Page TwenfX

T.H E . J

H. N:E.W S

Septertar .7t ,1 ,45

organists, who soon started to dompoge Music for
the Jewish worship

lienaissaintee of

Liturgical Music

By JULIUS CHAJES

Director of
Music, Jewish.
Community Cen-
ter; Chairman of
Hashofar, Society
f o r Advancement
. of Jewish Music.

Queen of Saba." Almost offended, Goldmark in-
sisted, "I have nothing in common with Jewish
music and could have written a Swedish opera
as well." Rabbi Chajes' answer was "You may
not want to have anything in common with Jew-
ish music, but don't forget that Jewish music is
in you!"

W

HEN THE GHETTO WALLS
were broken down in middle Europe about 200
years ago, Jewish music was at its lowest: The
beautiful traditional melodies of ancient days
had undergone many changes to their disadvan-
tage, in due course of- time

This conversation may very well serve as an
illustration for the line of reasoning of outstand-
ing Jewish musicians in those days. Of course,
there have always been exceptions. Among the
Jews who tried to apply the newly acquired
musical knowledge to improve the standard of
our liturgical music were Sulzer and Lewandow-
sky.

The various nations and countries in which
the Jews had made their homes during their long
wandering (after the expulsion from Palestine,
2,000 years ago) had strongly influenced our
music. The fact that our music had not been
writteft down, but had to rely upon oral tradition,
caused the penetration of "foreign" tunes even
in our synagogues.

But in spite of their great talents, their efforts
brought only limited success. The oriental, an-
cient' Hebrew melodies and chants did not gain
by a merely outside dressing in four part har-
monization. Most of - the time, the opposite was
reached. (Not until our days was it recognized
that the ancient- Hebrew melodies are based on a
different scale and their rhythm is irregular, thus
much freer, than the rhythm of European melo-
dies.)

Most of these tunes came from wandering
gypsies and _the common and uneducated masses.
The great musical development which started
the 12th and 13th centuries took place unnoticed
by our people. It was made imposible for us to
hear the music of Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart
and even Beethoven:-

Similar to Protestant Music

Our liturgical music,- especially in Reform
Synagogues, became similar to Protestant church
music. The introduction of the organ into the
Temple made it necessary to engage -non-Jewish

A check upon the music which is used today
in Reform Temples would bring the astonishing
result: 75 per cent of the music used is written
by non-Jewish composers.

Fortunately, a strong movement is growing
from the inside: a renaissance of liturgical music
is taking place in our days:. Jewish musicians,
composers, who have undergone extensive school-
ing in the finest conservatories of music here and
abroad, are doing research work on ancient
Hebrew music.

They rearrange the melodies according to their
peculiar modes, rhythms, and harmonies, and
they also create new compositions which are 'im-
bued with the spirit of our own traditiona.1 music.
New musical 'expressions, which are coming from
Palestine are revitalizing the entire style._Every
outstanding Jewish composer of our day is de-
voting his talent to the new type of synagogue
music, which was neglected for centuries, and
which in the near future may again become our
pride.
Publish New Sabbath Services

Achron, Binder, Bloch, Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
Freed, Fromm, Helfman, - Saminsky,
Weinberg, and many others have recently pub-
lished their new Sabbath Services, which show
thorough musical knowledge and true Hebrew
spirit. Although these Jewish composers came to
this country from various parts of the globe, and
had a different schooling, they all have the fol-
lowing in common:

1. Employment of ancient Hebrew chants.
(trops).

2. A peculiar rhythm (triplets and fiftoles).
3. A harmonic background, deriving from the
scale- of the melody, and last but not least, a sin-
cere devotion to a new art together with a strong
believe in .a better type of Jewish music in gen-
eral.

Become Aware of Great Difference

It was not until 'their liberation from the
ghetto, that the Jews became aware of the great
difference between the standard of their music
and that of the outside world.

S IIOUSeS

.-; But once freed from the - prison, the Jews iniL:
mediately threw themselves 'Wlifi"iariia1 pas-
Sion" into all the branches of European cultural
life, Which. in music, -poetry-, ail& science had
achieved unprecedented heights.

•

1- MAN

However, the ..change:. from ghetto prison to
sudden liberty at first was a great loss to Juda-
ism. Many of our outstanding talents tried to
assimilate to such a degree that soon they lost
their bands with our traditions, and some desert-
ed our ranks entirely.. We think of MendelSsohn; .
Offenbach, Rubinstein, later Mahler,. 8choeriberg
and others who accepted the .Christian faith. And
many who remained true to their religion were
ashamed of their_ past:

Jewish Phrases in Goldmark's Opera

Once the chief rabbi of Vienna, Prof. Dr,
Perez Zvi Clvjes, pointed out to Goldmark sev-
eral "typical" Jewish . phrases in his opera, "The

The War Veterans Return

By S. ZAHAVI

AT A SUPERFICIAL GLANCE
they might have been any soldiers -ohthe move. Travel-
stained and weary, with their kit-bags, coats . and blan-
.kets, they stood on the railway':platfoim a little dazed
at first. Then you could see that this look :WaS due. as
much to : :pent-up joy and excitement "-as.- fatigue. They
were Palestine's first liberated prisoners-of-war back
from Germany.

It was on April 29, 1941, that the.British Brigadier
who commanded them in Greece, informed . them that
there was no hope of their getting, away, as others had
done, in :short—that they were prisoners-of-war. Some-
one asked them now how it felt to be home again.

One of them laughed, "Do you really expect .
he said "to find the right words for the answer? This is'
the day that has kept us going for years, and the .day
which, in the last few months in Germany, we feared
tve would not live to see."

Their homes are in all parts of Palestine. Scores of
village hOines were made deliriously happy by reunions.

And:there were some villages, kvtitzot and kibbut-
zim, where-the whole settlement was `,'tlie
for instance; at Ein Hashofet the American settlement
on JNF :land in the Hills of Ephraim. Their returned
soldier WaS.-Yehelkiel Neuman. He talked and talked;
his comrades could'not hear enough: They were-- torn
by distreSs at much of what he told.

PHILIP M. KLUTZNICK

.

. THE DRIVING POWER
behind the gOVetnnient'S• war hotis•-•
ing program is a low-spoken, steady
eyed Omahan, all of 38 years.

the Middle Western,,Dict
.Grand
ir
Lodge 6, with membership, on the
Bnai Brith executive committee
and, at the present_iirne„'in" the_Na-
tion Executive Coi -Ica of the. Bnai
Brith Youth COMmission;: -
•
His wide interest .in:'young-people
is further shown by. membership •in
the National Yo-uth'-Advisory-Com-
mittee of the Office of.CiViliari•De-
fenSe: With Henry Monsk-y and
others he organized, and then be-
came president of the Bureau of
Jewish Education, which. was the
parent body for all religious and*
Hebrew teaching in the Omaha
community.

At 22 he was - president of the
Omaha Zionist district, and a few
years later vice-president . - of the
Mid-West region of the Zionist Or-
ganization of America. He was the
Philip M. Klutznick, with a long
•
career in housing activities, was ap-.. first president of the , -Mid-West
- council of Jewish Federation and
pointed Commissioner of the:. Fed-
Welfare Funds, on its organization
eralPublic Housing Authority b
in 1932, and before coming .to Wash-
President Roosevelt in May 1944. ington served as chairman of the
On a wall of his panelled office,' budget committee of the - Omaha
high above WaShington rooftops,
Federation of Jewish SerVice.
hangs a drawing inscribed' to .him'.
National JWB Director
"From his friend, Franklin p.,
- His far-flung duties, in adminis-
Roosevelt." And on a sketch' by 'the
tering the production, management
same artist farther along the same
wall, President Truman has .written . and eventual disposition . of almost
"Best Wishes," given when he was
800,000 units of war housing, still
Vice-President.
'allow 'him time to serve'on: the ex-
ecutive committee and.. Board of
He was educated in Omaha,
Directors of the National: Jewish
uated from Creighton law school in
•Welfare Board—and tO '.read six
1930, married an Amaha girl, pro-
newspapers daily, and a'wide
duced three , bright young Nebras-
ety of the new books as thek appear
kans — Bettylu, TOm and Jimmy—
on library shelves.
and; .while making , a name 'in 'Neb-
raska housing and slum clearance
"I had the good fortune of being
affairs, found time to participate in
requested to help in something I
Jewish. community activities.
was interested in," Klutznick smil-
- ingly said, facing the :expanse 'of
• Enai
Official
•
his desk in - the Federal .Housing
His interest in Briai Brith dates Building in Washington, Preparing
from high school days when he
to leave for Georgia on . _ari inspec-
helped organize • the • - junior 'Briai
tion trip, he had quietly 're-arranged
Brith in 1924, and served as second
appointments to accomodate my in-
grand president in 1925, and as ex-
terview, and took an hoUr from his
ecutive director and later president
busy. schedule to- optline<the defense
of. its Supreme Advisory Council. . 'and 'War . hotiSing progiviin: to which
He continued on to prasidency of
he haS contributed so extensively.

(Copyright, 1945; by --the' Jewish
Telegraphic Agency .Inc,)
:- •

His . activities iii this field began
back in Omaha . when he became
. volunteer counsel for the _mayor's
housing .coininittee, while . still
carrying on a piivate law practice.
Must Dispose of "Homes
Directing the bulk of the publicly
financed war housing_ program, the
low-rent slum clearance plans, and
various housing. functions keeps
Commissioner Klutznick on the
jump, but a smoothlyregulated one.
When he isn't talking Iong-distance
to regional - housing .officials, . or
taking inspection trip's, or testifying
before Congressional committees,
he is looking ahead to the postwar
disposition of the temporary war
housing which •Congress• provided
must be demolished within two
years after the national emergency
is ended. The permanent- housing,
built early in the defense program,
must be sold at the war's end, and
the FPHA is responsible for ar-
ranging its sale,
"We .probably will
the big-
gest housing 'boom in our history
after the war," the commissioner
emphatically declared. He foresees
a possible danger that it may not
provide housing for the people who
need it most, that is, the lower
part of the micldle income group
and the low income group. A Sen-
ate committee on housing and urban
re-development of the George Com-
inittee on Postwar 'Economic Policy
and Planning is now considering
reams of testimony on just this sub-
ject, collected at hearings last win-
ter. Recommendations for a com-
prehensive housing programs are
confidently expected.. .
Until the most pressing of these
problems have been .worked out,
Klutznick is declining even side-
trips to include a swim while en-
route to look over a war housing
Community. Good - natured, b u t
firmly he turns down an alluring
'invitation. "I'M 'not thinking in

terms of beaches until V-J Day.".

