Special Chazzanut Series
It’s z’man Elul – the time of year when we are starting to prepare for the Yamim Nora’im. This period brings to mind the special tunes for tefillot which are unique to the High Holidays. From the Selichot that we start to say before Rosh Hashanah to the prayers we say on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, both Sepharadim and Ashkenazim have beautiful and unique tunes that they use. It’s one of the things about the High Holidays I look forward to most every year.
Growing up on these old and beautiful tunes, whether in the synagogue I went to as a child or later in high school and college, left a sweet taste that I yearn for – the tunes used for only three days of the year.
In the last couple of years, however, there’s been a trend of using new tunes for the High Holidays – from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach to popular modern chasidic songs. In the last couple of years, I’ve had a chance to daven in a few different shuls, and I noticed this trend of chazzanim and ba’alei tefillah who leave behind the good, old traditional tunes and “dress” the tefillot with these newer melodies.
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of Carlebach music. I think I know most of his songs and I really enjoy listening to his music throughout the year. I am also a big fan of chasidic music. And during the year I think it’s OK to use these tunes once in a while on Shabbat, for various tefillot. Even though it’s not my favorite thing and I personally prefer the traditional tunes, I understand that some people want something new, and even professional cantors understand it and give the congregants what they want. Also, Shabbat is every week, so it makes sense that people might like variety. A tune that they can sing, even one from a recently released song.
But the High Holidays are only three days a year. And in these three days I want the good, old, traditional tunes that have been passed down from generation to generation. The unique tunes that I wait for the whole year. I also wouldn’t want to use these tunes throughout the year on Shabbatot or holidays. It’s kind of like opening a special box of niggunim (tunes) just before Rosh Hashanah, taking them out to use them during the High Holidays, then putting them back and closing the box until next year. The same way that people have their special box with their kittel, machzorim, and other items they use just for these special days.
I’ll be very honest with you: This new trend of using different tunes for the High Holiday tefillot really ruins the davening for me. When the chazzan starts to sing “Ki Hine Kachomer Beyad Hayotzer” at Maariv on Yom Kippur night in some random tune, I try to sing this piyyut to myself in the familiar traditional tune that has been used for generations.
It honestly feels like some of the chazzanim and ba’alei tefillah have become like DJs. During chazzarat hashatz (the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei), they just pick a tune of a chasidic song, or other popular song, that comes to mind.
When I speak about this with people, I hear different arguments such as: People want modern tunes! People want to connect to the tefillah through familiar tunes. In some synagogues there are ba’alei teshuva or traditional Jews who come to davening only during the High Holidays, and they need something familiar – not “heavy.” And since they didn’t grow up on the “traditional” tunes, they might not feel connected to them.
So, let’s address these arguments one by one:
Is Carlebach music modern? It’s from the 70s! Other tunes that some chazzanim use are from the 90s or early 2000s. Modern tunes they’re not.
It’s true that somewhere in the beginning of the 2000s, there was a big revival of Carlebach music thanks to artists such as Yehuda Katz and the Reva L’Sheva band, Yehudah Green, etc. But still it wouldn’t be considered modern music. (I strongly recommend you get Rabbi Carlebach’s albums and listen to them throughout the year – his music is magnificent.)
So why not use instead the good, old traditional tunes? If in both cases the tunes are not modern, use them during the year on Shabbat and other holidays, but for the High Holidays let’s keep the original, traditional tunes. For Sukkos for example, I think it’s OK to mix in some Carlebach tunes and other chasidic nigunim. Speaking of Sukkos and Chol HaMoed, Rabbi Carlebach indeed has some beautiful tunes that match the tefillot very well.
Next: People want familiar tunes. Really? How many people in an average shul are familiar with chasidic music or Carlebach music? Yes, those who read this column for sure are familiar with it, but in an average shul, not all congregants are. So, whether the chazzan does the traditional tunes or just a DJ set of contemporary and older chasidic music from the 70s, most of the congregants will not notice the difference. So why not teach them the good, old traditional tunes so they’ll like and enjoy them?
By the way, there’s a good chance that many of the congregants are familiar with the good, old traditional High Holidays tunes, as they might have heard them as kids in the synagogue when they were growing up. So, they might like it even more if the chazzan would stick to those tunes which have been used during the Yamim Nora’im for generations. Tunes that can be found in old chazzanut books such as the “Blue Book” of British cantors, for example.
As for beginners and traditional Jews who mostly come to synagogue during the High Holidays, I think exposing them to the traditional tunes might leave them with a sweet taste and something they’ll yearn for and miss during the year so that they might want to come more often to the synagogue. I think they need to become familiar with the old traditional tunes. Why assume that only contemporary or Carlebach tunes will connect these people more to the tefillah? Perhaps the glory and the beauty of the tunes that have passed from generation to generation will speak to them more than the random contemporary tunes.
The “old” traditional tunes have a lot to offer. There is a good reason why they’ve stayed with us all these years. We should not underestimate them. They’re no less beautiful and exciting than contemporary tunes.
I think we should keep the High Holidays services unique. Give the congregants something special that they hear only once a year. (Or to be accurate, three days a year.) Give them the experience of the special High Holidays tunes. Give the kids in the shul the experience of growing up on these tunes. A constant – something they won’t forget and will carry with them for years to come.
This is how to make the tefillot of the High Holidays truly special.
