Jewish Music

About two thousand years ago, after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Jews fled their homeland. In this exile, they traveled to and settled in many different countries bringing with them their religion, customs, and musical traditions. Jewish music continues to exist wherever there are Jews, which is almost everywhere in the world. Jewish music is as vast and varied as all the music in the world. There are Jews living in countries as diverse as India, Russia, Europe, Asia, Ethiopia, America, Argentina, Australia, and Israel.

Music has a central place in Jewish life both in the synagogue and home. Liturgical music, holiday music, and Jewish folk music have often been based on folk melodies found in the particular country in which Jews settle. Wherever they live, Jews are typically either of Ashkenazic, Sephardic, or Oriental descent. Ashkenazic Jews trace their roots to Eastern European countries such as Russia, Poland, Austria, Romania, and Germany. Sephardic Jews are those who were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition and settled in places such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and the Balkan countries. Jews who come from Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Central Asia (Bukhara), and Ethiopia are sometimes referred to as Oriental or Oriental/Sephardic Jews. Jewish music typically incorporates musical ideas and styles from all the countries in which Jews have settled as well as the stylistic elements of the countries from which they may move. The music is often passed down in the oral tradition from one generation to the next without musical notation.

Jews often speak several languages. The Jewish language of worship, and therefore the language of liturgical music, is Hebrew. In addition to Hebrew and the language of the country in which they live, historically Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions each had their own language. Ashkenazic Jews often spoke Yiddish, a language that uses the Hebrew alphabet, but sounds similar to German. Sephardic Jews spoke Ladino, a language that also uses the Hebrew alphabet, but sounds similar to Spanish or Portuguese. These languages are kept alive today through numerous folk and composed songs for all occasions in the Jewish life cycle. Jewish songs can be in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic, or any language that Jews happen to speak.

There are also forms of Jewish music that do not have words. Nigunim (songs without words) are customarily sung by Orthodox and Chassidic (ultra-orthodox) Jews around the table after Sabbath or festive meals, for example. Although there is much emphasis on vocal music in Judaism, there is also instrumental music without accompanying text. Klezmer, the Yiddish word for "performing musician," refers to a form of Jewish instrumental music that originated in Eastern Europe. For hundreds of years, klezmer groups have played for all kinds of festivities and ceremonies in Eastern European Jewish life. Klezmer music reached a peak in Prague in the Czech Republic, in the mid-1400s. Traveling klezmer musicians were sought for Jewish as well as Christian festivities. Although klezmer music’s popularity declined in the last century, klezmer bands have once again become popular in the United States and parts of Europe and Israel.

Music plays a central role in Jewish religious life. There are several different religious branches within Judaism, each one with its own musical traditions. The primary ones are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. In Orthodox Judaism, only men sing in synagogue. Instruments are not permitted in the synagogue during Sabbath services or religious observances, except for the shofar (a ram’s horn), which is blown on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year). Within the Conservative and Reform movements in Judaism, women play a more central role, singing in synagogue choirs and serving as both rabbis and cantors. In most Reform and some Conservative synagogues instruments such as organ and guitar are played on the Sabbath to accompany singing.

Over the years there have been many notable composers of Jewish music.
Salamone Rossi (c. 1570–1630) was one of the earliest accomplished composers, setting many Hebrew liturgical texts to music. An important German-Jewish nineteenth-century composer of Jewish music was Louis Lewandowski, whose settings are still widely used in many American synagogues. Jewish music for all occasions continues to be composed and performed by contemporary American Jewish composers such as Debbie Friedman and Craig Taubman.

Music in the synagogue is not confined to texts that have been set to melodies; there are also special tunes, or tropes, that are sung when reading from the Torah (The Old Testament, or Five books of Moses). Unlike traditional western musical notation, special symbols are used above and below various alphabet letters to indicate which trope to use.

In the synagogue, at the Sabbath table, and in celebration of life cycle events, festivals, and holidays, music is at the core. Music is enjoyed all over the world to celebrate the cycle of Jewish life: birth, naming a baby, circumcision, rites of passage for young people at the age of 13 (bar mitzvah for boys and bat mitzvah for girls), and weddings. Love songs, lullabies, children’s game songs, alphabet songs, and many other types of songs are plentiful in Jewish communities throughout the world.