The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies. Edited by Tina Frühauf. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 2023.

Reviewed by Paul G. Feller-Simmons

The publication of The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies, edited by Tina Frühauf, marks a much-anticipated milestone. Released in November of 2023, the weighty tome attests to the rapidly changing landscape of the field, offering a comprehensive exploration of manifold subjects. With twenty-nine chapters plus an introduction penned by scholars at various stages of their careers, the Handbook truly mirrors the best facets of the field’s current state. While it would be a daunting task to do justice to every chapter within the confines of this review, particularly for an avowed early modernist such as myself, it suffices to say that the volume exudes scholarly rigor and innovation.

Frühauf’s introduction sets the stage for the ensuing eight subsections in which the chapters traverse a chronological span from the early Middle Ages to the contemporary era, as well as multiple references to the ancient world within individual chapters. For a field that has traditionally focused either on the very distant or recent past, the Handbook’s scope already transcends the boundaries of conventional Jewish Music Studies, embracing cutting-edge research methodologies and advocating for the expansion of the horizons of inquiry. While it is true that the majority of chapters pivot toward the twentieth and twentieth-first centuries, they collectively offer a fluid and panoramic view of Jewish musical expression while they challenge core assumptions.

The contributors to this volume draw from a diverse array of disciplines including history, anthropology, sociology, and hermeneutics, among others. The Handbook therefore illuminates the breadth of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches available to contemporary Jewish music scholars. By integrating archival research, musical analysis, historical methods, and digital and ethnographic fieldwork, the volume demonstrates the growing interdisciplinary nature of Jewish music scholarship. This multifaceted approach ought, in turn, to foster new pathways for understanding the complexity, contiguity, diversity, and temporal and spatial expanse of Jewish musical traditions.

The Handbook’s eightfold division adeptly navigates away from a traditional linear framework, revealing an intricate web of interconnected axes anchored in spatiality, temporality, and collectivity. Overall, the chapters coalesce to explore the dynamic relationship between physical locations and multifaceted, abstract, and symbolic representations within Jewish musical traditions. Of particular interest is the exploration of how musicking defines spaces, infusing them with Jewish significance, and fostering concepts of collectivity. Moreover, the volume questions linear notions of time, engaging with global temporal conceptualizations, and spotlighting the cyclical nature of liturgical practices and the interplay between communal and domestic rhythms.

In Part I, titled “Land,” the Handbook explores interpretations of adamah in Jewish musical traditions, moving beyond a narrow focus on the Land of Israel to explore different lands and territories across the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. Assaf Shelleg’s analysis uncovers the intricate relationship between Israeli art music and Zionist ideologies throughout the twentieth century, shedding light on the construction of Hebrew cultural identity. Vanessa Paloma Elbaz explores Jewish music in Al-Andalus, tracing its connections to Spain and Morocco and its role in fostering coexistence. Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad discusses the diasporic lands and the Land of Israel in the works of Ḥakham Joseph Ḥayyim ben Eliyah of Baghdad, highlighting the complex interplay between paraliturgical songs, modernity, tradition, and Jewish identity.

In Part II, the volume examines the significance of cities in Jewish music, framing them as dynamic spaces shaped by history, displacement, and cultural exchanges. Sophie Fetthauer discusses the construction of music scenes in Shanghai amidst the challenges faced by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, underscoring the role of music in shaping refugee identity and community cohesion. Silvia Glocer focuses on Jewish musicians in early twentieth-century Buenos Aires, emphasizing their integration into local musical scenes. Oded Erez studies the musical cultures of Salonika and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, tracing the influence of migration on popular music and the influence of music on the negotiation of collectivities. Phil Alexander’s chapter on Berlin Klezmer showcases the flourishing and diverse urban klezmer scene in the late twentieth century.

Part III delves into the historical significance of ghettos in Jewish music. Rebecca Cypess and Yoel Greenberg show how the seventeenth-century Jewish author Abraham Portaleone engaged with music just as the construction of Mantua’s ghetto was being completed, bridging ancient practices with contemporary Italian music. The authors argue that Portaleone followed a midrashic approach to ancient Jewish texts to foster a sense of belonging among Mantuan Jews, thus affirming their place in both Jewish and Italian societies amidst social and religious tensions. Jumping to the twentieth century, J. Mackenzie Pierce studies the transformation of music within the Warsaw Ghetto, highlighting its continuity with prewar cultural practices and its adaptation to the unique challenges of ghettoization. Almost in parallel, Tobias Reichard explores the activities of the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden and the spatial dimensions of Jewish musical life in Nazi-era ghettos, emphasizing the symbolic significance of these spaces. Overall, these chapters frame ghettos as dynamic spaces with diverse meanings for Jewish and non-Jewish relations.

In Part IV, the emphasis shifts to the spiritual and ceremonial dimensions of sacred and ritual spaces in Judaism, alongside the controversies surrounding them. Jeffrey A. Summit adopts an ethnographic lens to explore Jewish congregational worship dynamics, emphasizing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Abigail Wood examines the changing soundscape and political implications of the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem. Naomi Cohn Zentner further enriches the discussion by delving into the enduring tradition of zemiroth, or Sabbath songs, and their profound impact on Jewish communal life. Moving to the realm of marriage ceremonies, Diana Matut and Evan Rapport investigate their significance in transmitting social, religious, and cultural norms through songs and celebratory rituals. Matut’s research focuses on Yiddish wedding songs in early modern Ashkenazic communities, showing how these were initially performed by women and later replaced by male entertainers. Rapport, on the other hand, offers insights into contemporary Bukharian Jewish weddings in New York, revealing how these celebrations serve as focal points for negotiating cultural identity and tradition.

The chapters in Part V focus on the role of the stage in Jewish music, mapping its significance from the traditional setting of synagogues to more secular arenas. Jeremiah Lockwood begins by exploring how cantorial music has transcended its traditional confines, particularly among young Hasidic cantors in the United States, who utilize stages and social media to showcase their sacred melodies. Following this, Jascha Nemtsov investigates the resilience and diversity of Jewish music scenes that persisted in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union despite governmental suppression. Jehoash Hirschberg then examines the emergence and trajectory of public art music in Israel, spanning from pre-statehood to the post-World-War II era, as a space for musicians to navigate their Jewish identity and define an “Israeli” musical style. Lastly, Ruthie Abeliovich’s chapter sheds light on the role of Yiddish theater in early twentieth-century America, serving as a platform for Jewish musical expression and collective memory-building, leveraging modern sound technology to shape public listening experiences.

Part VI presents perspectives on the significance of archives and libraries as crucial spaces for Jewish music. Eléonore Biezunski initiates the discussion by highlighting the YIVO Sound Archive’s pivotal role in promoting klezmer through collaborations with musicians in the klezmer revival movement, thus illustrating how the archive has fostered cultural continuity. Judith S. Pinnolis delves into Jewish music sound-recording collections in American academia, exploring their origins and complexities in preserving and defining Jewish musical heritage. Joseph Toltz further examines postcustodialism and fragmentation in the Jewish music archive, reflecting on the evolving role of archives, especially in representing Holocaust experiences. This section serves as a reminder of the challenges and importance of preserving cultural heritage, offering fresh outlooks on the intersection of Jewish music and repositories.

Part VII probes the themes of destruction and remembrance in Jewish music, with a particular focus on the Holocaust. Miranda L. Crowdus conducts fieldwork to explore Romaniote liturgical music as a form of collective remembrance, emphasizing how musical practices can interact with religious ritual to present what was lost. Simo Muir examines Yiddish performances by Polish Jewish singers in post-Holocaust Sweden, showcasing how music served as a bridge for survivors, resisting assimilation while fostering connections. Silvia Del Zoppo investigates the music of Jews interned at Ferramonti, an Italian concentration camp, during World War II, and the transformation of the camp into a memorial site, illustrating how music fostered community amidst adversity. Lastly, Clara Wenz sheds light on Aleppo’s Jewish women musicians, particularly Khūjahs, underscoring the challenges of documenting their practices amid limited, fragmentary historical records.

In the final section, the focus shifts to the concept of shekhinah, which encompasses notions of divine presence. Jessica Roda investigates the musical expression of ultra-Orthodox women in North America, influenced by concepts like shekhinah, demonstrating their growing visibility and their negotiation of gender divides. Suzanne Wijsman examines musical iconography in the fifteenth-century Oppenheimer Siddur, focusing on illuminations portraying women playing instruments and their symbolic significance, bridging Jewish and non-Jewish traditions. In the volume’s final chapter, Alexandre Cerveux surveys various perspectives on harmony in Jewish literature from the Middle Ages to the early-modern period. Writers grappled with multiple intellectual traditions, leading to varying understandings of the connection between the spiritual and cosmic realms through harmony in Jewish life.

Although collected volumes tend to be fragmentary and lack a unified scope, the resulting product in this specific case proposes a rather unified front regarding the changing nature of Jewish Music studies. The chapters demonstrate that Jewish music is a global phenomenon that has undergone subsequent waves of geographic, demographic, and cultural expansion. In this regard, the Handbook promises to revitalize the discourse on Jewish music through a shared lens of inclusivity, challenging conventional boundaries and interrogating the complexities of Jewish identity. The chapters in this volume demonstrate that approaches to Jewish music must consider the complexity of Jewish identity, complicating any essentialist attempt to define Jewishness. This volume thus maintains that discourses around Jewish music ought to be equally complex, embracing its different forms, contexts, meanings, and experiences, while avoiding fixed definitions.

Paul G. Feller-Simmons
Ph.D. Candidate at Northwestern University
Lecturer at The University of Illinois Chicago and DePaul University