What are the characteristics of Jewish music and how did it evolve

What does Jewish music include

It is hard to define but by and large it can be said to be music that accompanies the Jewish people from its inception. It is divided into religious music, such as hymns and poetry, and secular music created by Jews for Jews, for example, Jewish music could be heard in public singing, which was common in Israel. 

One person who tried to define Jewish music was the composer Richard Wagner, who was later admired by the Nazi Party, in his essay on Judaism.

In response to this article, the Jews tried to define whether their music was Jewish, and famous composers such as Mendelssohn did not see their work as Jewish elements even though they defined themselves as Jews. The study created three approaches to Jewish music, the religious approach which sees only hymns, prayers, and piyyutim as Jewish music, the social approach, which sees the Jewish community or the Jewish sovereign state as an important component of Jewish music; And the genetic psychological approach that sees certain personal musical traits as genetic. In this article, we will mainly address the first two approaches. So while not everyone in sports is a successful Jewish baseball player, in music, however, the Jews have contributed a lot, especially to American music.

Jewish music originates from the Bible and the reading of the Hebrew cantillation, which some see as the basis for melody in hymns. These cantillations serve as a kind of musical notes that guide Jews all over the world in how to read the melody. 

Already in the Bible, we read about musical instruments and poetry but much of the poetry is from an earlier source than the time of description in the Bible so it is difficult to set a chronological time. Musical instruments were also present in the temple. Archaeologists have even found musical instruments from the biblical period or illustrations of musical instruments. The first instruments mentioned are the violin and organ. Singing and drumming were common by women after the victory in the war, such as the song of the sea, Devorah’s song, and the singing to David and Saul after beating the Philistines.

The Jewish song – Jewish song in the synagogue

The Jewish song in the synagogue is called a piyyut or psalm. After the destruction of the Temple, the use of musical instruments for prayer was forbidden and singing was permitted for festive events. According to Jewish law, women were also forbidden to sing in public and only male singing was allowed. At first complex melodies were not accepted in the synagogue and recitation, which is still practiced in the Yemenite community, was more common.

With the development of piyyutim by the geniuses of Babylon in the sixth century BC, piyyutim was introduced alongside prayer and the use of a public messenger as a cantor. At first, the rabbis opposed the use of cantors and hymns. However, public demand prevailed and the need for cantors increased, the cantor even developed into a paid profession.  Over the years, various readings and melodies have developed in the different Jewish communities, some under the influence of the environment and some through the independent development of Judaism. Thus in Ashkenazi poetry, there were musical modules that later influenced Hassidic poetry. The wording of the prayer also received unique Ashkenazi melodies like “every vow”, “we must praise”  and more.

Jewish music in the home Jewish music

In addition to the prayer songs, poets began writing songs for Shabbat, holidays, and celebrations. These hymns were not meant to be hymns for generations but were established into Jewish tradition. The most well-known of which is the singing of “Shalom Aleichem” at the Shabbat reception. Many of the piyyutim were composed by medieval poets, Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike, for example, Donesh ben Lebert, Rabbi Shimon ben Yitzchak, Yehuda Halevi, Ivan Gvirol, and more. The melodies that accompany the texts have not been preserved and differences and influences of the place can be heard among the various communities. There are also influences of popular music like opera, march, Arabic popular music, and more.

Jewish musicians through history

Alongside religious music, Jewish musicians also sprang up alongside local musicians, such as the Ziskind von Trimberg of Würzburg in the Middle Ages, Israel Nagara from Safed who in the 17th century introduced Turkish maqams to the piyyut, the Dutch Abram Caceres who was active in the 18th-17th centuries. During these centuries, an extensive community of Jewish musicians who played the violin, harp, and flute also developed.  Then came the klezmers, Ashkenazi Jewish musicians, who first played for the rulers in Christian communities. The Jewish musician Mendelssohn tried to integrate with the music of European culture, on the other hand, the Baal Shem Tov (Baal Shem Tov) established the Hassidic movement that attaches great importance to singing.  Melody has become an important tool in the spiritual development of Hasidism alongside dance and prayer as opposed to the Lithuanian Hasidim, who demanded a reduction in the melody and that the main thing be the study of the Torah.

Jewish singers and Jewish music in the modern era

With the technological development of the recordings and the freedom given to the Jews, more Jewish musicians and singers Jewish singers intervened in popular music in North Africa and the Middle East, for example, the Algerian singer Edmund Atlan, and the Algerian violinist Enrico Macias. In Tunisia, Raul Zorno, Habiba Mesika and more. In Morocco, Zohra Alfasiya is well-known and was even able to get in a song by the Israeli poet Erez Bitton. Some of the greatest Jewish composers grew up in Europe,  Giacomo Meyerber (1791-1864), Jacques Frumental Halevi (who wrote “The Jew”), Felix Mendelssohn (“Elijah”), Jacques Offenbach, and Gustav Mahler.  Although they did not play Jewish music to bring about a great Jewish idea, some of them used Jewish motifs.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the twentieth century, a community of Jewish actors, and Jewish singers developed mainly in the area of Russia and Poland. They were also Jewish comedians,  known in Hebrew as “Badhan”, a funny singer. These were called Brody singers.  It was at that time that Yiddish plays began, followed by Yiddish cinema and Jewish films. Much of the Jewish music recorded for Jewish films became hits such as “Mein Shtetele Belz” (The Town of Belz), Written for the play “The Song of the Ghetto” (the song from the ghetto) in 1932, the song “A Letter to Mother” (letter to mother) by Shlomo Shmuelevich from 1908 and more. In Western Europe, the greatest Jewish composers, Ernst Bloch and Arnold Schoenberg arose. With the rise of the Nazis to power came the end of the development of Jewish music, mainly that from Eastern Europe. The Nazis banned music by Jewish musicians and music with an external, non-Aryan, certainly Jewish, influence.

Jewish music in the United States

Jewish music in the United States developed following the emigration of Jews to the United States, first from Russia and then Germany, Poland, and other European countries. The vast majority came to the New York metropolitan area, the more religious and traditional Jews were integrated into Yiddish theaters and the secularists turned to Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. Two Yiddish songs from the period between the world wars that became hits were “Yiddish Mame” and “Bye Mir Bisto Shane”.  Many Jewish composers of the musicals did not demonstrate their Jewishness, but one of the most well-known composers of the period was a Jew, George Gershwin, who included Ashkenazi prayer motifs in some of his songs.  At that same time, the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” was also successful with Jewish themes and music with a Jewish influence. The film The Jazz Singer, the first sound film, also contains cantorial passages and Jewish prayer. After World War II there were quite a few Jewish composers, musicians, and important Jewish singers such as Leonard Bernstein, who dealt with issues relating to Jews, Steve Reich, and Kurt Weil, one of the composers of the Brecht Theater who combined Jewish motifs with jazz. In popular music, Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan are among the Jewish musicians whose songs have a Jewish influence. The most well-known Jewish musician today who is influenced by Judaism is the former ultra-Orthodox musician Matisyahu.

Jewish music in Israel

In Israel, there has been a development in types of music influenced by Judaism, classical and popular.  In Mizrahi singing and in recent years, there has been an influence of religious and repentant singers, such as Hanan Ben Ari, Yishai Lapidot Eviatar Banai, and Ehud Banai. Rabbi Carlebach also introduced many guitar songs to events, some of which are even sung in the synagogue.