By Yona Bellar. I have lived my entire life with a certain conception of music. I believed that although Jewish music brims with talent and diversity, it is restricted by the limit of talent that exists within the Jewish world, whereas secular music isn’t bound by such limitations, thereby allowing it to stand superior to traditional Jewish music. Allow me to explain.
The Jewish music industry is made up of many talented individuals who work to produce great music. Let us say that there are a thousand people involved in the Jewish music industry, including singers, composers, lyricists, arrangers, musicians, producers, and many of the other professionals necessary to produce quality music. That number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of people working in the secular music field. Furthermore, those employed in the Jewish world are people who for the most part have gone to Yeshiva, raise families, learn Torah, and focus their lives on loftier goals, making music their secondary priority, while those in the secular world are usually born and bred in the pursuit of musical greatness, often spending a tremendous chunk of their lives studying music, and living for nothing more than the music they produce. Any talents that they were born with has been developed to the utmost, not restrained by any morals or obligations. This would result in a secular music world that is far more developed and much more talented than its Jewish counterpart. A secular world that has everything that the Jewish world has and much much more.
That has always been my conception. But it is in fact a misconception.
It may be true that the secular music industry has a level of talent that the Jewish world has never seen. It may also be true that the hit songs that are released every day in the secular world are songs that contain so much sophistication that no Jewish composer would ever be able grasp the musical concepts that were played into to produce such results. And it also may be true that secular music has gone in directions that Jewish musicians can only dream of.
But there is something that only Jewish music has, something that secular music is completely devoid of. Something that no secular artist has ever successfully encompassed.
I don’t know if there is any one word that can sum up this something adequately, but I will try to explain it as best I can.
Picture the scene. It’s Friday night, and you’re sitting in Shul. The Chazzan’s Davening Kabalas Shabbos, and he starts singing R’ Moshe Goldman Zatzal’s Baruch Kail Elyon to the words of Lecha Dodi. The whole Shul joins in the song, greeting Shabbos with this uplifting tune. Now imagine if the Chazzan would instead sing a secular song, even a soulful secular song. Imagine the whole Shul singing “You Raise Me Up”, or any other of the soulful secular songs that have crept their way into our circles, along with the Chazzan. It just wouldn’t work. Secular songs, no matter how soulful they may be, are just not Hartzig. And no matter how pulsing they may be, they’re just not Lebidik. They just don’t have a Yiddishe Taam. Because only a composer who fasts on Yom Kippur can infuse Yiddishe Taam into a song. Only a singer who sings Shabbos Zemiros can perform a song with Yiddishe Hartz. And only a musician who gets drunk on Purim Leshaim Shamayim can truly encompass loftiness into the music he plays. You can commission the top hundred secular artists and put them in one room with the sole task of creating one Jewish song. They will fail. They may be able to mimic the style or the sound, but they will never be able to recreate genuine Yiddishe Taam. And that is the something that Jewish music will always have over secular music.
And that frankly is something that, regardless of how much talent I may be missing out on, I cannot bear to give up.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
Whats the point in this article
Appreciate your thoughts. Interesting that you mention a drunk musician on Purim. That brings to mind these words from the Mashgiach for your consideration:
In an essay “Omek Simchas Purim – Zamru Maskil” that was published in “Mevakshei Torah”, Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon quotes R’Shlomo Alkabetz, the author of Lecha Dodi, (pretty lofty) who conveys this idea beautifully. In Manos Levi on Megillah, R’ Alkabetz asks: Why didn’t Achashveirosh provide any temptations for the sense of hearing at the party described in the beginning of Megilas Esther? He provided temptations for all of the other senses; smell – scents from the garden; sight – beautiful tapestries to see; touch; luxurious gold and silver beds; and taste – “Yayn malchus rav.” Why didn’t he provide music to tempt the sense of hearing?
R’ Shlomo Alkabetz explains that a nigun is tremendously powerful. It can raise man’s soul to dveykus. He writes that the angels communicate through shira; the nigun is the language of heaven. In fact, he writes that that’s why babies feel comfortable when we sing to them, because it reminds their neshamos of shamayim where they were just recently listening to the angel’s shira.
Based on this, he answers that Achashveirosh’s intention at the party was to use the senses to entice the Jews to sin, and he was afraid to have music at the party because then they might have been spiritually uplifted by the music, enabling them to transcend their surroundings and avoid succumbing to temptation.
R’ Salomon asks: The Nesivos (in Megilas Sesarim) explains that Achashveirosh’s intent was that each thing would incur a direct violation, for example, he had prostitutes there to tempt the people, so why didn’t he have musician’s playing erotic music? We all know the power of music in being moshech people to ta’avah.
To answer, he quotes “Zaken Echad” (based on Radak) who says that we’ll never totally understand Tehillim until we understand the musical instructions and instruments assigned to each piece. The power of a nigun is to add “hesber v’havana b’dakus hadevarim.” To this point, the Meiri explains the pasuk of “Zamru maskil”; that singing gives insight. However, it only gives insight, or is meorer that which is hidden in our hearts and souls.
In other words, R’ Salomon feels, a nigun is neither TAMEH nor KADOSH, rather the TUNE is meorer WHAT IS ONE’S HEART. Even if a given tune is meorer some to ta’avah, nevertheless, the same tune can bring an Ish Kodesh to dveykus.
This answers R’ Salomon’s question. Achashveirosh didn’t have music at the party because he knew that its possible to find the kedusha in any melody, so the music might actually have had the opposite effect of inspiring the Jews to do teshuva.
The obvious conclusion – even coarse secular music – presumably what Achashveirosh would have had playing – can be used to grow spiritually.
Incidentally, in this essay, R’ Salomon protests today’s Jewish pop music; he says that it’s commercially designed to hook people and get them into it. He says that the “star” mentality of promoting the individual entertainers is abhorrent and that certainly most of
them aren’t worthy of being role models.
I didn’t say it, he did. Worth contemplating. I would say.
PS: Many of the tunes, including Nigunim from Eastern Europe originated as non-Jewish marches and even bar songs which had questionable lyrics to say the least. Having gone for my Master’s Degree in Music at CUNY I agree with the Mashgiach. Probably the most comprehensive history of Jewish music is “Jewish Music: Its Historical Development” by Abraham Z. Idelsohn who adds historical strength to the Mashgiach’s line of thinking.
I forgot to add, here’s a pic of the Mashgiach I took a couple of years ago. If you download it… well that’s your business. If you want a real copy contact me through the site:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/587cb02e37c5818cdacc827c/589a0fb2f7e0ab7332a51b46/58b8e641e6f2e1ea4bf99993/1488512580769/salomon-canvas-S18.jpg?format=1500w
I’ll disagree with one point on this. The jewish music industry nowdays is chock full of talent that rivals and in some places even surpasses that of the secular world.
Really well written. I love when the Scoop spices up the news with these opinion articles. Kudos!
Im not in the industry but i was under the impression that the jewish music industry uses top secular talent for arrangers, musicians, producers, and many of the other professionals necessary to produce quality music
Music is language of the heart, it bypass all barriers. Someone could’ve built up tremendous self control and personal barriers that the yetzer hora doesn’t speak to him, but with the wrong music the yetzer hora has a direct tunnel into his heart, and he is forever changed. The same is true the other way, a person could’ve fallen so low, nothing seems like it can work to bring hm back, but with the right nigun he can become a changed person.
Music can ignite taavos in person that they otherwise would’ve never had.
It’s not about who composed the music it’s about the style, not all music with a kosher name and label….
Ron:
This (and especially once you mention not being able to fully understand Tehillim without the musical component) would be a great place to “reprint” your old article about your discovery of the musical notes of the alef beis and the recording clip or two of computerized music which the words of Tehillim produced.
….so much “Jewish” music today is made without any “hartz” whatsoever, and is actually an embarrassment to the Jewish nation, and in specific, the Jewish music industry.
To me it seems the the focus of the writer was not about the spiritual aspect of music (the Aveira/tuma/influence), rather about the style, that music with a Yiddishe Taam is more enjoyable/connectable to a Frum person. All the comments about yje spiritual aspect are facinating, but (at least as it seems to me) have nothing to do with the article.
@Truth: Wow, you actually remembered my research and findings. People can check it out at my music page (a little dated) but it’s all there and more interesting (at least to me!) musical stuff.
http://soundassets.com/
BTW the original article from six years ago on TLS is here:
https://thelakewoodscoop.com/2011/09/jammin-with-the-torah.html
Thanks for noticing. Too bad the Township cut it’s music programs back to almost nothing it’s tragic, especially for kids. We have a great theater that can easily accomodate separate seating and entrances, and it was almost a done deal. When I performed and demonstrated the Tehillim and Genesis passages at the Strand back then I was amazed at the reaction from the non-Jews. From tears to laughter. David Hamelech and Tehillim are THE unifying factors between Judaism, Christianity and Islam… music. Here’s a cut of Tehillim, Shir Ha’maalos crafted from the traditional Shabbos tune into an Afro-Latin-Jazz version that I played live at an event at the Center, partially sponsored by Chavrei HaKollel, called Unity In The Community: I unified a lot of stuff in it and it rocked the house all around:
http://www.soundassets.com/Shir%20Hama'alos2.mp3
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it together and playing it.
Oh, FWIW, that’s me playing everything on a hot-rodded Korg keyboard (it helps to also be a computer guy with these things these days) I’ve been playing by ear since I fell in love with the piano at 7. The formal lessons here and there didn’t hurt either. When I was at YU, they have a great music department, but I was in Yeshiva there and only later studied music seriously at CUNY. Kaviochel, like Torah it’s a lifetime thing and quite vast in scope. It’s understood that Torah encompasses music at many levels as well as everything else but music is it’s own unique and universal domain in Hashem’s beautiful creation. Sidebar: I don’t remember who said it, but I believe it was the Minchas Chinuch (I don’t have a source – maybe someone could help me out) but it struck me because the essence of the statement was that, without the Trumpets, the souls would not be elevated enough to accept the Torah at Har Sinai.
All I know is that wen I’m driving in lkwd
The only thing that keeps me colm is the non Jewish radio station not 107.9
But on the other hand wen I’m listening to slow music there is no comparison to the slow hartzig Jewish music with good kvechibg by singers such as shlomie daskel, bery webber, simcha liner mutty stimerz etc….
These singers just go right into the heart and I feel like just singing on top of my lungs with them
Some of the songs are just really really touching.
And the pic of the mashgiach linki can’t open
Any way I can c it?
Sounds like your Internet filter is blocking it… anyone else having problems? (BTW I think you meant Kol Berama, 107.9, but that’s Jewish)
You might like these that feature Tzvi Silberstein. Did these about 12 years ago.
http://www.soundassets.com/Achas%20Shoalti%20Ron.mp3
http://www.soundassets.com/Ha%20Kael%20Ron.mp3
Music is by Tzvi, Ari Baumann and Menachem Klein who are also singing and playing on it.