28
Friday, May 23, 1986
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FORGES
Is Yiddish Rock
Bridging The Gap?
Dr. Jack Gottlieb
How are "Hatikvah" and
"Brother Can You Spare a
Dime" related? What
similarities are there between
Yiddish songs of the 1920s and
today's rock groups?
Dr. Ruth Wisse, professor of
Yiddish literature at McGill
University sees today's music as
a common bond between young
people. For the first time in the
history of Jewish culture the
Jewish youth has been accepted
into the larger society. Their
music — be it rock, folk, hard
rock, heavy metal — is the basis
for their equality.
"Bob Geldorf's Live Aid con-
cert," Dr. Wisse told a National
Foundation for Jewish Culture
symposium at United Hebrew
Schools last week, "captured the
imagination of the media and
the youth today involving more
people that any other cultural
event of the past year."
Wisse finds it a very positive
feature of American popular cul-
ture that the youth today share
one culture. There is no isola-
tion of youth because of religion.
The youth enjoy all of the cul-
ture without having to adapt it
to their needs because of their
isolation in a ghetto environ-
ment. "It is a tremendous gain
in our political and social lives.
Our children can participate in
this great American love-in and
find it equally as attractive as
their peers," said Wisse.
Her parents' generation also
had "their" music, but it was
Yiddish songs adapted from the
Polish and Russian culture of
the time.
"This nostalgia for old Yiddish
songs is dangerous" stated Dr.
Wisse. "The Jewish youth of
Europe were not allowed to par-
ticipate in the popular culture."
Now all are accepted, and many
Jews are active participants.
This dramatic change, she
said, has enlarged our ethnic
ties. Upon learning that a par-
ticular songwriter, performer or
artist is Jewish, we feel a pride
by association of ethnic ties.
However, popular music is quite
different from traditional Jewish
culture which emphasizes rules,
order, discipline and knowledge
while pop music is anti-
establishment, emotionalism
and change.
Dr. Wisse pointed out that
while Jews are involved in all
phases . of popular culture, she
questioned whether the Jews as
people embrace it. She spoke of
the novel and movie Exodus as
a great boost to Jewish pride.
But popularity was the main
theme and the triumph of the
novel was that Kitty " . a
cliche of Americanism, fell in
love with an Israeli. Ari Ben-
Canaan is attractive to us be-
cause he is attractive to her.
is essentially an
Exodus
Americanized version of Israel
but it is the complete dejudaiza-
tion of Jewish history," said Dr.
Wisse.
"The tremendous appeal of to-
day's popular culture makes us
long to become a part of it and
compete with it for popularity.
But Jewish life, rooted in the
idea of a particular people that
accepts the obligation of civiliz-
ing restraints, is essentially at
odds with the anti-
authoritarian, ecstatic, indi-
vidualistic current of popular
culture which has novelty as its
highest value. We don't want to
shut ourselves off from it nor
fall headlong into its embrace."
Dr. Zvi Gitelman of the Uni-
versity of Michigan is not as
pleased with the changes in
Jewish culture as Dr. Wisse is.
"We don't keep Jewish culture
at home as we should," he
stated. Traditionally, Jews have
created, adopted, and adapted
popular culture, bypassing any
aspects that didn't fit well. In
other times we were isolated
from popular culture but not
from higher culture, he said.
Gitelman feels we should re-
verse the questions to see how
American culture compares with
Jewish culture. "American cul-
ture is superb in form but awful
in content. Its technical power
surrounds us but has displaced
high culture. Serious music and
literature has been driven un-
derground."
Jewish music — liturgical,
folk or Ladino — Gitelman pre-
fers to pop music and its differ-
ent messages. Gitelman feels
Jewish culture was best when