Introduction: Jewish Music and Jewish Identity in the Rust Belt

Abstract

Introduction:Jewish Music and Jewish Identity in the Rust Belt Randall Goldberg (bio), Francesco Spagnolo, and Judah M. Cohen (bio) The Jewish community of Youngstown, Ohio, wrestles with its identity. Once numbering over 8,000, now fewer than 1,500 Jews reside in the area. Even though the community is shrinking, there are still four synagogues, an active Jewish Federation, and a university program in Judaic and Holocaust Studies. The community is vibrant, but tension exists between traditional values and engagement with the greater population. Questions about identity arise when the local Jewish Community Center must consider a proper kashrut policy even though 75 percent of the membership is not Jewish. Likewise, music—ubiquitous in Jewish life—often factors into decisions about identity and community. For example, congregants at the conservative Temple El Emeth’s recent “Rock Shabbat” programs chanted the Sabbath prayers to hits by the the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Even the Sh’ma was sung as an improvised blues. Ironically, the only part of the “rock” services to be sung with a “traditional” melody was the chanting of Debbie Friedman’s setting of the Mi shebeirach prayer, a composition that stood for “tradition” within the context of the service, yet is more recent than most of the popular standards that filled the remainder of the program. The Youngstown community’s actions with regard to its Jewish identity are a reflection of its members, but also connect this Rust Belt town to communities across America facing similar issues. Given the current state of its Jewish community, Youngstown was the perfect setting for a discussion about Jewish identity and the role music plays in Jewish life. Over the last decade, scholars have made a concerted effort to emphasize the study of music in Jewish studies and Jewish music within musicology, and the major American music–academic societies have carved out a space for such research in their organizations.1 The Conference on Jewish Music and Jewish Identity, which convened at Youngstown State University (YSU) in October 2014, gave scholars from Jewish studies and several branches of music studies (i.e., musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory) the opportunity to interact and share their research on the various intersections of music and Jewish identity. The three-day event featured paper sessions and lecture recitals [End Page 1] on classical composers, transnational identity, the Holocaust, and popular music. Further discussions about the fluidity of “Jewish” music were prompted by other programmed events, including a concert by the Jewish-Indian ensemble Om Shalom; a screening of the film Iraq N’ Roll (Gil Gaon, 2011), which documents the Israeli pop star Dudu Tassa’s investigations into Iraqi musical idioms; and a lecture by Israeli composer Michael Wolpe, who described his personal engagement with his European past in his recent Symphonic Poem No. 7, “Releasing of Vows.” Attendees came mostly from the United States but scholars from England, France, and Israel enhanced our discussions. The following essays showcase the variety of viewpoints and narratives presented at the conference. Several presentations on Jewish worship music at the conference highlighted the tensions among historical traditions, local considerations, and identity in the synagogues of Germany, the United States, Turkey, Italy, and South Africa. A principal theme among the papers was the way that communities and individuals navigate these factors when developing a Jewish musical identity. Representing this topic here is Judah Cohen’s study of Friedman’s work in the thriving Jewish community of Chicago (“Higher Education: Debbie Friedman in Chicago”).2 Whereas previous assessments of Friedman consider her an outsider to Jewish musical traditions, Cohen argues that scholars have been relying on the outsider trope as a way to “reinforce cantorial primacy” over song-leading in the hierarchy of worship music. Her rise to fame, he argues, is indicative of broad, more inclusive changes in Jewish institutions that were taking place in the 1970s. Even if Friedman were an outsider to traditional practice, her ability to connect with Jewish institutions and philanthropists and inspire Jewish youth helped propel her to national recognition and aided in the dissemination of her music, which has now replaced older repertoires in many communities. Friedman’s work in Chicago allowed the...