Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 January 2003 — Page 16

NAT 12 January 8. 2003

As I Heard It And let us say, amen!

Book Reviews French vs. U.S. Jews: illucidating the paradox

By MORTON GOLD I had intended to review a CD in this space, but after listening to it, 1 decided that it was prudent not to do so! There seems to be a surfeit of CDs these days dealing with

(lie general subject of "howto." There are CDs of Shabbat after-dinner songs (Zmirot). There are appropriate songs for young children, for teens; songs for Hanukkah, Pesach, Purim, and so on. There are also numerous traditional as well as some non-traditional songs, congregational melodies designed for adults, and so on. By looking at what is available from the catalogues of various publishers, we have a distinct predilection for solo performers, vocal as well as instrumental. We may be "called" to be a "light to the nations," but in this country at least, it seems that we want to be just like everyone else, maybe even more so. 1 wonder, sometimes, where have all the (knowledgeable) Jews gone? There once was a time, and not that long ago, when people wanted to listen to the music of various composers (e.g. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by Conductor Shmulig and the Hu-Ha Symphony, rather than Conductor Shmulig and his orchestra playing a symphony by Beethoven.) Knowledgeable people are more interested in the former, and those who are not tend to be interested in the latter. In music for the synagogue/ temple these days, the average worshipper couldn't care less who wrote the tune for the Sh'ma or any other prayer. For that person, music either should be lively (Hassidic) or spiritual (?) in nature. (I inserted a question mark simply because I honestly do not know or understand exactly what is meant here. For myself, I understand it to be something slow, with harmonies that last for many mea-

sures and/or phrases which are repeated, e.g. "and let us say, and let us say, and let us say, Amen." I suspect that could be described as being an example of spiritual music, even though in my opinion it is simply dull! I do not write

and say something during the discussion. Come one, come all. I’TUl. "And let us say, and let us say, and let us say, Amen!" (It follows then that one need not even be Jewish!!!) Have you noticed the matter of gender? In Orthodox

1 wonder, sometimes, where have all the (knowledgeable) Jews gone? There once was a time, and not that long ago, when people wanted to listen to the music of various composers (e.g. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by Conductor Shmulig and the HuHa Symphony, rather than Conductor Shmulig and his orchestra playing a symphony by Beethoven.)

this as a fact but rather only to record mv opinion. I am certain there will be many who will vehemently disagree with me). What composers there are these days frequently are also the performers of their music. They are, however, little more than traveling minstrels. They first produce a CD (or two) of their songs, then they travel, repeating what people know from listening to their CDs. After a tour they will then produce another CD, and so on. A. Max Janowski, for example, never did this. If you don't know who he was, than 1 rest my case! The only thing these modern troubadours in religious guise have in common is that the music they write is simple, obnoxiously tuneful and/or designed for a specific age group. Anyone who has any pretensions to either taste or culture will be readily turned off by this kind of music. I know I am. Even many of our services are now dumbed down. In too many services, the highlight is the discussion. This is great for people who like to hear themselves talk and/or engage others in public conversation. For myself, I can only wonder • when the service will resume. Silly me (as Judy Carr might write). This discourse has BECOME the service! One need not know anything at all, either about the service, the music of the service, or its various styles in the service, about nusach or cantillation, or even Hebrew. All one needs now to participate in the service is to be there

congregations there tend to be few women at services, whereas in the other "streams" of Judaism, the genders may be evenlv divided, but more often than not, women outnumber men. How things have changed for me. When I was a lad (it wasn't THAT long ago), 1 admired the Conservative and Reform services for their musical content. One could listen to beautiful voices of the cantor and mixed choir and the majesty of an organ. These days, more often than not, one would be hard-pressed to even realize that one was at a Jewish service in many of these temples. Frequently there will not even be a hazzan or a choir, and the accompanying instrument, if there is one at all, will be a guitar. As for having our best creative talent wanting to compose works of merit for our services, forget it! Anyone who knows more than I-IV-V-I would not even thing of writing for the service. What a come-down that is, at least for me. 1 do not know whether it is more appropriate for me to be angry or merely ashamed. I could rationalize that in many Catholic as well as Protestant churches the precise thing, musically speaking, is taking place. That is small consolation for me. For the most part I feel a sense of loss. Since this is a family newspaper, I will translate the Yiddish expression "Dreck iz Dreck" as "garbage by any other name remains garbage!" No matter how many responsive readings we must endure. Continued on page 14

By ARNOLD AGES The Jews and the Nation. By Frederic Cople Jaher. Princeton University Press. 295 pages. $29.95. France has been much in the news these days as headlines feature reports of sporadic anti-Semitism affecting that country's Jewish population. The paradox of periodic but intense anti-Jewish discrimination in a country which pioneered, after the French Revolution of 1789, in emancipating French Jews and in sanctifying human freedom in general through the promulgation of the "rights of man" is difficult to resolve. The author of this stimulating book may help us to understand that paradox. In his sweeping and exhaustive comparison of the French and American examples, Illinois historian Frederic Jaher makes some very important and fine distinctions between the liberal impulses which animated revolutionary France and the constitutional bases of the United States. Jaher's thesis, simply put, is that French Jews acquired civil rights as a result of a revolution: American Jews acquired the same benefits through the natural evolution of American democratic principles. Jew's in both nations benefited greatly from the experience, but in France the lingering effects of the circumstances surrounding their emancipation affected deleteriously, though not fatally, the health or the community. Viewing the emancipation of French Jews through the prism of Alex de Tocqueville and Louis Harz's theses abut the protection of marginalized communities, Jaher shows that the authoritarian tendencies of revolutionary France imprinted themselves on the nation's attitudes towards Jews. The author does an audit of this balance sheet by studying comprehensively the debates which occurred in the Constituent Assembly in Paris over the proposed emancipation of Jews. Citing chapter and verse from the delegates' interventions, the author shows that while many voices spoke out in favor of granting^ivil rights for

Jews (Clermont-Tonnerre), other more discordant and aggressive ones damned the idea. One of the latter offered the view' that Jews had, after 1800 years of exile, refused to be assimilated into the Diaspora communities in which they lived. Why w'as one to assume, he asked, that the situation would be any different in France? Religious spokesmen were also vociferous in their denunciation of any legitimization being accorded the deicide race. When Napoleon came to power, says the author, his suspicions and mistrust of Je\ys as "a nation within a nation" moved him to convene the famous Sanhedrin of Jewish notables in 18()(S. The assembly met at one of Paris's most prestigious addresses, and the participants were celebrated with much pomp and ceremony. Jaher argues that Napoleon was unfavorably disposed towards Jews because he, as a Corsican who had pledged his troth to the French state, expected the same conduct from Jews. To this end he had one of his lieutenants. Mole (Jaher seems not be aware of the fact that Mole was the author of an anti-Semitic tract which traced the "villainy" of jChvs to their religious calendar - which because of its many religious holidays, forced Jews to engage in money-lending) present the notables w'ith a series of questions designed to elicit information about Jewish theological, social, and political beliefs. In the end Jews were accorded what we would today call civil rights and proceeded to embrace all the aspects of that doctrine - entry into the universities, professions, and the army. Judaism as a faith community survived in its mostly Orthodox form but removed from its cultural and nationalist base and the "corporate" status it had enjoyed before the Revolution. This did not stop various French rabbinic leaders from celebrating the similarities between the values of Judaism and French Republican virtues. It should not be forgotten however, that France's granting of civil rights to Jews as citizens, citizens equal to all Continued on next page