What Traditional Jewish Sabbath Music Can Teach the Israeli Government about Ethics

What Traditional Jewish Sabbath Music Can Teach the Israeli Government about Ethics


Last night, Wednesday, February 6th, I sat entranced in the tiny Thalia concert hall in Symphony Space.  That little concert hall is not much bigger than some living rooms.  I was listening to what was billed as "New Jewish Mystical Music:  Zmiros Project."

 I've loved Jewish music, in its different forms, for a long time.  I originally started listening to it for two reasons, I think:  I am interested in all different kinds of music, including world music; and being a Christian, I feel that to oppose anti-semitism and prevent the Nazi Holocaust from ever happening again, I must find out about the persons who for centuries have been treated unjustly by many people who incredibly called themselves followers of Christ.  Of course I fell in love with the music.  Who couldn't, really?

You can't walk into most churches without beholding statues, paintings, stained glass windows, bas reliefs--art in profusion--representing the Jews who founded Christianity, most notably Jesus himself and his apostles.  Many Christian ceremonies, traditions and music are derived from those of the Jews. The Prophets are cited all the time in sermons and inspirational literature, speaking to us Christians exactly as they did to the ancient Israelites.  And the Last Supper, the origin of Communion, was a Passover seder that was then reshaped, in a way, by Jesus; it was still a seder.  (When people in a Christian church taste the wine and the wafer at Communion and are told what Christ was said to have uttered, "This is my body that was broken for you," "This is my blood that was shed for you," the bread and wine were originally shared at a traditional Jewish Passover feast which Jesus and his apostles were celebrating.)  We owe a debt of gratitude to Jews for Christianity.  Both Jews and Christians have often felt superior to each other, and this has led to horror, mostly on the part of the Christians.  But I've seen Christianity called a branch of Judaism.  So be it.  I like that.

Oh, if you don't know Jewish music, now is the time to learn about it and love it.  One of the things I care for about it is that most of the words have ethical meanings and some are taken from the Bible.  Meanwhile, the music is lovely, and can be meditative or wild or both.  This is from the booklet for the trio's CD that was sold after the program:  "All along . . . melody blends with text, piety with pleasure and mystical longing with down-home festivity."  It is utterly compelling in such an everyday, even earthy way, and yet it admonishes you:  strive to do the right.

There's "Az nisht keyn emune," which says, in many details, that if you have money but have not virtue (many virtues are fnamed), of what worth are you?  The melody took off last night, and at the chorus we all clapped and sang.  Oh, it was irresistible.

Frank London was the trumpeter, and did he ever light up the night!  Lorin Sklamberg did very affecting vocals and accordion, and Rob Schwimmer beautifully played the piano.  Those three men gave us music that was rollicking and moving, unforgettable.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with the Israeli Government referenced in the title.  Today, Thursday, February 7th, my colleagues in Adalah-NY:  The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, participated in two events intended to educate people about the awful way the Palestinians have been treated since Day One by the Israeli Government.  The evening event was the more controversial of the two.  A pair of noted speakers, one a Palestinian (Omar Barghouti) and the other Jewish (Judith Butler), both experts on the situation in Israel/Palestine, spoke at Brooklyn College about the campaign of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israel to get it to stop its apartheid against Palestinians.  The BDS campaign is based on the peaceful campaign carried out against South African apartheid.  This event was loudly attacked by politicians and hate-montering conservative Jewish leaders who always argue that any criticism of Israel is anti-semitic and an attack on all Jews, etc., etc., and their message was full of lies about what BDS is and what the speakers advocated.  Some of their hate screed was published in The Daily News and elsewhere.  Some politicians, going along with this rabblerousing, threatened to push for de-funding of Brooklyn College.  The college administrators courageously stood firm, and even Mayor Bloomberg said that, although he hated BDS (I'm sure it's for the same old reason that it opposes Israel's right to do anything it wants), he felt that if you wanted an institution of learning that banned freedom of speech and opinion you might as well go to North Korea.  The panelists did manage to attend and speak and emerge from the experience in one piece, while various pro-Palestinian groups, including Adalah-NY, arranged for security and maintained watchfulness.

Some American Jews have felt that Israel was a pure, shining, symbol of all that was good, arising out of the Holocaust.  They haven't wanted to feel that it was anything but that.  I have met people I've respected greatly who have felt it.  They are in for a horrible disappointment, but they should really want to know the truth, which is readily available on the Internet even when the American press largely gives a very dishonest picture.

Adalah-NY consists of people of various backgrounds, mainly Jewish, Muslim and Christian.  We are all very modern people.  I don't know how religious anybody else is, and it's a secular group of course.  But we're all together because we hate what's going on in Israel/Palestine, but the meetings are upbeat, purposeful, hopeful, I would say.  Protest demonstrations are carried out, and leaflets created, with imagination and aplomb.  That's what I love about the group, founded in 2006.

I wasn't able to attend either event, but I thought of what was going on as I listened to the Jewish mystical music the night before.  I don't know how these musicians see Israel.  But I thought, Does Alan Dershowitz, or does Dov Hikind, want to learn from this music?  Does Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu?  Sing.  Dance.  Do the right thing.  Be swept by all this abundance of joy, melody, rhythm, and above all justice.  Do not bear false witness--tell the truth!  Be happy, say the Hasidim, and I say you can only be happy when you want to be just.  Otherwise, for all that you have, of what worth are you?

I know much more could be said along this line.  Let the music never end.