The Jewish religion and its people are among are among the most ancient in the
world, dating as far back as 5.000 years The Jewish total world's population is
considerably small comparing to the whole world's population. Jews never had a place or
a country where they could live as a nation; they have been scattered all over the world
and have been influenced by almost every culture and nation. Yet the following questions
arise: how has this nation survived and why didn't it disappear or get assimilated. The
ability to remain loyal to their faith, spiritual culture and thought is what made them resist
over the centuries. They created communities, built schools, synagogues and centers to
practice religion, study the language and celebrate holidays. Music being used in prayers,
songs for holidays and on occasions of mass gathering and religious celebrations such as
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings, unifies Jews and plays a significant role in their life.
But what is Jewish music and how can we approach the study of it? According to
Amnon Shiloah, Jewish musical tradition is "musical tower of Babel." Anyone can
experience "a simultaneous panorama of sound" when passing the Western Wall, a
remnant of Jerusalem's Temple. On Friday evenings groups of worshippers gather before
the Wall, "all singing the same Shabbat prayer texts, but using many different melodies.
All are simultaneously performing the same fundamental ritual: welcoming the Shabbat
at exactly the same hour, expressing the same feelings, experiencing the same emotions.
Only melodies differ, expressing a whole spectrum of musical styles."
Abraham Z. Idelsohn, the pioneer of Jewish ethnomusicalogical research, defines Jewish
music as "the song of Judaism through the lips of the Jew" and as "tonal expression of
Jewish life and development over two thousand years." So we see that Jewish
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music differs from community to community and should be studied separately within
each community rather than as a single conception.
According to the geographical distribution of the Jewish communities from the 16th
century until WWI, Jews were divided into different ethnic groups. The main division is
between Ashkenazi(originally from Germany and France, and who spread to eastern
Europe after the 15th century) and Sephardic(who settled in the Ottoman Empire or who
remained in the Middle East or spread to the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, Central
Asia and India).
My study concerns the Jews who belong to Sephardic ethnic group and also known as
Caucasus or "Mountain" Jews. They lived in Iran for a long time and then, trying to
escape persecution, moved to Caucasus and settled in the small villages of the Atlas
Mountains (that's why they are called "the Mountain Jews"). Despite the conditions they
have been living in, the Caucasus Jews have remained loyal to their religion and culture,
have observed traditions and customs and kept their language, Farsi (the influence of
Iranian language). However the influence of other Caucasus's nations on the Mountain
Jewish culture is immense. Now it is a mixture of traditions and rituals brought long ago
by Jews from Iran, which have been passing orally from generation to generation, and
ones adopted from neighboring nations. Today "Mountain" Jews live in modern cities in
Georgia (Western Caucasus) and Azerbaijan, Dagestan and Chechen Republic (Eastern
Caucasus). After the "perestroika" a lot of Mountain Jews started to leave Caucasus
and a considerable number of them came here, to New York.
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Music in Caucasus Jewish culture, as in any other Jewish community culture, is
divided into two categories: liturgical (religious) and non-liturgical (traditional). In
religion music is basically used for prayers and religious rituals. These songs are tunes
for Bible texts or tunes based on biblical themes, melodies for religious poetry and
meditation. "The liturgical music of the Mountain Jews in the eastern Caucasus is
extremely austere. It consists of simple recitation formulae in flowing rhythm by the
cantor or in a responsorial manner between cantor and congregation. The range is narrow
and most formulae are based on descending melodic figures". (www.grovemusic.com)
Mountain Jews use music in blessings and prayers to be concentrated and focused, on
holidays and religious rituals "to give those various holy days tonal expression and ...
spiritualize them". (Idelsohn)
Traditional music of Mountain Jews consists of songs in Farsi and Russian. They
are about life of Mountain Jews and their homeland, about love and relationships between
parents and children. Most of them are dancing songs which are performed on weddings
and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. The songs are sung by popular musicians and accompanied with a
set of instruments: zurna (resembles flute), tar (resembles violin) and several drums. The
melodies to these songs are metric and have an ostinato line that is repeated over and
over again. These songs are recorded on tapes and CDs and are very popular.
Wedding and Bar/Bat Mitzvah are important life cycle events in the life of
Mountain Jews as in any other Jewish ethnic community. In Judaism marriage has a
supreme and fundamental value, for it is the only way for Jews in Diaspora to survive as
a nation. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a confirmation ceremony, which ushers a boy of 13 or a
girl of 12 into adulthood. Being religious rituals, these ceremonies take place in a
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synagogue accompanied with prayers and blessings. The celebrations that follow these
ceremonies in Mountain Jewish communities considerably differ from those in other
Jewish communities. Men and women dance together either in a big circle or in pairs,
according to beat with hands performing particular motions. In other communities the
celebrations are performed differently. For example, on weddings in Hasidim
communities(Ashkenazi Jews), women and men dance in separate circles. They sing
shirot (a type of strophic songs) related not only to weddings, but also to other themes,
such as exaltation of Bible, the soul and the mind. In ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi
communities it is forbidden to use instrumental music in weddings because for
them a wedding is considered a sacred ceremony.
In Caucasus Jewish community the wedding is always preceded by a celebration of
the engagement. It is customary that before the engagement party takes place, a
procession with the groom and all his relatives march all the way from the
groom's house to the bride's house. Each of them is holding a tray with a present for the
bride and the groom is holding the engagement ring. This ceremony is accompanied by
musicians playing drums, zurna and harmonium, thus making everyone know that a
wedding will occur soon. When they come to the bride's house, the groom hands her the
ring and everyone starts to dance and congratulate them. Specific songs and melodies are
played during the engagement party.
Recently I was at my cousin's wedding party. When I heard the music I felt like I
was in Derbent again (Dagestan city where I was born and where a considerable part of
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Mountain Jews live). It was hard to believe that here in Brooklyn, in the U.S., so far from
where Mountain Jews came, such a small community (only 3% of all Jews) is able to stay
together and remain loyal to their traditions. The songs, dances and accompanied
instruments were the same as those used in Dagestan. Moreover, I also noticed that the
tradition of having special songs for a dance between the bride and her father and for a
dance between the bride and the groom has been preserved. Amazingly, these songs were
exactly the same. My mom even told me, "I remember this song. On my wedding I was
dancing to it with my father."
Aside from having songs for celebrations of important life cycle events, there are
also special songs for holidays like Shabbat and Passover. When Mountain Jews came
here to Brooklyn, they started to form communities, build synagogues and centers where
they gather for holidays and sing certain songs the way they used to. On these holidays
our community tends to sing songs which came from our holy land and that are
universal to all Jewish people. The songs help them approach the sense of a holiday and
understand its meaning and purpose better. Shabbat (every 7th day of week), is a holiday
when Jews should rest and study the Bible. It is considered as a gift from God and
"associated with a heavenly queen, imprisoned in the sky; she descends to earth once a
week to dispense her holiness"(Shiloah). This idea gave birth to one of the basic rites
associated with the day: Qabbalat Shabbat - receiving the Shabbat. On Friday night all
members of Caucasus Jewish family sit at the table and sing "Leha Dodi Liqrat Kala"
("come, my beloved to meet the [Shabbat] bride") (see Songs,p.8), thus inviting Shabbat
into their home. This song helps Jews understand the importance and significance of this
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holiday, implying the eagerness with which it is awaited. The other traditional Shabbat
song sang by Caucasus Jews is called "Shalom Aleichem" ("peace be unto you") (see
Songs, p. 8). This song shows the main purpose of Shabbat: Shabbat is intended to be the
time of peace and rest, the time of harmony and contentment. It is intended to enhance
the mood of happiness and joy. The only difference between the performances of these
songs by Mountain Jews and other Jewish communities is in the melody to the songs and
the accent, but songs convey the same message.
Another important Jewish holiday is Passover, which celebrates the liberation of the
Jewish nation from their slavery years in Egypt. On Passover seder (feast) it is customary
to tell the story of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. This custom is accompanied by
singing special songs which remind us of the events of the life in Egypt and in the desert
(after the exodus) and what these all mean to the Jewish people. "Mah Nishtana" ("why
different") (see Songs, p.9) is the song of the four questions that Jewish children are
asking at the seder able. The questions in this song like "why this night is different from
others?" and "why we eat matza ("unleavened bread") instead of regular bread?" lead to
the telling of the story of the Exodus. "Ehad mi yodea" ("who knows one") (see Songs,
p10) is another Passover song which is similar to "Mah Nishtana" that goes in a question-
answer way. It includes thirteen questions which are based on what the first thirteen
numbers represent in Judaism. Passover is a holiday that celebrates Jewish freedom; it is
a freedom of a nation with its convictions and beliefs and a freedom of being oneself. The
songs that Jewish people sing on Passover help them remember their history, the
principles of their faith, and what Judaism is about.
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I remember when I lived in Derbent with my family, we would sit at the seder
table and sing those songs. My grandfather would tell us the story of the Exodus and my
small brother would sing "Mah Nishtana" that my grandpa taught him. Originally both of
these songs("Mah Nishtana" and "Ehad mi yodea") are in Hebrew; however, I remember
we were singing them in Farsi. For "Ehad mi yodea" ("who knows one"), we would sing:
Ekire ki mitanu who knows one
Ekire me mitanum I know one
Eki Hudo One is God
etc.
Interestingly, in Brooklyn when I was invited by a Mountain Jewish family for the
Passover seder, I was amazed seeing them sing exactly the same songs in Farsi
and using the same melody. I asked them, how they managed to preserve this tradition
(they are living here for ten years). The head of the family said, "These traditions, songs
and the language are the only things that connect us with our homeland, and we should
not forget them."
When I was asking my friends and relatives (who are also Mountain Jews), what
Jewish music meant to them and what they feel when they listen to it, most of them told
me that it is relaxing and inspiring and that it enhances the mood and helps to forget
about the problems. They also said that these songs make them feel nostalgic and remind
them of the life they had in Caucasus. I totally agree with them and I think that our music
and the songs are ones of those small things that unite us and make us closer to each
other. And, I am glad that here in the U.S., we have the possibility to gather and practice
our traditions the way we used to.
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