EXHIBT OBJECTS
 Tallith (In Hebrew, prayer shawl): a square shawl, usually white, with tussles in its four corners, made according to Deut. 22:12. It is donned during day-time services and all day during Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), as well as in special occasions such as a bris (circumcision), to celebrate the sacred. According to the Sephardic tradition, Bar Mitzvah boys (13 years olds) can use a tallith in prayer, while by the Ashkenazi tradition, it is only after a man gets married that he starts using it. The tallith bag was usually hand-made by the bride. The displayed tallith and bag were given to Lawrence Schildkret (1932–1996) when he became Bar Mitzvah in 1945. [Schildkret Collection]
Watch Rabbi Rivkin: How to Put on a Tallith |
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 Tefillin (in Hebrew, plural of “prayer”; phylacteries), two boxes made of black leather, bound by black leather straps in a specific way – first on the left hand and then on the head, during the morning service, except for Sabbath and holidays. Inside the boxes are four instructive passages from the Bible (Ex. 13:1–10 and 11–16; Deut. 6:4–9 and 11:13–21), literally interpreted as treating “these words” (of the Law) as "a sign upon thy hand and a frontlet between thine eyes." The oldest known tefillin are those of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Traditionally, Jewish men start assuming their religious obligations, including the donning of teffilin, when they become Bar Mitzva, at 13 years of age. The displayed set belonged to Lawrence Schildkret (1932–1996), who received it when he became Bar Mitzvah in 1945. [Schildkret Collection]
Watch how Tefillin are used |
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 Shabbath
Listen to Friday Night Kiddush |
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 Havdalah set (in Hebrew, distinction): a cup of wine, a spice box and a braided candle. The ancient blessing of the Havdalah, recited after dark on Sabbath and holidays (when it is dark enough for three stars to be shown), distinguishes between the sacred and the ordinary. The ceremony is done 6by reciting blessings over a wine cup and passing around a box with spices such as cloves and myrtle. A braided candle is lit over a plate, then put out by pouring some wine over it. The Havdalah is concluded with songs such as "Elijah the prophet" and other hymns based on the Jerusalem Talmud. [Hillel at ASU collections]
Watch a Havdalah |
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 The Torah
Listen to Torah reading with cantillation notes (scroll down to Cantillations) |
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 Piyyutim:
Listen to Piyyutim |
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Shofar is a Biblical musical instrument made of an animal's horn (usually a ram). It is used during morning service in the month of Elul (selihot, the Penitential season), in Rosh Ha-Shanah (Jewish New Year; "a day of blowing", Numbers 29:1), as well as at the conclusion service of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The blasting sound of the shofer is supposed to open up the heavens so prayers may go through and appeal for God’s forgiveness. [Hillel at ASU collections]
Listen to Shoffar blowing Click on Audio Links in page
Listen to Shofar Blowing and High Holidays Piyyutim |
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Hanukkah Menorah is a lamp with eight candle holders, lit every night of Hanukkah starting with one and ending with eight candles, as well as the shamash (in Hebrew, servitor) with which all candles are lit. After lighting the lamp, it is customary to sing “Maoz Tsur” (Rock of Ages), a 13th century piyyut. Many styles of Hanukkah Menorahs were developed in Jewish communities around the world, made from a variety of materials. One of the more classical styles takes after the Biblical seven-branch candelabrum (menorah), as described in Ex. 25:31–40. Such menorah-shaped articles were first used only in synagogues, as the original one was prepared for the Tabernacle and its replicas were used in the First and Second Temples. The earliest representation of such a large Hanukkah menorah is an illustration in the 1470 Rothschild Miscellany (see facsimile in lower shelf). The displayed Hanukkah menorah is cast brass, made in New York City ca. 1900. It belonged to Frieda Thaler, who emigrated to the United States from Hamburg, Germany. [Schildkret Collection]
Listen to Hanukkah Songs (The David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project at the Jewish National & University Library)
Listen to Hanukkah Songs |
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Purim Grogger is an instrument for noise making, such as a rattle. It is used in Purim (“lots”), a festival celebrating the rescue of the Jews from a destruction planned by Haman, as told in the Book of Esther. Whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the public reading of the megillah (scroll) during the night of Purim and the following morning service, groggers are used to hiss it. While there are designed traditional groggers, any instrument will do for that purpose – from banging on pots and pans to using this inexpensive plastic grogger. [Hillel at ASU collections]
Reading the Megillah (Book of Esther) on Purim:
Listen to the Megillah (Book of Esther), and Purim Piyyutim (The David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project at the Jewish National & University Library)
Listen to the Megillah (Book of Esther)
Watch a Grogger Collection |
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Haggadah (in Hebrew, telling a story) is the text accompanying the Passover seder service. Traditionally, it includes ritual eating and drinking while telling the story of the exodus from Egypt by reading and singing passages from the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrash. Singing styles are diverse and consist of simple chant, psalms recitation, and melodies sung by all attendants. The medieval poems that conclude the Haggadah, among them Had Gadya (The Kid), are sung in folk styles and very among families. Extending the seder celebration by singing and even dancing is also customary.
The displayed book is a Haggadah anthology from Kibbutzim in Israel, prepared locally in the 1940s and 1950s and not printed or published outside of that society. They feature new national elements as well as new musical traditions, emphasizing the seasonal aspects of Passover.
Listen to songs from the Passover Haggdah
Passover Through Archeology and Rare Documents: A Teaching Site (Jewish Theological Seminary): |
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Learn about Jewish Holidays and Calendar
Learn about the Jewish Calendar
Learn about Jewish Holidays
Wikipedia: Hebrew calendar
Listen to other Jewish Musical Traditions (Jewish National and University Library-National Sound Archive, David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project)
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Resources at ASU Libraries
A variety of materials is offered through ASU Libraries catalog, under the following subject headings: Jews, music; synagogue music; cantillation; klezmer music; songs, Yiddish; folk songs, Yiddish; folk songs, Hebrew; folk music, Israel; folk dance music Israel. For streaming music, the Libraries offers two searchable resources, the Naxos Music Library, and the Classical Music Library.
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From the Exhibit
Introduction
Jewish liturgy as we know it today, an ancient tradition with everlasting variations, is rooted in sacrifice rituals celebrated in Biblical times. By the first century C.E., with the rising importance of the synagogue as a community establishment along side the main Temple, a less centralized attitude to public worship has developed, including different formulations of the liturgical service. After the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans (70 C.E.), when the Jewish population was expelled from the Land of Israel, a spiritual replacement for the concrete lost Temple was formulated to preserve national and religious sentiments of a people torn between different continents, cultures and languages. Jewish liturgy fulfilled that need in Diaspora, replacing the avodah (in Hebrew, sacrifice ritual) with "avodah of the heart".
This liturgy, based on arrangements of Hebrew passages alluding to Biblical texts, has always been more than the mere words recited, integrating ritual objects with gestures, postures, and musical intonations. Indeed, every public reading of the Torah (Pentateuch; the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) in the synagogue, on Sabbath, is a musical experience. The weekly Torah portion should be chanted according to specific cantillation notes, added to the text based on oral traditions. Prayers for Shabbath and holidays, particularly for the High Holidays, are especially rich in musical expressions.
Jewish communities around the world had their own version of prayer books for daily use and for holidays, usually composed of a set of established prayers and varying piyyutim, lyrical compositions of different textual and musical styles used to “decorate” the obligatory texts.
The piyyutim, as well as the subdivision of the texts and textual variations, created distinctive prayer books for different communities, depending upon geographical locations and historical periods. Several manuscript and early print editions of Jewish prayer books are known, from Northern France, Italy, the Balkans, Persia, Yemen, and Germany – to name just a few. The kind of prayer book used was prescribed by one’s community and later on, by denomination. Today there two main accepted versions of prayer books, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic, and different traditions: Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Italian, and Yemeni. Prayer books for women in Yiddish, tkhines (in Yiddish, supplication s), are another genre, allowing the modern reader to take a rare look at women's life cycle, usually not documented in formal histories.
The prayer book used by Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) for his Avodat ha-Kodesh (Sacred Service) was a 1920s edition of the North American Reform movement’s Union Prayer Book, a living evident to how Judaism ever-changing philosophy is reflected in prayer books. Continuing a textual and musical tradition beginning in the Reform Movement in early 19 th century Germany – where mixed (men and women) choral singing accompanied by organ was introduced into the synagogue, in similarity to Lutheran services at the time – the Union Prayer Book went through major revisions throughout the years. Bloch studied the Hebrew text of this prayer book when composing the Sacred Service, commissioned by Cantor Reuben Rinder of Temple Emanuel in San Francisco. The work was composed in 1930-1933 in Switzerland, while Bloch devoted himself to composition thanks to a grant from the Stern family.
Avodath ha-Kodesh is a Modern praise to the Shabbath, following the musical tradition of the Jewish ritual and continuing a Jewish tradition in Western musical conventions.
Popular Jewish Music
From Yiddish folk music, through Broadway shows to national songs in Israel – synagogue tunes seem to submerge under Jewish popular music in Modern times and reappear as if from nowhere.
The return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, starting in the 19th century, was accompanied with a social and cultural renewal based on a secular idea of the New Hebrew Man. Secularism played an important role in this utopia, and many elements in the new culture had to be reborn. National music was one of these elements, performed and sung in secular ceremonies honoring Yom ha-Zilkaron (Memorial Day) and Yom ha-Atsma’ut (Independence Day). The radio played such songs non-stop on those days, and newspaper inserts for the celebratory editions included lyrics and notes of appropriate songs. These items are from the Israeli Popular Literature Collection at ASU
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