JQ1830.A92 C66 2011	The contradictions of Israeli citizenship : land, religion, and state / edited by Guy Ben-Porat and Bryan S. Turner.
BL51 .F54 2011	Divine teaching and the way of the world : a defense of revealed religion / Samuel Fleischacker.
DS110.J78 J83 2011	Judah between East and West : the transition from Persian to Greek rule (ca. 400-200 BCE) : a conference held at Tel Aviv University, 17-19 April 2007 sponsored by the ASG (the Academic Study Group for Israel and the Middle East) and Tel Aviv University/ edited by Lester L. Grabbe and Oded Lipschits.
PR9199.3.S51175 M9 2010	My father's hands spoke in Yiddish / Karen Shenfeld.
DS135.P6 P67 2011	Portraits in Literature : the Jews of Poland : an anthology / compiled, edited and with an introduction by Hava Bromberg Ben-Zvi.
PJ5129.K27 V513 2011	Vidervuks. English;"Regrowth
GV885.52.P455 S73 2011	The SPHAS : the life and times of basketball's greatest Jewish team / Douglas Stark   foreword by Lynn Sherr.
PS3576.I464 W37 2011	The Warsaw anagrams : a novel / Richard Zimler.
DS135.E42 A43364 2009	The Alexandrian riots of 38 C.E. and the persecution of the Jews : a historical reconstruction / by Sandra Gambetti.
BM487 .A1 2010	880-01 Dead Sea scrolls. 2010.;"880-02
PQ95 .C35 2011	Post-war Jewish women's writing in French / Lucille Cairns.
BM620 .J49 2011	The Jewish Jesus : revelation, reflection, reclamation / edited by Zev Garber.
E184.36.M54 R44 2011	The wandering Jew in America / Uzi Rebhun.
DS87.65 .I83 2011	A prophetic peace : Judaism, religion, and politics / Alick Isaacs.
BM755.J8 P38 2009 4o	Path of life : Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, ca. 1525-1609   [an exhibition organized by the Prague Castle Administration and the Jewish Museum in Prague for the 400th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Imperial Stables at Prague Castle, 5/8-8/11/2009] / exhibition conceived and catalogue edited by Alexander Putik   essays by Peter Demetz … [et al.]   [translated by Robin Cassling ... [et al.]].
BM508.2 .L53 1999	880-02 Tosefet rishonim : perush : meyusad ʻal kitve yad ha-Tosefta ṿe-sifre Rishonim u-midrashim be-khitve yad u-defusim yeshanim / me-et Shaʼul Liberman.
BM103 .G73 2008	And you shall teach them diligently  : a concise history of Jewish education in the United States, 1776-2000 / Gil Graff.
BM517.S87 L5 1968	Sifre zuta (Midrashah shel Lod)   Talmudah shel Ḳesarin / Shaʼul Liberman.
BM720.T4 R67 2003	Na sayeʻeni le-ʻaśer elekha = Please help me tithe unto you : the Maʻasar Kesafim (income tithe) ledger of Mordecai Zeev Ehrenpreis of Lvov : with an examination of the practice, and its meaning for the donor / by Jay Rovner.
BS1193 .H55 2003	Textual knowledge: teaching the Bible in theory and in practice / Barry W. Holtz.
	Abôt de-Rabbî Natan.;"Avot
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PJ5005.A2 H65 2003	Meḥḳarim be-sifrut Yiśraʼel mugashim le-Avraham Holts / ba-ʻarikhat Tseviyah Ben-Yosef Ginor.
BS1199.L3 M84 1992	Love & joy : law, language, and religion in ancient Israel / Yochanan Muffs.
LA41 .K57 2011	Education in early 2nd millennium BC Babylonia : the Sumerian epistolary miscellany / by Alexandra Kleinerman.
BM520.3 .K635 2011	Law, power, and justice in ancient Israel / Douglas A. Knight.
PJ5120 .C37 2011	How strange the change : language, temporality, and narrative form in peripheral modernisms / Marc Caplan.
PN6727.G64 H68 2010	How to understand Israel in 60 days or less / writer & artist, Sarah Glidden   letterer Clem Robins.
BM157 .B38 2011	How Judaism became a religion : an introduction to modern Jewish thought / Leora Batnitzky.
PJ4911 .P4713 1999	Lengua de los sabios. English;"An
DS126.5 .A694 2011	What does a Jew want? : on binationalism and other specters / Udi Aloni   conversations and comments by Alain Badiou, Judith Butler, and Slavoj Žižek.
G277 .H49 2011	Jewish travel in antiquity / Catherine Hezser.
BM103 .A97 2011	The Azrieli papers : dimensions of orthodox day school education / edited by David J. Schnall and Moshe Sokolow.
DS101.5 .I58 2011	Borders and boundaries in and around Dutch Jewish history / Judith Frishman … [et al.], editors.
BS709.4 .F54 2011	The Targums : a critical introduction / Paul V.M. Flesher, Bruce Chilton.
BM526 .J49 2011	Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah : new insights and scholarship / edited by Frederick E. Greenspahn.
BM525.A52 M37 2004	Zohar. English.;"The
DS134.24 .G462	Germania Judaica
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PJ5020 .S33 2011	Diasporic modernisms : Hebrew and Yiddish litreature in the twentieth century / Allison Schachter.
DS113.7 .F75 2011	Israel's security and its Arab citizens / Hillel Frisch.
BM545.D35 D38 2011	Method and metaphysics in Maimonides' Guide for the perplexed / Daniel Davies.
DS134.26 .M46 2011	Shattered spaces : encountering Jewish ruins in postwar Germany and Poland / Michael Meng.
DS119.76 .P44 2011	Violence, nonviolence, and the Palestinian national movement / Wendy Pearlman.
BS1238.S24 F45 2010	Glory and agony : Isaac's sacrifice and national narrative / Yael S. Feldman.
D805.5.A96 R44 2005	Auschwitz : a new history / Laurence Rees.
GT1430.I8 H45 2011	A coat of many colors : dress culture in the young state of Israel / Anat Helman.
B5800 .H47 2011	Abraham Joshua Heschel : essential writings / selected with an Introduction by Susannah Heschel.
BM670.K6 A77 2011	All these vows : Kol Nidre / edited by Lawrence A. Hoffman.
DS119.7 .G6439 2011	The anatomy of Israel's survival / Hirsh Goodman.
BM729.W6 F44 2011	Citizenship, faith, & feminism : Jewish and Muslim women reclaim their rights / Jan Feldman.
KB200 .F735 2011	Compiling the Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum in late antiquity / Robert M. Frakes.
PJ3882 .C67 2011	The correspondence of the kings of Ur : an epistolary history of an ancient Mesopotamian kingdom / [edited by] Piotr Michalowski.
BS1375.52 .G76 2011	Esther : the outer narrative and the hidden reading / Jonathan Grossman.
HV6431 .M655 2012	Ethics in an age of terror and genocide : identity and moral choice / Kristen Renwick Monroe.
DS109.925 .J33 2011	From empire to empire : Jerusalem between Ottoman and British rule / Abigail Jacobson.
BM520.73 .N68 2011	The image of the non-Jew in Judaism : the idea of Noahide Law  / David Novak   edited by Matthew Lagrone.
NA4690 .K34 2011	The synagogues of Britain and Ireland : an architectural and social history / Sharman Kadish.
BS1136 .T6813 2012	Biḳoret nusaḥ ha-Miḳra. English. Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible / Emanuel Tov.
PJ5053.B7 Z78513 2011	Li-heyot Yehudi. English;To be a Jew : Joseph Chayim Brenner as a Jewish existentialist / Avi Sagi ; translated by Batya Stein.
BM707 .T63 2012	Today I am a woman : stories of bat mitzvah around the world / edited by Barbara Vinick & Shulamit Reinharz.
WestC Cataloging	The two Kassels: Same time, another space = Die beiden Kassels: gleiche Zeit, anderer Ort / Péter György.
BM674.63 .W3713 2011	Haggadah (Ms. Washington Haggadah). English & Hebrew.;"The
DS135.I65 J47 2011	Jewish communities of Iran : entries on Judeo-Persian communities published by the Encyclopedia Iranica / edited by Houman M. Sarshar.
BS1186 .N54 2011	Jewish exegesis and Homeric scholarship in Alexandria / Maren R. Niehoff.
F1054.5.M89 J57 2011	Jewish roots, Canadian soil : Yiddish culture in Montreal, 1905-1945 / Rebecca Margolis.
BM535 .R635 2011	Judaism despite Christianity : the 1916 wartime correspondence between Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig / edited by Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy   with a new foreword by Paul Mendes-Flohr   a new preface by Harold Stahmer   and a new chronology by Michael Gormann-Thelen.
DS149 .N49813 2011	Teshuḳat ha-ḥalutsim. English;Land and desire in early Zionism / Boaz Neumann ; translated by Haim Watzman
B755 .D38 2011	Maimonides the rationalist / Herbert A. Davidson.
D804.195 .M46 2011	Memorial books of Eastern European Jewry : essays on the history and meanings of Yizker volumes / edited by Rosemary Horowitz.
B5800 .G74 2011	Modern Jewish thinkers : from Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig / Gershon Greenberg.
BM225.N52 S733 2011	Mornings at the Stanton Street Shul : a summer on the Lower East Side / Jonathan Boyarin.
BM674.643 .S585 2011	Haggadah. English & Hebrew;A Passover Haggadah : go forth and learn / David Silber with Rachel Furst.
BM700 .R375 2011	Revisioning ritual : Jewish traditions in transition / edited by Simon J. Bronner.
BM526 .D84 2011	The scandal of Kabbalah : Leon Modena, Jewish mysticism, early modern Venice / Yaacob Dweck.
PJ5129.R3 Z58 2011	The Jewish dark continent : life and death in the Russian pale of settlement / Nathaniel Deutsch.
DS69.5 .T33 2011	With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains  : historical and literary studies on ancient Mesopotamia and Israel / Hayim Tadmor   edited by Mordechai Cogan.
DS135.U42 O358 2011	City of rogues and schnorrers : Russia's Jews and the myth of old Odessa / Jarrod Tanny.
BM100 .K73 2011	The greening of American orthodox Judaism : Yavneh in the nineteen sixties / Benny Kraut   foreword by Jonathan D. Sarna.
DS111.1 .S53 2011	Shaping the Middle East : Jews, Christians, and Muslims in an age of transition, 400-800 C.E. / edited by Kenneth G. Holum and Hayim Lapin.
DS110.T34 T45 2012	Tel-Aviv, the first century : visions, designs, actualities / edited by Maoz Azaryahu and S. Ilan Troen.
DS134.25 .M57 2011	The waning of emancipation : Jewish history, memory, and the rise of fascism in Germany, France, and Hungary / Guy Miron.
BM508.2 .L5	880-02 Tosefta ki-feshuṭah : beʼur arokh la-Tosefta / me-et Shaʼul b. ha-r. R. Mosheh Liberman.
DS135.T8 B68 2012	Modern Ladino culture : press, belles lettres, and theatre in the late Ottoman Empire / Olga Borovaya.
PJ5024 .M46 2012	Sanctuary in the wilderness : a critical introduction to American Hebrew poetry / Alan Mintz.
BS1186 .L476 2011	The making of the modern Jewish Bible : how scholars in Germany, Israel, and America transformed an ancient text / Alan T. Levenson.
BS1171.3 .L48 2011	Selections. 2011;In pursuit of meaning : collected studies of Baruch A. Levine / edited by Andrew D. Gross
BS2545.H94 G673 2011	Teaching through song in Antiquity : didactic hymnody among Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians / Matthew E. Gordley.
BS1225.52 .R67 2011	The wilderness itineraries : genre, geography, and the growth of Torah / Angela R. Roskop.
BS1238.D42 A53 2011	Jacob and the divine trickster : a theology of deception and YHWH's fidelity to the ancestral promise in the Jacob cycle / John E. Anderson.
BS1199.E84 J83 2011	Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid period : negotiating identity in an international context / edited by Oded Lipschits, Gary N. Knoppers, and Manfred Oeming.
BS1199.P26 F73 2011	The land of Canaan and the destiny of Israel : theologies of territory in the Hebrew Bible / David Frankel.
PJ4707 .C66 2011	Oath formulas in biblical Hebrew / Blane Conklin.
PN6149.J4 K58 2009	Jews and humor / editor, Leonard J. Greenspoon.
BS1192.5 .S94 2012	Tanak : a theological and critical introduction to the Jewish Bible / Marvin A. Sweeney.
PS3604.R44 Q54 2011	Quiet Americans : stories / by Erika Dreifus.
DS109.9 .S37 2011	Jerusalem : the biography / Simon Sebag Montefiore.
DS110.H28 W4613 2011	á¹¾adi Salib. English;"A
	ISAIAH 40-66.
DS135.T8 B75 2012	Jewish life in 21st-century Turkey : the other side of tolerance / Marcy Brink-Danan.
	PINNACLE OF HATRED : THE BLODDY LIBEL AND THE JEWS.
DS135.L4 B49 2012	Beyond religious borders : interaction and intellectual exchange in the medieval Islamic world / edited by David M. Freidenreich and Miriam Goldstein.
BM516.E433 L44 2012	The En Yaaqov : Jacob ibn  Ḥabib's search for faith in the talmudic corpus / Marjorie Lehman.

Library News for Jewish Studies

JEWISH MUSIC PLUS

Hi folks. I’m at the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial. I’m serving on the board of trustees for my synagogue Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor. It’s been pretty interesting for a guy with a Conservative upbringing and Orthodox leanings to settle in a Reform temple, but it’s been really great. TBE is just about the most wonderful congregation I can imagine. Any quibbles I have with theology or liturgy are very much secondary to that. The Biennial is the bi-annual conference for the the URJ, the Reform communities organizing body. This year over 6000 people have piled into Washington DC for the event. There will be lots of URJ committee meetings, lectures, hallway discussions, big speakers, and, of course music. I’m going to do my best to see as much music as possible and report in.

First a quick note….the URJ has put a lot of information about the musicians up on their Stage Page including schedules (for attendees), musician info and some videos. If you’ve ever wanted to get a real sense of what’s going on in the Reform music community this is the page to visit.

Day 1

12:00 Noon The “URJ Books and Music” stage is kicking off with Beth Schafer, Julie Silver, Doug Cotler, and Rabbi Joe Black. They’re singing a funky, folky version of “Driedel, Dreidel.” Schafer, Silver, and Cotler are on guitar and Colter is playing keys. It’s fun to see them live but I’m really hoping this isn’t setting the tone for the week. They’re playing into all my stereotypes of liberal Jewish pop-liturgical musicians (I have different stereotypes for Orthodox community musicians). One of the big challenges for me is that while I really appreciate what these folks are doing, I don’t love a lot of the music. I find a lot of it to be pretty shallow both lyrically and musically. I also find a lot of it very dated. I don’t know if this is me pointing out that the emperor’s got pretty shabby clothes or that I’m just a jerk. Probably both.

Before anyone takes me task, let me say….. I know. Lots of it is “family music” aka kids music. And I know… lots of it is intended for easy camp and congressional sing-alongs. And, I know… these folks are talented musicians. But most of what I hear is mediocre and forgettable, a baby-boomer pastiche of 1970’s folk pop with a few Hebrew (sometimes Torah) phrases wrapped in fuzzy good feelings. Like an oldie’s radio station in a Jewish twilight zone. Yawn.

I’m hoping to find a few gems, though. I want to hear some new voices and sounds. I want my world rocked like it when I first heard Girls In Trouble sing feminist midrash over an indie-pop electric guitar and looped violin. I want to hear songs with depth and substance that really speak deeply to Jewish beliefs and dreams.

Is Colter really asking us to sing “take a potato pat pat pat.” Sigh. At 41 I’m the youngest guy in the room at the moment. Why is he singing this?

Ok, now we’re into Rock of Ages. Classic, and a nice arrangement. I think this is Silver’s arrangement. I love her soft descant. Nice. (I really appreciate Silver’s work, much more than Shafer’s which for me is vapid fuzzy good feelings and fairly uninteresting song structures). Joe Black is now singing his ‘hit’ “Judah Macabee.” He’s got a wonderful voice and this is a well-written song, though I wish it didn’t sound like it was written 30 years ago.

12:30, Jay Rappaport.

I don’t know Rappaport. Let’s see what he’s got. The announcer is crediting him for being a Berklee College of Music grad and a Billie Joel sound-alike. Ok. A little light R&B piano action. He sings well, plays well, works the audience well and sounds like 1970’s R&B oldie radio station instead of a 70’s folk-pop station. Lyrics…. Hebrew chorus? Check. Explanatory English lyrics? Check. Yep. He sounds like a elementary Hebrew school class. So, would my kids dig it? My 9 year-old who’s crank’s Matisyahu on her nano probably would find it really boring. My 7 year old? Maybe, if it was presented in a class situation but not on her own. (She digs Lady Gaga. Let me tell you…she was “born this way” all right). We are Jews. Why? Our people are connected around the world? That’s it? We should do push-ups with Judaism on our back? Sigh. We’re definitely aiming for the 7 year old in all of us. So Rappaport’s a lot of fun. I could see a gang of really young kids really having fun with him, but his songs don’t measure up for me.

Opps. I just got scolded for poaching a power outlet in a dangerous spot. My bad. But they offered me a spot at a table that will later be home to Jewish Rock Radio. Thanks folks! I’ve promised to put in a plug for the convention’s Stage Page (www.urjbam.com/stagepage). I’m not on wireless yet but will check it out as soon as I am. Maybe I can get press credentials and access to the press wireless connection tomorrow?

12: 55 Lisa Levine. (Cantor from Chevy Chase, MD)

Levine is a cantor from here in Maryland and is touted as having a lot of albums and her own song-book and visiting and performing for Jews in Cuba. She’s performing with members of her “inter-generational choir and band.” Yep. More 1970’s folk rock, complete with flute and cello this time. She’s got a good voice, though, and her music, while playing to all the songleader cliché’s, is more varied and better written than much of what I’ve heard from the community. I really dig her V’shamru. It’s up-tempo, but has a dark glimmer that gives it depth. I could easily see the kids’ choir at my synagogue nailing this one. Her “We will sing” is a powerhouse anthem. Listening to it reminds of a Gordon Lightfoot anthem (which is a pretty dated but still high praise, for those of you who don’t the guy.) All in all, Cantor Levine fits into all my preconceptions about songleader music, but there’s some real music here. I hope the folks listening are paying attention and take her songs back to their communities.

It’s frustrating that they’ve programmed music through the main conference lecture/panel sessions. The audience completely clears out. Only a few of us die-hards left. Lots of musicians I recognize wandering around. I see Todd Herzog, Jeff Klepper and Saul Kaye. I’ve got lots of folks to say howdy to.

1: 20 Sababa is next up. This show is getting better and better. In case you’re wondering…yes. more 1970’s liturgical folk-pop, this time with two guitars and a mandolin. Their sound is simple but tight, bright and glittery songleader rock with a bit of a country twang. Sababa’s lovely harmonizing and great control of their dynamics results in a very strong and engaging sound I could easily see on a main stage somewhere (hint hint Detroit JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival). I really want to hear them with a drummer and maybe a horn section. I might just have to get their album. Yep that’s me clapping along. Funny, they’re closing with a anthem with the chorus “God made it and it’s all good.” Very apropos of my Lady Gaga reference earlier. (She’s Jewish, after all).

Yikes. The audience is getting really thin. This is almost as bad as when I gave a Jewish music talk to 4 people at the Detroit JCC recently. Being in the wrong time slot is a real drag.

1:45 Larry Midler. Oops. I missed Rabbi Midler’s intro and will have to look him up later. He’s playing some goofy, happy-clappy, tune and not impressing me yet. Hang on. He’s busting out some serious country flat-picking guitar lines. That’s better. He’s got some action after all. I’m digging this tune about Noah. I wonder if he’s got a video of it I can post? Oy. He’s singing his “hit” “Where I go there’s someone Jewish” which rhymes Jewish and Newish. Cute but oy. At least the remaining audience members are singing along. I guess this is a hit after all. I’d rather hear the flat-picking. Now he’s singing about bar mitzvah’s. I really don’t love songs about Jewish set pieces (bar mitzvah’s, dreidles, candles, Torah scrolls, matzoh….). Not that they’re not important, they’re just easy to write and easy to forget. It’s really hard to make them wonderful. Ok, he’s doing more flat-picking, this time a song about Sampson…I love this just like I loved his Noah song. Do more of this and skip the goofy stuff.

One thing that’s clear to me is that I really don’t know this community very well. I’ll need to check in with my friend David, who’s been a part of this community for years. He’ll know Midler’s story.

In case your curious…. Here’s the Teruah guide to music for URJ musicians. (this is tongue in cheek folks.)

1. Play 1970’s folk pop (or R&B) because the history of music ended then.

2. Make sure you have one, and only one, Hebrew phrase in your chorus. Reform Jews like to spice things up. But only so much.

a. If you’re a performer, not a song-leader feel free to replace the one line of Hebrew with Yiddish, Ladino, Russian or whatever comes to mind.

3. Draw your lyrics inspiration from a Shabbat prayer with additional English lyrics that may or may not relate to the prayer. Non-Shabbat prayers are discouraged because no one remembers them and Lenoard Cohen’s already done the Unetanneh Tokef.

4. Skip the English lyrics and just sing the prayer lyrics in a new, uptempo, folk-pop arrangement because no one has done that yet.

5. Write something silly about one of the great Jewish set pieces (e.g. driedles, bar-mitzvah’s)

6. Make sure you write kids songs and then sing them to adults. Because they’re cute. And maybe we won’t notice there are no kids in the room.

Will I come up with new rules as the Biennial progresses? Inquiring minds want to know.

2:15 Todd Herzog. I’ve blogged about Herzog before. He’s a really strong singer/songwriter with a lot implicit and explicit Jewish themes in his lyrics. (and yes, he sometimes does the one line of Hebrew thing). Definitely a performer and not a songleader, though he got some nice call and response from the audience at times. And not stuck in a formulaic 1970’s folk pop vibe, though his warm voice and guitar playing is very accessible to the Biennial audience. The great thing about Herzog is that doesn’t fall into a lot of the cliché’s of Jewish pop music (see Teruah’s Rules above). He’s a storyteller with a lot of spiritual depth. His song Tree of Live, which he’s playing right now, is wonderful and deserves a lot more attention than it’s gotten. (Ok. It does have the ‘one Hebrew phrase” cliché). I had Herzog’s previous album in heavy rotation when it came out and seeing him play live reminds me why. (Hmm. Bring Herzog to Detroit? What a good idea)

Great. I just ran into Miriam from the Biblepop band Stereo Sinai. They rocked the house last year at the Detroit JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival. They’re huge crowd pleasers. Miriam is here representing the non-profit DarimOnline and the URJ funded social media bootcamp for URJ synagogues. (http://on.fb.me/urjbootcamp)

2:30 The Levins. I’m not familiar with The Levins. They’re a duo (keys and guitar, both on vocals), with some lovely warm harmonies. And yes, they’re following Teruah’s Rules. But like Herzog, they’re performers not songleaders, and play with a lot of style and much more interesting songs. (Bring The Levin’s to Detroit? They played the SF Jewish Festival Family Stage). Wow I’m digging these folks. Their song “Let me see you as myself” is pretty awesome. Ok. Now not digging them so much. Now they’re getting goofy. Are they seriously singing The Who in Yiddish. Yes. Yes they are. They don’t have Herzog’s deep spirituality and probably won’t end in heavy rotation but are a lot of fun. I’d go see them live again.

3:00 Noah Aronson. Aronson hit the stage with four guys… two acoustic guitars, a six-string bass, a keyboard and a percussionist. Clearly a performer not a songleader, though it appears Teruah’s Rules are being followed to the letter. The songs happily alternate between English and liturgical Hebrew in a uptempo strummy arrangements. Credit should be given…Aronson’s music draws as much on mid 90’s alterna-pop guitar as from 1970’s folk-pop. Whew. Aronson’s a young guy with a solid, driving voice. This song rocks and I could see high-school NIFTY kids who normally groove on Rick Recht and Dan Nichols loving him. (Another possible for Detroit… perfect for the Progressive Jewish Music Showcase?). Yum. Love the Spanish rhythms and the spacey keys under the second song. The percussionist needs a full kit but is doing his best with the drum box he’s got. Ha! He just pulled a bunch of NFTY Leadership Program kids up on stage with him to sing harmonies and just said “I’m going to break it down Dan Nichols style.” And then did. And here comes a closing pop version of the Shehikanu. grin. nice work. Jewish rawk.

Speaking of which, the Jewish Rock Radio gang including Rick Recht is setting up shop behind me. And the conference session must be over because the audience is filling up again.

3:25 Max Jared Einsohn. Whew. Quick stage swap. Max was playing rhythm guitar for Noah and now Noah is playing keys for Max. (And Noah is killing the keys). Max is also a Jewish rawk performer but with a softer and funkier sound. Finally, someone’s ignoring Teruah’s Rules entirely. About time. And of course, since he’s not taking the easy road the Jewish content of the music becomes harder to hear. With songs with titles like “We’re all connected” I get the positive messages that he’s interested in, but are these Jewish positive messages or American progressive pluralistic positive messages? (There is a difference, people.) That aside, this is a fun set. I’m going to need to talk to Einsohn and get more of his story.

3:45 Mikey Pauker. Ok, so clearly there’s Jewish Rock cabal here. Pauker’s got Aronson on piano and Einsohn on guitar. But Teruah’s Rules are back in play, at least to a degree. He’s leading off with arrangements of Sim Shalom and Hinea Matov, but there’s no 70’s folk-pop in sight. Strummy, but with more of a 90’s acoustic rock bite and a languid jam-band presentation. Hinei Matov? How great it is for brothers and sister to hang out on this day? Pretty great. Thanks for asking. Pauker’s is playing a song he wrote at Hava Nashira that’s been picked up for a reality TV show on OWN. It’s a great tune, I see why they picked it up. Let it rain! Strong, dreamy, impressionist lyrics but with a surprising Jewish liturgical hook in the middle. Avhat v’simcha v’shalom! At the end of his set, he talked about how he’s influenced by going to Hava Nashira and playing at camps. Clearly Pauker, Aronson, and Einsohn are the story of the day. It’s great to see that a younger generation is defying Teruah’s Rules. Note. I talked with Pauker after the set and he plays gigs at camps, Jewish festivals, and rock clubs and is building a career in all these places. He’s opened for Matisyahu and the Moshav band, but also for a lot of prominent LA area bands.

4:15 Mark Bloom. This is my second time seeing Bloom. He played last year at the Detroit JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival. He’s a jazzy piano player guy who plays some originals and lots of Jewish standards. He’s a fine musician but I find his set tedious…. a Jewish lounge nostalgia fest. Very much not my thing. Not much to say here.

Ok…the URJ saved the best for last.

4:40 Saul Kaye. Ok, I’ve been waiting for this show all day. I’ve seen Kaye on YouTube but not live and his music has been in heavy rotation lately. He plays a mean blues guitar and has a strong bluesy voice. “Let my people go!” “Some one please call my brother!” Metal slide grinding …. giving me chills. His song “Two Wolves,” which was based a concept from the Tanya regarding on the ideas of Yetzer Tov and Yetzer Hara, was Dan Akroyd’s “Blues Breaker of the Work” on the House of Blues radio show last October. It’s a fantastic song. And yes…it has the terms Yetzer Tov and Hara in it. This is, in my opinion, what we need. Musicians who deeply understand the Jewish tradition making new music that picks up those ideas and makes seriously good new music out of them.

Saul Kaye is married to Elana Jagoda? Jagoda is a fine family music performer (and up next.) How cool.

Yikes. I may not get talk to Saul and Elana…I have to get to evening T’filah (in the Cherry Blossom Ballroom. Just in case you were wondering.)

5:15 Elana Jagoda. Ok. Teruah’s Rules are reinstated, Jagoda is leading off with her own Sim Shalom. And that’s followed by a classic Jewish music set piece… the Hanukkah candles. But I dig her contemporary folk sound and where she goes with her lyrics. Go check out her Hanukkah track on the Craig and Co Hanukkah sampler on Amazon. Double yikes. Jagoda just explained that the version on the sampler was uploaded at the wrong speed and she sounds like a man. Ouch. It’s being fixed today. Ok. I’ve got to run and didn’t get to hear all of Jagoda’s set. Bummer.

10:30 Colter, Black, Silver, and Schafer. It’s late and the late show is starting. The openers Julie Silver, Rabbi Joe Black, Doug Colter, and Beth Schafer are back on for a full set. I’m watching the show with Saul Kaye and comparing notes. Once again I’m struck with how this music seems dislocated in time…it all sounds like a baby boomer nostalgia fest. Which, considering the audience, it pretty much is. And don’t get me wrong… they’re all fine musicians. I particularly love Julie Silver. I’m just bored. I think what bugs me isn’t that the music style is dated. I love 1800′s klezmer music right? It’s that there’s no acknowledgement that the music is a period piece. It’s being presented throughout the community as if this was the best of current music. Which it’s not. My other bug became clear to me when we were celebrating Debbie Freedman earlier in the evening. Freedman deeply knew her Judaism, the texts, the ideas, the liturgy and her music and lyrics resonated with it. The musicians that follow after her? Not so much. Too much of it is empty of any real Jewish depth. So I’m at a late night, very average, folk-pop concert.

By the way..I’m well aware that these folks are mainstays of the community, have been loved for years and that this show is as much about the community enjoy itself as it is about anything else. And I haven’t been part of the community so I just don’t get it. Yep. Pretty much.

Teruah – Jewish Music

Craig Taubman, of Craig & Co, has a great Hanukkah offer. A nice mix of Hanukkah tunes, mostly from his label’s stable of Jewish liturgical-pop musicians, offered up free on Amazon. Check it out.

Here’s one of my favorite tracks from the disc. It’s the Klezmatics performing Woody Guthrie’s “Hanukkah Gelt” from their recording “Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah.”

Update: I just not this note in the comments, presumably from Craig Taubman.

“One minor clarification. Of the the 18 tracks on the cd none of the artists are currently signed to our label. Furthermore, outsde of my “liturgical pop music” the balance of tunes comes from a very eclecltic selection of artists including folk (Mare Winningham,Yael Meyer and Ilana) , classical (Milken) Cantorial (alberto), rock (Naomi and Rebbe Soul) Gospel (Joshua Nelson and hip hop (Smoothe e ) genres. Keep spreading the news!”

Teruah – Jewish Music

There are many different ways to go about learning Hebrew, but when you use the Bible as a learning tool, you are going to find that it has a whole new meaning. Reading the Bible means that you are going to be learning about the Christian history and the way things should be. However, you are also going to find that even if you have read it before, there is going to be a brand new way of looking at the good book and the understanding that you are going to have of its meaning.

If you have never even read the language before, you will find that you should take a few steps first. The alphabet should be learned and since it is a small list, this should not take you long. Next will come the vowels and then you will need to know the pronunciation of them combined. Once you have this down, learning Hebrew from reading the Bible will be much easier and it will take you less time to get through the words. You don’t want to get frustrated while trying to read.

As you begin reading, you may find that you feel as though you are back in school sounding out the words to make sure that you get them right. After you get through a few of the pages your reading will become more fluent and you will start to feel more comfortable as well. You will find that as you are learning Hebrew from the Bible, the wording is shorter as it takes fewer words to say the meaning than it does when you are using the English translation. If you find yourself stuck on a word you can use an English/Hebrew translation dictionary to help.

There are many online resources that you can use for learning Hebrew this way. With all of the technology and online help that you can receive, there are videos and even audio recording that you can listen to that will help you to translate the wording. But once you have learned how to break down the words and sound them out, reading the Bible will become easy and less frustrating. But again, it is important to get the basics down with the alphabet and the vowel system. This will help you in knowing how to pronounce the words so you have a better understanding.

As you get better at reading the language you are going to see that it is very smooth and what once sounded like something strange and foreign to you will become beautiful and harmonic. The meaning behind the words is very deep and fulfilling and in learning Hebrew from the Bible you will be able to get a true sense of that meaning. Not only is it educational but you may even find that a whole new light will be shed on the book that you once thought you understood inside and out. It is a great way to not only learn the language but to have a deeper understanding of who you are.

Learning Hebrew

JST_HB Workshoppers,

The paper for Sam Brody’s workshop is now available for download HERE.

The workshop paper is entitled From Political Theology to Theo-Politics: Martin Buber’s Anarchistic Inversion of Carl Schmitt  and will take place on Monday, Nov. 28th, @12pm in Swift Hall, rm 200.

See you all there!

Jewish Studies and the Hebrew Bible

Ohel is proud to present photos from the sold out, “The Music We Love” Annual Benefit Concert. All of the attached photos were taken by Ken Brown. The concert featured Lipa Schmeltzer, Yishai Lapidot, Benny Friedman, Shloime Gertner, 8th Day, Eli Schwebel, Rivie Schwebel, Shalsheles Junior, Eitan Katz, Shloime Dachs, & Michoel Pruzansky! Produced by Sheer Productions (Avram Zamist) & NYFF Events, with musical direction by Avremi G.  Read the full recap by Kol Isha over here.

Jewish Music Report

For those of you who are not familiar with the collection here is an article that briefly describes it. While we were always aware that the collection contained a significant number of rare books and bibliographies, in recent years we have become aware of the important provenance of many of the Brisman items. The ownership stamps, personal and organizational, provide another window into the history of these works.

A photograph from the Special Collections exhibit of ephemera found in some of the books (a dry cleaners advertisement, a receipt of a donation to a Jewish soup kitchen) and of ownership and governmental stamps on some books.

Acquiring the grant was accomplished by the efforts of individuals in the Development Office, Cataloging Unit, and Special Collections. The grant will be used to hire a part-time cataloger to create full records for those materials with only provisional ones. This will help us to know more fully the extent of the collection and to prioritize volumes for digitization and preservation.

Library News for Jewish Studies

Dear parents,

My name is Irit Karavani and I’m glad be your child’s Hebrew teacher in 1st Grade.

I moved last year to Columbus from Charleston South Carolina, with my husband and our two (out of four) children. I’m thrilled to join the CTA family, and glad to teach your child.

The first grade students will learn Hebrew through the Tal Am curriculum. This wonderful program contains many songs and stories and all in Hebrew (“Ivrit b’Ivrit”). I’ve been trained to teach the program and have been teaching Tal Am in first Grade for 9 years. I participated in Tal Am conferences in the past and recently this summer.

As a teacher, as well as a mother, I strongly believe in open communication between teachers to parents. To reach this goal I invite you to check my blog at morahirit.blogspot.com, email me with any questions to: iritkaravani@hotmail.com or just call me at home at:
(614)338-0308 and leave me a message if I’m not home.

You will also receive Emails from me, as well as reminder emails before assignments, and First grade weekly letter.

Please respond to this e-mail to confirm that I have the correct e-mail address for you.  For some families, I have an e-mail address for both parents.  Please let me know if you want me to leave it that way.

Looking forward to a wonderful year.
Sincerely,
Morah Irit Karavani

First Grade Hebrew

Baruch Levine is back with an all new album, featuring 11 amazing songs composed by Baruch. The CD is produced by Yochi Briskman of Project Productions. The arrangements on the album are by Baruch as well as Yanky Briskman. Aside from 10 brand new songs there is the completely redone “Refuah” first sung at last the smash hit Caesaria II CD/DVD. It’s another jam packed, musical explosion featuring exciting new songs and fresh arrangements.

For the first time, as a bonus, Aderet Music and Project Productions are offering an instant download of the album with every purchase of the hard CD. The album will be available online through MostlyMusic.com and distributed by Aderet Music.

Jewish Music Report