{"id":48661,"date":"2026-03-27T01:49:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=48661"},"modified":"2026-03-26T17:26:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:26:22","slug":"what-is-jewish-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/what-is-jewish-music\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Jewish music?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 8, Joshua\u00a0<\/span>Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., spoke on the topic Jewish Music: What\u2019s That?<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Prof. Joshua Jacobson was the latest speaker in Kolot Mayim\u2019s Voices of Jewish Music series. (internet photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Zoom lecture was the fifth of six talks in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple\u2019s 2025\/26 Voices of Jewish Music series.<\/p>\n

How can music even be Jewish? Jacobson asked. Does music keep kosher? Is music circumcised? Did music have a bat mitzvah? He played an excerpt of African-American clarinetist Don Byron performing the klezmer number \u201cDer Nayer Doyne.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be Jewish to compose or perform Jewish music,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why I prefer the terminology, the music of the Jewish people. Although I will admit that, for the sake of convenience, I often do use the term Jewish music.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the question of what constitutes Jewishness remains. The word represents an ever-widening expanse, including an abundance of liturgical music, a vast array of music influenced by the cultures in which Jews have lived and the languages they have spoken, and the contributions of Jews who have entered the community by choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no single Judaism, not anymore. It\u2019s a big tent,\u201d Jacobson said.<\/p>\n

One school of thought Jacobson pointed to came from Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch, who said, \u201cRacial consciousness is something that every great artist must have. A composer who says something is not only himself, he is his forefathers. He is his people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard Bernstein wrote in his senior thesis at Harvard University in 1939: \u201cIt is easily understandable that a composer whose parents were immigrants still maintains a close contact with the old racial traditions. If their traditions are part of his childhood, they are inevitably part of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson played Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d to illustrate that any music composed by a Jew could be considered Jewish music.<\/p>\n

The Nazis, however, defined Jewish in purely racial terms, Jacobson said. They would not allow any music written by a Jew to be heard or even studied in Germany and German-controlled countries. Nor would the Nazis allow Jewish-German conductor Bruno Walter to lead a concert of Ludwig van Beethoven\u2019s works. Jews, the Nazis believed, would spoil the music with their \u201cJewish accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson played excerpts of Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 6, asking if members of the audience could distinguish between a performance led by Walter and one by conductor Wilhelm Furtw\u00e4ngler.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of you think that the first one was conducted by a Jew? How many of you think the second one was conducted by a Jew? How many of you think that it\u2019s a ridiculous question? \u2013 which, of course, it is. Did one of these have a discernible \u2018Jewish accent\u2019? No,\u201d Jacobson said.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
In his March 8 talk, Prof. Joshua Jacobson gave Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d as an example of how any music composed by a Jew could be considered Jewish music. (internet image)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Defining what constitutes Jewish music by what exists within borders or, as in much of Jewish history, in exile, can be an equally insurmountable task. As an example, Jacobson played part of a track from Arab-Israeli hip-hop group DAM, which is in Hebrew.<\/p>\n

Many Israelis write music that doesn\u2019t sound geographically constrained, he said.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the professor did offer a definition of traditional Jewish music in his talk, saying it is music that has been used \u2013 whether sung, played or listened to \u2013 by Jews more than by other people, and, therefore, it has become associated with Jewish people.<\/p>\n

Cantillation, the way the Torah and other biblical books are chanted, is the oldest form of Jewish music, Jacobson said. Demonstrating the cantillation styles of Babylonian, German and Yemenite Jews, he showed that the practice is similar, although not entirely the same, in Jewish communities throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome scholars think that these are variations on an ancient theme, he said. \u201cThe variations are due to acculturation. German cantillation betrays the influence of German music. Yemenite cantillation betrays the influence of the culture in which they lived, the Yemenite culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson said we find Jewish music in many styles and periods, and perhaps the problem in seeking a definition is that there are so many Jewish \u201cmusics.\u201d He returned to Bloch, who once said that he could not say what Jewish music is, but one knows it when it is heard. According to Bloch, \u201cIt is something that both you and I can recognize and feel, even if we cannot analyze it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Jacobson, the term Jewish music \u201cis itself a wide tent in which all may not agree on a definition, but it\u2019s something that we cherish, and something that fulfils us.\u201d<\/p>\n

An authority on Jewish music, Jacobson is also the founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston. He has guest-conducted many ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has written articles on various aspects of choral music and has published more than 100 compositions and arrangements.<\/p>\n

The final speaker in this year\u2019s Voices of Jewish Music series is author Michael Posner on April 12 at 11 a.m. Posner will explore Leonard Cohen\u2019s Jewish heritage, philosophy and musical legacy \u2013 and how Judaism influenced Cohen\u2019s lyrics, philosophy and life.\u00a0For more information, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/b> has written for the <\/i>Globe and Mail, the <\/i>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 8, Joshua\u00a0Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., spoke on the topic Jewish Music: What\u2019s That? The Zoom lecture was the fifth of six talks in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple\u2019s 2025\/26 Voices of Jewish Music series. How can music even be Jewish? Jacobson asked. Does music keep kosher? Is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[3028,24753,9270,8370,24752],"class_list":["post-48661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-jewish-music","tag-joshua-jacobson","tag-kolot-mayim","tag-speakers","tag-voices-of-jewish-music"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}