Music and Prayer in the Jewish Tradition: Where Are Our Songs?

“Art and Science are steadily progressing. To perfect ourselves we must resort to non-Jewish sources.”[1] “A collection of fine poems and melodies culled from the hymnals of the different Churches has no place in the Synagogue. Has the Jewish
genius produced nothing of value that we must needs go begging at the doors of every denomination?”[2] Imagine if you will a debate that transcends time and place, an argument that challenges not only thousands of years of tradition, but calls into question some of the very things that define you and your community: in short, imagine a tug-of-war over your identity. The two contrasting quotes that appear above demonstrate the controversy over musical borrowing that has followed the Jewish people throughout the ages. From Eastern Europe to to , there has never been agreement over where the tunes that Jews use to pray should come from. 

It is impossible to look at this issue without deeply considering the concept of identity. In his book The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land, Rabbi Jeffrey Summit defines “identity” as the following: “…a sense of belonging, of membership, of place, and of connection to a particular community. One belongs to a community by participating in the social and religious activities of that group. Identity is functionally determined by a series of individual and collective choices, made by technical means—about how one dresses, eats, socializes, and sings.”[3] Later on the same page, he offers an additional definition: “the expression of a person’s core essence.” Using these definitions, it’s safe to assume that many people associate at least part of their respective identities with their religious experiences. If part of that experience is the way in which they sing their prayers, then it’s no wonder that so many are angered and threatened by non-Jewish melodies in the synagogue. For them, perhaps, some of the spirituality, the “Jewish-ness” they feel comes from a sense of connection to the past.