Chicago Jewish Academy - Memoirs Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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MEMOIRS lT131 ' 4eDeae!op 0f74fZ46Z6 By MYRON BENUCK Through the years folk musuc has played an um portant role un the lufe of the Jew It has been the the meduum through whuch the Jew has vouced hus sorrows and hus uoys Wuth ut he has enruched hus reluguous lufe and has made ut possuble to catch a glumpse of Israels soul Jewush musuc has progressed a great deal sunce the vuctoruous Song of Moses at the Red Sea It has branched out unto many varuatuons and dufferent flelds lust as the people of Israel have been duspersed throughout the world for centurues When the Jews un modern tumes returned to Israel theur folk musuc dud not cease The begunnungs of the re establushment of Israel are murrored un the development of the countrys cultural lufe and as they brought along theur language luterature customs and ways of lufe also brought along wuth them theur songs These songs sung un the hours of sweat and toul some even survuvung to thus day were reflectuons of the musuc un the countrues from whuch them came But soon these folk songs took on the coloratuon and spurut of the new land The first workung songs dance tunes and nurserv rhymes showed sugns of an unduvudual character wuth the amalgamatuon of European and Oruental trauts The Yuddush song the Hebrauc meduum the Oruental mood the technuques of modern musuc became the basus of Palestunuan musuc suxty years after the first arruvals on Palestunuan soul The songs sung by the people as un other countrues durmg the peruod of colonuzatuon remauned the only means of musucal expressuon for many decades Wuth the growth of the country musuc gauned a foothold so that un the 19205 Palestune could boast of musucal unstututes and publuc concerts un the towns chours and popular unstrumental groups un the vullages and settlements and a general enthusuasm for musuc that astounded vusutung artusts Durung the 19205 and early 30s many musucal groups were organuzed and enthusuastucally receuved by the people A long and umposung lust of conductors musucuans and composers vusuted Palestune un those years transplantung the western muddleclass concert lufe unto a country un whuch the spurut of the chalutz and laborer reugned supreme The month of December 1936 wutnessed the establusment of a flrst class symphony orchestra whuch attracted a number of outstandung musucuans to the country and unvuted a great number of conductors and solousts as guest artusts The musucal enthusuasm of the masses and the steady development of musucal organuzatuons provuded a most fertule soul for the composers of Palestune The concert theatre dance chours, raduo and popular festuvals of fered manufold opportunutues for the creatuve musucuan The hugh standard achueved un musucal preformances raused the demands of the publuc as well as the standards the artust set for humself Sunce the composers of the Jewush natuonal school un Eastern Europe had trued to develope a typucal Jew ush musucal style from the folk tunes of the Duaspora theur uduom was closely bound to that of theur envuron ment But gust as the ummugrant must learn first to cultuvate the fields that wull yueld the best harvest for hus people to conquer the spurut of the language whuch he use so must the creatuve artust lukewuse acquure the roots of the new language and attempt to absorb the and atmosphere of hus country And undeed the artust un Israel dud not lag behund the puoneer In new Israel the composer luves un a newlv formed socuety and un an envuronment full of hustorucal and sacred assocuatuons and promuses for a future he sees a lanscape that he loves he feels the pulse of hus own peoples lufe and he speaks the language of the land Thus the composers have been experuencung and attemptung to absorb the spurut and atmosphere of Israel causung dufferent tenden cues un musuc to murror Israels spurut and destuny un one way or another The pucture becomes dufferent when we approach the composers who have ummugrated to Israel from Western and sha spurut more attentuon to the orugunaluty of style and the trans plantung of contemporary pruncuples of composutuon than to folklore Luttle of theur musuc suggests hustorucal geo graphucal or natuonal problems Nevertheless Bublucal sublects often guve materual to theur unspuratuon The new generatuon uf Israel has absorbed the spurut of the country un a much more ummeduate way than the ummugrants of former generatuons and therefore are less concerned wuth problematuc sude of Israelu musuc Wuth the establushment of the State of Israel the composers turned to marches solduer songs choral and unstrumental works In an uncreasung degree the books of the Buble maunly those storues whuch struke a parallel between Israel s struggles and vuctorues of old and the fight of the new State of Israel serve as sources of unspuratuon as well as the older composers reflect the spurut of the tumes Theur musucal works are permeated wuth confldence and strength No matter how umpressuve the works of the two generatuons of Israel musucuans may be they wull most certaunly be vuewed by future hustoruans as no more than a modest beggunnung Now that the people of the West are meetung the people of the East un Israel Jewush musuc us tryung to combune the musuc of the West wuth that of the East The composer of modern Israel serves not only newly created natuon but also the world of fine arts Twenty seven I - I 0 0 i . . . , . . . , l Q . . . I I ' ' . I H I . . . . . I . I . I . I a 1 s . 1 1 . . ' . 1 ' , , . , . . . . . . , , I . , , , , , . . . . , . . . . I I I n q . . . . . ' untries. M s f th com ose s h ve 'd Thus process of amalgamatuon us stull goung on-more than European C? O I, 9 ,ese P I Q po' I l . I 1 4 4 n Q - 4 1 1 n . ' I , . . . . a n p I ' I I . . I 1 f D n 1 . , . . . . I 1 n I I . ' . I I . . . . . . , I . - I . . , , . I Q . I n . . I . , Q I . . . . I I I . . . I . I I I I ' ' ' ' u l e

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MEMOIRS FIJI The Plllar 0 ,I8wlSh Lwmg By DAVID MYERS More than Israel kept the Sabbath It IS the Sab bath that has kept up Israel ThlS brIllIant bIt of phIlosophy by IAsher Gmsbergi epItomIzes the exalted feelIng that the Sabbath has provIded for the Jews sunce Israel became a people The transformatIon whIch the Jews experIenced on lhlS day of Ioyful rest was the IncentIve that gave them the endurance to SUYVIVE the endless attempts of theIr enemIes to annIhIlate them Ahad Ha am and endeared Throughout the generatIons the Splfll of the Sabbath has substItuted for the physIcal comforts of lIfe whIch the greater masses of the JewIsh people lacked The CDIICIPOIIOD of the comIng of the Sabbath and the sanctIty hoverIng over the Jew even after the days departure sustaIned hIm throughout the week of poverty and toIl Thus the Jews devotIon to G d to HIs creatIons and to HIs formed hIm Pncture weekly toIl Torah on the Sabbath day verItably trans almost Into an angel of G d thIs poor destItute Jew ceasIng from hIs at mId afternoon an FrIday enterIng hIs home In hIs bedraggled garments cleansmg hIs body weekly clothes remaIn As the and sImultaneously rIddIng hlmself of hIs burdens As he attIres hImself In hIs finest he feels hImself becomIng Invested wIth a Nes wIth htm untIl the eve of the followIng day Jew now enrIched by a spIrIt of Gdluness re turns from the synagogue he has dIscovered that even hIs home has undergone a marked transformatIon The Sabbath plates are placed symetrIcally upon the table blanketed In whIte The two Chalos and the wIne contaIned In the famIlys most endeared possessIon the gIlded wmecup awaut theIr masters blessIng The freshly lIt candles cast theIr glow upon the wIfe and chIldren who humbled by thIs newly pervadIrg Splfll are awaItIng the comIng home of theIr kIng No wonder then that the Sabbath has been personnfied as a lovely brIde and a gracIous queen The rItual of the dav dIfferentIatIng Shabbos from the rest of the week IS based upon the law of our Torah as developed bv our RabbIs and spIrItual leaders through out the centurIes The Sabbath symbolIzes human equal Ity and dIgnIty These two Ideals may be evInced from the BIblIcal reasons advanced for the observatuon of the Sabbath the creatIon of the world and as a remem brance of the Exodus from Egvpt Man must not lower hImself to the standard of the beast for whom tIme has no meanIng but must endow spIrItual value to tame and especIally to the day In whIch G d rested Then too man must remember the freedom from slavery of the Exodus For on the Sabbath day man In every CGPGCITY IS free to serve hIs Gd When mankInd IS enslaved through polItIcal and socIal condItIons or by the worshIp of materIalIsm Inherent In our technologIcal world these Ideals of personal dIgnIty and freedom are beIng un scrupulously undermIned The Sabbath teaches us that all of mankInd possess these InalIenable rIghts of self worth and equalIty of learnIng for our that dav wIthIn the eIImInated IllIteracy The Sabbath was also a dav people The InstructIon receIved on synagogue or at home practncallv from among the Jews and nurtured the unusual love for learnIng that eventually acquIred for them the name of the people of the book The great hIstorIan Josephus praIsed Moses for succeedIng In the constant InstructIon of hIs people a feat that no other leader In the ancIent world was able to perform Even more so than the rIte of cIrcumcIsIon has the Sabbath served as an everlastmg symbol of the covenant between Gd and Israel Whereas cIrcumcIsIon IS but physIcally Imposed upon the Jew Sabbath observance requIres an Inner and voluntary dedIcatIon to the fellQlOn In whIch he was brought up In the face of ECONOMIC and other dIscrImInatIons Jews preferred to sublect covenant of the Sabbath In the long hIstorv of the Jews In defendIng them selves agaInst antISemItIsm they found strength and solace In theIr tradItIonal observances However In Amer Ica JewIsh practIces Ideals and tradItIons have become lax and have been consIdered optIonal bv Jews who are tryIng to escape from theIr JewIshness They feel that they must throw off theIr shackles and free themselves from all the responsIbIlItIes of JudaIsm ThIs step IS taken In complete Ignorance of JewIsh Ideals and values em bodIed In our tradItIonal PFGCTICGS and observances It IS truly evIdent that wIthout the observance of the Sabbath a Jew cannot fullv benefit from the spIrIt of moralIty and CFSOTIVITY WhICh JudaIsm has to offer The lack of re cognItIon for the value of and the gross neglIgence In the observance of the Sabbath by the malonty of con temporary Jews offers the greatest threat to the contInued BXISJCUCS of Orthodox JudaIsm Turn us to Thee O Lord and let us return renew our days as of old !Lam 5211 When the true value of the Sabbath and the Im portance of ITS observance wIlI be realIzed then thIs PIllar of JewIsh LIfe wIIl varItable support the House of Israel Twenty sur E I - T o 0 o o ,, . . - . . 1 ' I I ,, . . L . . , , , , , , I . . . . . . I I I . . I . I . A . . . . s n l II II ' ' .i I , . - I . . . I . . ' II I ' - II l I I I ' ' . J n n D l U ' I . . . . . . . 1, ,, - ' . ' . . . . ,, . . . . . I ' I hamah Yetairah, an added sublime soul, which ig to themselves to undue suffering, rather than to violate this I . I . . - . I 5 U ' 0 . . , - , . .- . . . . , l Q . . . . . . I . - ' ' II Il ' T I I . . . , . A . . . . , . . . I . . i . . ' . I . . . . . . ,, . ,, - I . 1 I . I , l . . . . I . , . , H H . . . T . - .I ' ' . I v I I . . . - I . - 1 1 I - I , Q ' ll ' ' . Il Il ' ' ' ll ' ' ll ' I I II

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