspired young female musicians and songwriters to continue their heritage.
- Sarah M. Ross (A Season of Singing: Creating Feminist Jewish Music in the United States)