I had a discussion with a friend today about Jewish music. It stopped cold when she referred to other music as goyish music, then I asked what Jewish music was. The conversation didn't get very far.

1. Does anyone know what Jewish music is?
2. What type of music is kosher to listen to?
3. Is Jewish music (if such a thing exists) the only music that's kosher.

B"H
Moshe,

Jewish music, as everyone knows, varies with the ethnic group. The music of Jews from the Caucasus is different from the klezmer music of the chassidic groups, etc. etc.

The ritual of singing in Yemen, was unaccompanied by musical instruments since the time of the Temple's destruction in 68 C.E. (This prohibition of playing musical instruments is mentioned by Maimonides in his "Mishne Torah" and is alluded to in the Talmud, Sotah 48 and Gittin 7.) To the best of my knowledge, the Yemenite Jews were the only community of Jews that took upon themselves these strictures literally.

Their music is a thing of art, as well of etiquette. Reminisces of its practice are brought down in the Talmud, namely, in Berachoth 31.a, where we find that when the Rabbis asked of R. Hamnona, the younger, to sing at the wedding of a certain Rabbi (who was the son of Rabina), he opened by singing: "Woe unto us that we die. Woe unto us that we die." Thus, he doubled the verse of his song, just as the ancient custom among Yemenite Jews is to double, or to repeat twice, each verse of the song. For there is a tradition governing the way songs ought to be sung, just as there is a tradition governing the way we pray, or the way we perform other religious functions. This fact, sadly, has been neglected among men, as thinking it unimportant. Moreover, songs of praise (which were of late drawn from the Songs of Shabazzi) were made in the company of male friends, or family, but were always preceded by a song (or songs) of supplication and of entreaties, known in Arabic as a "Nashid." This was usually sung by a soloist. When they progressed to the other melodies, a part of the song was sung by the lead singer, while another part was answered in company, a thing we also find alluded to in Sotah 48.b. In the course of singing one particular song, the singers may also move from one to three or four different melodies. This was the custom of all Jews in Yemen. But for the Yemenites, we would have long since lost the tradition of this important ritual.

(One may visit the Hebrew National Library at Jerusalem's Givat Ram Campus, on the third-floor, in the National Sound Archives,הארכיון הצליל הלאומי, where he can listen to taped collections of traditional Yemenite music. Call: 02-6585008)

Sincerely,
David Ben-Abraham

B"H
Those wishing to hear clips of semi-traditional Yemenite songs and liturgical poems can do so by clicking into the following URL. Select a category. Then click on to the musical note shown on the screen. On the left-hand side of your screen, you will then see three knobs. The knob on the furthest right activates the play button. Enjoy!

http://www.piyut.org.il/cgi-bin/close_search.pl?act=categories&Tradition=4

(If unable to click-on, just recopy and paste.)

Sincerely,
David

David,
Of course, the wonderful Teimani music has had a great impact on Israeli music in recent years. My question has to do with halachic underpinnings for what we can listen to as kosher Jews regardless of tradition. Are there any basic guidelines besides, for example, the music cannot be raunchy and have base content.
Is Mozart kosher?
Is Matisyahu kosher?
Is Gershwin kosher?
We suspect Madonna is not.
Is instrumental jazz kosher?
To what kind of music are the gedolim listening in their homes and what rules do they use?
What makes Klezmer Jewish?
Are Ladino love songs kosher?
Is all Teimani cultural music kosher?
Shabbat Shalom

quote:

Originally posted by MosheYisraeli:
* What type of music is kosher to listen to?
* Is Jewish music (if such a thing exists) the only music that's kosher.

Dear Moshe,

Your question, here, is partly answered by Rabbi Yonathan of Beth-Gubrin, in the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 10a), where there we find:

א"ר יונתן דבית גוברין ד' לשונות נאים שישתמש בהן העולם ואלו הן לעז לזמר רומי לקרב סורסיי לאילייא עברי לדיבור ויש אומרים אף אשורי לכתב

Translated: "Four languages are comely for the world to make use of, namely: A foreign [language] for singing; the Romance [languages] for drawing near [the heart of others]; the Syriac (Aramaic) [language] for lamentations; the Hebrew [language] for speech, while there are those who say also the Assyrian-script for writing."

By the way, the Assyrian-script is our ordinary Hebrew square letters which we make use of today.

Maimonides treats also on your question of whether or not an observant Jewish man is able to listen to just any type of music. In one of his writings, he chides his fellow Jews for singing liturgical poems (piyutim) in Hebrew that contain froward or sexual implications, saying that it was better to listen to Arabic music with a clean content than to listen to Jewish music that had an uncouth nature. If you would like to know the source exactly, I can provide this for you.

In short, a Jewish man or woman can listen to Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, or what have you, so long as the content is spiritually edifying and not destructive. Rabbi Ovadia Yoseph, I was told, said that the melodies of the Egyptian female vocalist, Umm Kanthoum, can be taken and converted into Jewish music with Hebrew lyrics. This is what I was told. Perhaps Rav Chaim can expand our knowledge on this important topic.

Sincerely,
David Ben-Abraham

As to the question of what the Gedolim are listening to, I know first hand that the Karline Stolin Rebbe and his family are big classical music fans. (Of course they also have a large selection of Klesmer and traditional Chassidic music).

I also would encourage anybody who can come to Israel for Succot to make a point of going to Mevo Modi'im for the Carlebach Fest.

My 2 cents

This is really not a real good clear defined area, but I think there are a few good (Secheldik) rules of thumbs. Music, the reason we listen to it, is because it brings us to an emotional state. It brings out our emotions and shape our emotions. If it's a lively piece, it will bring out liveliness. If it's sad or heart pulling, those emotions will come out. lyrics will also help in the mood and emotion bringing out of the music.

So it would depend on what emotions would be produced by such a song. Thus there are those that only recommend "Jewish music" that are composed for the sake of inspiring a positive Ruchniyus emotions in the person. I would suppose that there are "Parve" non Jewish songs (Mary had a little lamb and the national anthem are not known to send people off the Derech.) songs that are made to make someone emotionally wild (rock or rap) or lewd (love songs) should not be listened to. Even songs compose by "Jewish composers" that puts one in the wrong emotional state (wild or whatnot) shouldn't be listened to. Of course, this gives a lot to interpretation what mood, and is that mood, Kosher or not.