Who Says Jews Don’t Have Soul?

By Beth Kissileff No one could have predicted thirty years ago that the cantorial school at Hebrew Union College would one day be named for Debbie Friedman.  At the dawn of her career, Friedman was considered a maverick, someone who didn’t know about the traditions of Jewish music, a self-taught song leader rather than the prevailing model of cantor, a carefully trained musician. The first time I attended a performance of hers, in the early nineties in a non-descript suburban New Jersey synagogue, my husband and I brought along a recent convert to Judaism who had been a member of the Princeton University Tiger Lilies, a female a cappella group.  Since music was so important to this young woman, we wanted to be sure that she knew the range of possibilities inherent in Jewish music. The...

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Don’t Hate on Hanukkah Songs

By Sarah Breger   It’s true the new Orrin Hatch song may be the best thing to happen to the Jews since Natalie Portman, but I take exception to Jeffrey Goldberg’s assertion that the existing canon of songs are “sparse and uninspiring". Hanukkah songs rock! It's one of the only times there are English songs written for a Jewish holiday. Here are a few great Hanukkah songs (sans Mormon influence). "Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah" is a seasonal favorite. The catchy melody manages to teach us about the Hanukkah candles- “One for each night, they shed a sweet light to remind us of days long ago"- while bringing in the Hora. And really what event wouldn’t be improved with the addition of a good Hora? "Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages)" is actually part of the traditional Hanukkah liturgy. It’s recitation...

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