Curtains

Ha'aretz has an interesting article today about the use of music in prayer in American synagogues. To note the obvious, more and more synagogues are changing their jingles from operatic organ music to more "modern" styles.

Read it here.

It seems to me that this music is really no different than the music that preceded it. Both are intended as gimmics to lure the masses into synagogue. Opera was once what rock is today, many synagogues were just overly slow in responding to modernity.

Regardless, this is a cure for a symptom, not the underlying problem. You can give people gimmic after gimmic to get them into shul, there's nothing wrong with that. But, eventually, if you want prayer to be sustainable and actually go anywhere, you need them to depend on more than just gimmics - they need to normalize and internalize prayer, so much that it can happen at any moment, without the guitars and drums and cellos and mandolins.

So, play the keyboard all you want in my book. But recognize the music for what it is: window dressing. The real question is how you make the actual window look nice, with a handle for easy opening, not what fabric you hang in front.

Comments

[Anonymous]

If that's the case, then why do niggunim exist?

[David]

Read the Ha'aretz article, and you'll understand the focus of my point. That said, also read yesterday's follow-up post, "Put It All Out There," for my public vidui.