Poetic verses of the Torah
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Victor Tunkel
Jul 6, 2011, 6:38:59 PM7/6/11
to leining
Dear Group
I have been following your lively exchanges about the special trop for
the poetic passages of the Torah, the N'siot, D'galim, etc. There
seems much confusion about 'hassidic' and 'litvish' and other
traditions. May I make some general points about our trop tradition?
The original home of the Ashkenazim was in the Rhineland settlements
prior to the first crusade. Our ashkenazi music was born there.
Those Jews who fled eastwards after the destruction took their music
and their Germanic dialect with them. In the east that language and
music became overlaid with slavic words and musical styles. It is
that slavified, tartar sound with typical constant reciting-tone that
was accepted into Eastern European Jewish melody, and is now dominant
in N.America and Israel. This is not my opinion: it is that of the
leading Jewish musicologists, Werner, Idelsohn, Avenary, Kalib and
others. If anyone wants, I will quote them.
The remaining Jews of Central and Western Europe preserved their
music, and were fortified by the Maharil. Those Jews were mostly
wiped out by the holocaust. Fortunately in the 18th-19th century many
had come to England and brought their tradition with them. This makes
Anglo-Jewry the unlikely last custodian of that original Ashkenazi
legacy. Our leyening is still Western Ashkenazic, whereas almost
everyone else's is Eastern. My book The Music of the Hebrew Bible
(2006) was partly written as an attempt to define and preserve the WA
before it goes into final eclipse. Though my main purpose was to show
not what the ta'amim are but why.
Now to come to the question raised by contributors, the poetic
portions of the Torah have ways been read to the special tune. You
have only to hear it to recognise that it is German in origin like all
our Torah trop. It is used mainly for the Shirat HaYam, for the
'Hazaq' end of each sefer, for the itinerary in Massei, Bemidbar 33,
for the tribal leaders in Bemidbar 10, and on Simhat Torah for the end
of each day of creation. The tune for these occasions is set out in
all the standard classic German 19th-century compendia of our shul
music: Sulzer, Baer, Friedmann, Wodak, Scheuermann, etc.
If anyone would like fuller information I would be happy to supply it.
May I make a second, unconnected point? The ta'am whose symbol is a
single dot over a word (made by the printers into a diamond shape but
in the codices merely a dot) is named a revi'a. See any of the
learned modern works on ta'amim. The usage 'revi'i' is based on a
misunderstanding. Revi'a is like almost all the ta'am names, Aramaic,
not Hebrew. The well-known consonant change from Hebrew tsadde to
Aramaic ayin is evident here. (Compare eretz which becomes ar'ah.)
So R-B-TZ as in 'kara ravatz k'aryeh' - Judah descending, stooping,
crouching, like a lion (Bereshit 48,9) - is in Aramaic R-B-Ayin,
which aptly describes the descending characteristic of the revi'a.
Victor Tunkel
I have been following your lively exchanges about the special trop for
the poetic passages of the Torah, the N'siot, D'galim, etc. There
seems much confusion about 'hassidic' and 'litvish' and other
traditions. May I make some general points about our trop tradition?
The original home of the Ashkenazim was in the Rhineland settlements
prior to the first crusade. Our ashkenazi music was born there.
Those Jews who fled eastwards after the destruction took their music
and their Germanic dialect with them. In the east that language and
music became overlaid with slavic words and musical styles. It is
that slavified, tartar sound with typical constant reciting-tone that
was accepted into Eastern European Jewish melody, and is now dominant
in N.America and Israel. This is not my opinion: it is that of the
leading Jewish musicologists, Werner, Idelsohn, Avenary, Kalib and
others. If anyone wants, I will quote them.
The remaining Jews of Central and Western Europe preserved their
music, and were fortified by the Maharil. Those Jews were mostly
wiped out by the holocaust. Fortunately in the 18th-19th century many
had come to England and brought their tradition with them. This makes
Anglo-Jewry the unlikely last custodian of that original Ashkenazi
legacy. Our leyening is still Western Ashkenazic, whereas almost
everyone else's is Eastern. My book The Music of the Hebrew Bible
(2006) was partly written as an attempt to define and preserve the WA
before it goes into final eclipse. Though my main purpose was to show
not what the ta'amim are but why.
Now to come to the question raised by contributors, the poetic
portions of the Torah have ways been read to the special tune. You
have only to hear it to recognise that it is German in origin like all
our Torah trop. It is used mainly for the Shirat HaYam, for the
'Hazaq' end of each sefer, for the itinerary in Massei, Bemidbar 33,
for the tribal leaders in Bemidbar 10, and on Simhat Torah for the end
of each day of creation. The tune for these occasions is set out in
all the standard classic German 19th-century compendia of our shul
music: Sulzer, Baer, Friedmann, Wodak, Scheuermann, etc.
If anyone would like fuller information I would be happy to supply it.
May I make a second, unconnected point? The ta'am whose symbol is a
single dot over a word (made by the printers into a diamond shape but
in the codices merely a dot) is named a revi'a. See any of the
learned modern works on ta'amim. The usage 'revi'i' is based on a
misunderstanding. Revi'a is like almost all the ta'am names, Aramaic,
not Hebrew. The well-known consonant change from Hebrew tsadde to
Aramaic ayin is evident here. (Compare eretz which becomes ar'ah.)
So R-B-TZ as in 'kara ravatz k'aryeh' - Judah descending, stooping,
crouching, like a lion (Bereshit 48,9) - is in Aramaic R-B-Ayin,
which aptly describes the descending characteristic of the revi'a.
Victor Tunkel
Giorgies E. Kepipesiom
Jul 6, 2011, 9:59:15 PM7/6/11
to leining
descend from very long before the establishment of the Ashkanasic
communities, the basic melodic patterns possibly derived from those in
use in EY durinBayis Sheini times. But if, as you say, they are
Germanic and Rheinlandish inventions, then why all the fuss over them?
If you like them, by all means sing them. But what is your objection
if others perfer the Eastern melodies and use those. According to your
hypothesis, neither has any special qesusha beyond its antiquity, and
the basic melodies likely goyish in origin anyhow (according to you).
Yes, Maharil says to preserve them, but that is only if they have some
holiness to them. According to you, they have none.
>
> If anyone would like fuller information I would be happy to supply it.
> May I make a second, unconnected point? The ta'am whose symbol is a
> single dot over a word (made by the printers into a diamond shape but
> in the codices merely a dot) is named a revi'a. See any of the
> learned modern works on ta'amim.
No need to see learned works. This is the name I have always known
> If anyone would like fuller information I would be happy to supply it.
> May I make a second, unconnected point? The ta'am whose symbol is a
> single dot over a word (made by the printers into a diamond shape but
> in the codices merely a dot) is named a revi'a. See any of the
> learned modern works on ta'amim.
them by.
> The usage 'revi'i' is based on a
> misunderstanding.
misunderstanding. and whilst my own reveared teachers called it
revi'a, I would not be so quick to dismiss the other usage out of
hand.
> Revi'a is like almost all the ta'am names, Aramaic,
> not Hebrew. The well-known consonant change from Hebrew tsadde to
> Aramaic ayin is evident here. (Compare eretz which becomes ar'ah.)
> So R-B-TZ as in 'kara ravatz k'aryeh' - Judah descending, stooping,
> crouching, like a lion (Bereshit 48,9) - is in Aramaic R-B-Ayin,
> which aptly describes the descending characteristic of the revi'a.
proof for it? How many other names of taamim describe the melody?
GEK
R. Rich Wolpoe
Jul 6, 2011, 11:01:14 PM7/6/11
to Leining
GEK
«Yes, Maharil says to preserve them, but that is only if they have some
holiness to them. According to you, they have none.»
Certain customs become invested with holiness by time, convention, consensus
L'havdil the tune for the star Spangled Banner was a British Drinking Tune. When FS Key penned his poem, the two were matched together forever transforming the tune to have a brand new association apart from its original composer.
Gold ore is not holy when mined. But when dedicated to the Mishkan later on subsequently becomes Holy.
Shalom, RRW
Art Werschulz
Jul 7, 2011, 6:18:00 AM7/7/11
to lei...@googlegroups.com
Hi.
On Jul 6, 2011, at 11:01 PM, R. Rich Wolpoe wrote:
> L'havdil the tune for the star Spangled Banner was a British Drinking Tune. When FS Key penned his poem, the two were matched together forever transforming the tune to have a brand new association apart from its original composer.
>
> Gold ore is not holy when mined. But when dedicated to the Mishkan later on subsequently becomes Holy.
Returning the l'havdil back to Uewish liturgy (slightly off-topic for this list, but flowing along with the stream of consciousness of this thread), amar R' Wikipedia:
The most popular melody for the Hanukkah hymn has been identified by Birnbaum as an adaptation from the old German folk-song "So weiss ich eins, dass mich erfreut, das pluemlein auff preiter heyde," given in Böhme's "Altdeutsches Liederbuch" (No. 635); it was widely spread among German Jews as early as 1450. By an interesting coincidence, this folk-melody was also the first utilized by Luther for his German chorales. He set it to his "Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein". It is the tune for a translation by F. E. Cox of the hymn "Sei lob und ehr dem höchsten gut," by J. J. Schütz (1640–1730). As such it is called "Erk" (after the German hymnologist), and, with harmonies by Bach, appears as No. 283 of "Hymns, Ancient and Modern" (London, 1875). The earliest transcription of the Jewish form of the tune is by Isaac Nathan, who set it (clumsily) to the poem "On Jordan's Banks" in Byron's "Hebrew Melodies" (London, 1815). Later transcriptions have been numerous, and the air finds a place in every collection of Jewish melodies. It was modified to the form now favoured by British Jews by Julian Lazarus Mombach, to whom is due the modulation to the dominant in the repetition of the first strain.
Art Werschulz (8-{)} "Metaphors be with you." -- bumper sticker
GCS/M (GAT): d? -p+ c++ l u+(-) e--- m* s n+ h f g+ w+ t++ r- y?
Internet: agw STRUDEL comcast.net
Henry Goodman
Jul 7, 2011, 7:08:57 AM7/7/11
to lei...@googlegroups.com
Mr. Tunkel
Having read this post with interest perhaps you could advise me on a
specific point about minhag Anglia.
If you look back at the thread here named "responses" last Monday (4/7/11)
somebody asked about the minhag here in England of leining a double pashtah
differently from a single pashtah rather than just moving the accent back. I
wrote that I had been taught to do it but later stopped as it appeared to be
a minhag shtuss. My Bar Mitzvah training was in a small provincial shul
(Plymouth) which certainly reflected 19th century (or even 18th century)
English minhag. When I moved to London after marriage and davened in Hendon
Adath (founded by German immigrants in 1938) I noticed they did not lein the
double pashta differently. Can you advise me as to what the genuine English
minhag is and whether I should go back to the lengthened double pashtah.
Henry Goodman
email henry....@virgin.net
Having read this post with interest perhaps you could advise me on a
specific point about minhag Anglia.
If you look back at the thread here named "responses" last Monday (4/7/11)
somebody asked about the minhag here in England of leining a double pashtah
differently from a single pashtah rather than just moving the accent back. I
wrote that I had been taught to do it but later stopped as it appeared to be
a minhag shtuss. My Bar Mitzvah training was in a small provincial shul
(Plymouth) which certainly reflected 19th century (or even 18th century)
English minhag. When I moved to London after marriage and davened in Hendon
Adath (founded by German immigrants in 1938) I noticed they did not lein the
double pashta differently. Can you advise me as to what the genuine English
minhag is and whether I should go back to the lengthened double pashtah.
Henry Goodman
email henry....@virgin.net
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MG
Jul 8, 2011, 11:41:26 AM7/8/11
to leining
It is unlikely that "revia" describes the nature of the melody.
Ravatz implies resting/crouching, not descending. Indeed, another
(Hebrew) term for this trup was "Meyushav" (as per Heidenheim and
others). It was called this either because it was just one dot and
thus sat right on top of the letter or because it was was placed right
in the center of the letter to distinguish it from the cholam which is
off to the side.
As far as I can tell, only Wickes describes it as related somehow to
the melody, but not because it is a descending tune; rather because it
is pausal (resting) or because the melody is "sustained".
That said, I'd love to see a source for revia being named after the
"descending" tune, if you have one.
There is precedent for ta'amim being named after the tune, such as
(perhaps) zarka, pazer, darga, tevir. But clearly there are those
that are not, such as mahpach, tipcha, yesiv.
As far as the term "revii" vs. "revia", I do agree that revia might be
more authentic, and supported by a number of Rishonim, but I wouldn't
dismiss outright those who use the term revii. The Vilna Gaon uses
the term "revii" throughout all of his writings on dikduk and trup, as
do other important grammarians. In fact the Gaon's very famous play-
on-words at the beginning of Vayigash (Kadma-V'azla Revii
etc.describing Yehuda as being the "fourth" son who "got up and
approached" Yosef), clearly takes the notion of revii, derived from
"four", somewhat seriously, at least within the context of drush.
Some maintain this is due to the diamond/square shape or because it is
the fourth pausal level (Wickes).
So I would agree with GEK here, and not dismiss the other usage.
Ravatz implies resting/crouching, not descending. Indeed, another
(Hebrew) term for this trup was "Meyushav" (as per Heidenheim and
others). It was called this either because it was just one dot and
thus sat right on top of the letter or because it was was placed right
in the center of the letter to distinguish it from the cholam which is
off to the side.
As far as I can tell, only Wickes describes it as related somehow to
the melody, but not because it is a descending tune; rather because it
is pausal (resting) or because the melody is "sustained".
That said, I'd love to see a source for revia being named after the
"descending" tune, if you have one.
There is precedent for ta'amim being named after the tune, such as
(perhaps) zarka, pazer, darga, tevir. But clearly there are those
that are not, such as mahpach, tipcha, yesiv.
As far as the term "revii" vs. "revia", I do agree that revia might be
more authentic, and supported by a number of Rishonim, but I wouldn't
dismiss outright those who use the term revii. The Vilna Gaon uses
the term "revii" throughout all of his writings on dikduk and trup, as
do other important grammarians. In fact the Gaon's very famous play-
on-words at the beginning of Vayigash (Kadma-V'azla Revii
etc.describing Yehuda as being the "fourth" son who "got up and
approached" Yosef), clearly takes the notion of revii, derived from
"four", somewhat seriously, at least within the context of drush.
Some maintain this is due to the diamond/square shape or because it is
the fourth pausal level (Wickes).
So I would agree with GEK here, and not dismiss the other usage.
R. Rich Wolpoe
Jul 8, 2011, 12:02:08 PM7/8/11
to Leining
MG:
« The Vilna Gaon uses
the term "revii" throughout all of his writings on dikduk and trup, as do other important grammarians. In fact the Gaon's very famous play-
on-words at the beginning of Vayigash (Kadma-V'azla Revii
etc.describing Yehuda as being the "fourth" son who "got up and approached" Yosef), clearly takes the notion of revii, derived from "four", somewhat seriously, at least within the context of drush.
Some maintain this is due to the diamond/square shape or because it is the fourth pausal level (Wickes).»
on-words at the beginning of Vayigash (Kadma-V'azla Revii
etc.describing Yehuda as being the "fourth" son who "got up and approached" Yosef), clearly takes the notion of revii, derived from "four", somewhat seriously, at least within the context of drush.
I've often wonder if the GRA was actually being "tongue-in-cheek" with these remarks.
Shalom, RRW
MG
Jul 8, 2011, 12:11:34 PM7/8/11
to leining
Clearly it's a drush; but if he had held the term to be revia derived
from "ravatz"/crouching, it's much less compelling of a drush. Take
it together with the fact that he does use the term revii throughout
all of his writings.
On Jul 8, 12:02 pm, "R. Rich Wolpoe" <rabbirichwol...@gmail.com>
wrote:
from "ravatz"/crouching, it's much less compelling of a drush. Take
it together with the fact that he does use the term revii throughout
all of his writings.
On Jul 8, 12:02 pm, "R. Rich Wolpoe" <rabbirichwol...@gmail.com>
wrote:
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