Vivid Musical Memories
After reading Mendi Glik’s interview with Yussi Sonnenblick two weeks ago (March 20) I was excited to find Mr. Sonnenblick’s highlighted album, “Yussi Sonnenblick: Then and Now,” on Spotify.
As I listened to the different tracks I was surprised at how many of them I knew, most notably “Mi Ho’ish” and “Shakah Chamah,” and not only did I remember the tunes, but I remembered all of the words as well. What I couldn’t remember, however, was where I knew these songs from. I knew it was an old memory, one that definitely preceded high school, but other than knowing the approximate timeline, my mind was totally blank.
Although I don’t usually listen to music like this when I’m cooking, it became the soundtrack to this year’s Pesach chicken soup, and its pure and simple melodies brought my husband to the kitchen with the comment, “Is this Dveykus”? For us, as well as for many others in our age group, Dveykus was the yardstick to which all other Jewish music was compared to, because as Mr. Glik mentions in his article it “represented authentic Jewish music – without English or secular influence or pop style beats… their focus… was on inspiration and spirituality.”
As a young adult, one of the reasons I stopped listening to the newer Jewish music was because it began to lose that authentic, Jewish flavor. I remember buying a popular Jewish CD for my girls that basically sounded like the Backstreet Boys but instead with Hebrew words and pesukim from Tanach, and it bothered me to no end to hear our holy words sung to tunes that were totally incongruous with the message of the song. Even more incongruous, but somewhat ironically entertaining, was the time that my super yeshivish cousin made a wedding and the chosson/kallah made their grand debut into the dance room to a synthesized rendition of the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane” without any knowledge of the songs origins. It was funny, but it also seemed very wrong in this context.
With all these thoughts and memories in mind, it was a pleasure to listen to Yussi Sonnenblick’s “Then and Now,” the perfect companion to my Pesach preparations. Later in the evening I finally remembered where I knew these songs from, I had sung them as a small girl, maybe six or seven, on an hour-long bus ride Sunday mornings from Flatbush to the Williamsburg Y to take swimming lessons and do arts and crafts. It was not a visual memory, but an auditory one, layered with the half-formed emotions of the very young. I remember feeling small and a little scared to be on this big bus with these big kids, but when they started singing these sweet nigunim in the language that was familiar to my lips though still beyond my comprehension, I felt safe.
Dr. Chani Miller
Highland Park, NJ
Do Jewish Organizations Help
In Combating Antisemitism?
I have a problem with Marc Gronich’s article “ADL Conference Highlights Fighting Hate and Growing Antisemitism” (March 27). My objection is not with the author or article itself, but with the subject matter. I find that major and local Jewish organizations including the ADL, led by Jonathan Greenblatt, who in 2016 famously said, “I will register as a Muslim”, just to spite Donald Trump, are playing absolutely no useful role in combating the explosive rise of Antisemitism in America and the rest of the world. We are losing the propaganda war to our enemies, yet our organizations offer no common message, no unified response, and no useful assistance. They only tout their own individual agendas and viewpoints from their office desks and are completely divorced from being involved with the mayhem in the streets.
The Jewish people at home, abroad, and in Israel already know they are facing a terrible onslaught of antisemitism from strongly unified, well-funded, and very determined adversaries. So constantly reminding them of the obvious serves no useful purpose. What is needed is a concerted effort on the part of Jewish organizations themselves at all levels, national and local, to counteract the continuous, massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Instead, with few notable exceptions, the bulk of our organizations all issue memoranda from their offices decrying the alarming increase in antisemitism, along with appeals for more funding to combat this distressing trend. But no concrete plans or actions to actually combat them. Only words and talk. That will not do any good. Since October 7, 2023, the only concerted action was a massive rally in Washington on November 14, 2023 which was very effective at the time, but there has been no follow-up, and now even this rally has been relegated to the dustbin of history, and never mentioned anymore.
What the Jewish people need today are effective organizations and leaders to step up to unify us, and help us fight from a position of strength, but which we are not currently getting from our organizations. Individuals, no matter how well-meaning they are, cannot hope to combat that onslaught by themselves.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.