Music to usher in the new year

Chanukah has Dreidel, Dreidel and Maoz Tzur. But what songs are associated with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Actually, the Days of Awe have some of the most inspiring melodies found in Jewish liturgy… and even one tune that gained fame in popular culture. As we approach the High Holidays, preview the melodies that will soon be heard in synagogues around the world.

Let’s start with a wonderful music site I’ve come across. Hosted by Israel National News (aka Arutz Sheva), The Days of Awe Music Page has links to hours and hours of all kinds of Israeli and Jewish music that you can listen to whenever you are in the mood. For Rosh Hashanah alone, there are dozens of chassidic, Israeli and Mizrachi tunes. There’s also music for practically all the holidays, as well as Naomi Shemer and Shlomo Carlebach tunes, and much more. Streaming music only – no downloading. Hebrew interface only. Bookmark this page!

If you have been called upon to lead the services this Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, or if you want to brush up on the familiar tunes and hymns, I highly recommend Rabbi Haskel Lookstein’s “How to Daven as a Ba’al Tefilah.” The rabbi has recorded generous portions of the holiday services (as well as for Slichot, Shabbat and the festivals). Best of all, he encoded using the mp3 format so you can freely download onto your iPhone or Android device and have the rabbi tutor you wherever you go.

The most famous poem associated with the High Holy Days must be Unetaneh Tokef. “On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die…” The poem is attributed to Rabbi Amnon who lived in Mainz, Germany, about a thousand years ago and met a tragic end when he refused to convert to Christianity.

A version of Unetaneh Tokef entered popular culture in 1974 when Leonard Cohen released Who By Fire.

“…And who by brave assent, who by accident,

who in solitude, who in this mirror,

who by his lady’s command, who by his own hand,

who in mortal chains, who in power,

and who shall I say is calling?”

Cohen explained that he derived his song “from the melody which I heard when I sat in a synagogue. And of course the ending of my song is something different. Who shall I say is calling? – This is my kind of prayer: who is it, or what is it, which determines man’s life?”

One of the most distinctive types of poetry associated with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the piyyut. As Eliezer Segal explains: “The complexity and erudition of classical piyyut is utterly astounding,” but in the hands of masters like the renowned Yannai, the result is “poetic magic… The finest piyyutim succeed in poignantly and movingly evoking the sublime emotions of religious awe and the unrelenting longing for national redemption.”

I came across a wonderful Hebrew site with Rosh Hashanah piyyutim from around the world (Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, Amsterdam, etc,), each one sung with a traditional tune.

In his essay, Music From Beyond, Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair describes the strong bond between music, the concept of judgment (key to Rosh Hashanah), and the kabbalistic theory of “tzimtzum,” the mystical constriction that was needed for God to create the world.

“Without tzimtzum there can be no world. Without limitation, without stops and starts, there can be no music. Without tzimtzum, without din [judgement], all that exists is the constant note of the tekiah that goes on forever. It is not music. It is a sound as unintelligible to the mind of man as He Who spoke and the world came into existence. It is the music from beyond.”

Most Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur music is quite solemn. For something a bit different – and very lively – listen to Uman, Uman, Rosh Hashana.” Not what you might expect.

 

 

And for something unconventional yet totally appropriate to the season, take a listen to popular songs like Hineh Shanah Overet (A Year has Passed.)

 

And of course, the perennial favourite, Bashanah Haba’ah (Next Year).

 

 

Od tireh, od tireh

Kama tov yihiyeh

Bashana, bashana haba’a

You will yet see,

You will yet see,

How good it will be next year.

 

Shana Tovah.

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