Music in Lubavitcher Life (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Music in Lubavitcher Life Beverley Diamond (bio) Music in Lubavitcher Life. By Ellen Koskoff. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. 2001 pp. Glossary, appendices, bibliography, index. Cloth, $39.95. The ethnomusicologist Ellen Koskoff has produced a long-anticipated study of music in the Lubavitcher Jewish community in America (particularly Crown Heights, New York, but also smaller communities in Pennsylvania and Minnesota). The book is based on fieldwork conducted over a twenty-two-year period. The lengthy engagement with this branch of the Hasidic Jewish religion not only has deepened her knowledge but has also allowed her to reflect on shifts in beliefs within the community and within her own attitudes toward Orthodox Judaism. It is rare that we read products of such extended reflection about an encounter that is effectively cross-cultural. Koskoff was raised in "an upwardly mobile, politically left-wing Jewish family" that had no prior involvement with the Hasidic world. As the specific subject matter of the book is completely outside the experience of this reviewer, I appreciate Koskoff's clear writing about Lubavitcher history and Hasidic theology. The role of the musical genre of nigunim (song) in relation to that history and theology is explicit. But most importantly, the lived experience of the musical performance of nigunim in relation to the laws of Lubavitcher belief, the stages of devekut, and the tensions between tradition and modernity come alive in this engaging book. In the first two parts of her study, Koskoff unfolds an idealized account of Lubavitcher belief and spiritual practice, while the next two look at the inherent tensions and contradictions of life lived, "the untidy ground of culture" (105). Koskoff makes effective use of the strategy of shifting between experiential description and more objectified explanation, a style of representation found in a number of recent ethnomusicological monographs. She includes fieldwork "scenes" to help us understand her relationship to the community and to enliven descriptions of individuals and experiences. These first-person accounts incorporate her questions, some of her insecurities, and even her disagreements with Lubavitcher friends. A vividly crafted opening ethnography of a farbrengen (a spiritual and social gathering) introduces many concepts that recur subsequently. Chapter 2 moves to analytical issues, discussing ethnomusicological approaches, Jewish music scholarship, gender theory, and performance study. Parts of this chapter still read like the literature review in a PhD dissertation, with references that provide a broad framework, rather than a real working of ideas, but she has certainly rethought and updated the material in the long period since she wrote her dissertation on this subject. We learn that this study is rooted in cognitive approaches and studies of culture as performance. She sees "culture as ideational and internal, as well as material and external" (23). Part 2, "Inside the Context," presents core religious beliefs, Lubavitcher Hasidim's history and philosophy, as well as contemporary social contexts. Her account clarifies the meaning of the ten sefirot that symbolize stages of seeking unity with the divine (devekut). A large array of Lubavitcher laws, sometimes described by the metaphor of fences, are described. The challenges they present for modern adherents are [End Page 92] also acknowledged. We also learn of the distinctions between "lifers" (those born Lubavitcher), ba'alei teshuvah (converts), and secular Jews. The hierarchical power of the rebbe and his circle are respectfully presented. The remaining chapters explore music more specifically, explaining its power of redemption and restoration. She analyzes a nigunim (song) collection of central importance, the Sefer Ha-Nigunim, as a window on social and spiritual hierarchy. Chapter 6 describes basic musical features (scales, formal structures, ornamentation) as codes of Lubavitcher belief, and introduces different types of repertoire that are either nearer to or farther from the spiritual core or "crown." Part 3, "Inside the Performance," is the most compelling part of the book. Here the author moves beyond an "idealized" account to explore how Lubavitcher actually use musical performance to "perform their core beliefs into being" (103). She demonstrates how singing reflects fundamental tenets of Lubavitcher belief: (1) the belief that true spirituality is irrevocably linked to the past; (2) the conviction that women are inherently closer to God but...