This Is Your Song Too: Phish and Contemporary Jewish Identity. Edited by Oren Kroll-Zeldin and Ariella Werden-Greenfield. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press. 2023.

Reviewed by Dr. Robert J Wuagneux

What is the connection between Phish and contemporary Jewish identity? Why does Phish have a disproportionately large Jewish fanbase? Editors Oren Kroll-Zeldin and Ariella Werden-Greenfield argue that the answer to these questions lies in a complex mosaic of religious and cultural ties that link Phish’s music and their fans’ complementary scene practices with Jewishness. Using a broad and inclusive understanding of Jewishness, this book counts all who identify as “Jewish” as Jews and all who identify as Phish fans as such.

Following the first academic conference to focus exclusively on the broad Phish ecosystem, held in May of 2019 at Oregon State University, This Is Your Song Too: Phish and Contemporary Jewish Identity is an extension of a conference panel titled “The People of the Helping Friendly Book: Jews, Judaism, and Phish,” organized by Kroll-Zeldin. With seventeen chapters divided into three sections plus an introduction and afterward, this volume represents the first scholarly investigation of the wide-ranging connections between Judaism and Phish, and marks a much-anticipated milestone in the burgeoning interdisciplinary area of Phish Studies.

The contributors are a diverse group of academics, rabbis, journalists, musicians, and music industry insiders who are drawn together by a love for Phish and a fascination with the Phish phenomenon. As such, the volume contains a diverse array of perspectives, including Jewish Studies, anthropology, sociology, musicology, queer studies, and critical race studies. This Is Your Song Too, therefore, expands the explanatory frameworks and methodological approaches available to examine not only the intersections of Phish and contemporary Jewish identity, but also music and identity at large. The volume’s inclusive and expansive approach to understanding lived expressions of Jewish religious and cultural identity make this work both accessible and a productive read for anyone interested in the interconnections between music, ritual, religion, identity formation, and the production of meaning, academics and non-academics alike.

In their introduction, Kroll-Zeldin and Werden-Greenfield set the stage by providing both an excellent primer to the musical world of Phish and a productive overview of the meaning of Phish to Jewish fans. A main theme presented in the introduction and developed throughout the book is the idea that Phish is an avenue through which Jews find Jewish cultural and spiritual fulfillment beyond the confines of traditional and institutional Jewish life. This can be seen in the introduction’s initial excavation of the many relationships between Phish’s musical practices and Jewish practices. One such example is the band’s rendition of “Avenu Malkenu,” which is explored by several contributors throughout the course of the book. 

The book’s three-part structure thoughtfully mirrors that of a Phish concert, in that it includes a first set, a second set, and an encore. Set 1, “‘Sharing in the Groove’: Phish and Jewish Culture,” effectively demonstrates the ways that Phish concerts, the surrounding Phish culture, and Phish’s music itself offer multiple possibilities for Jewish connection, identification, meaning-making, and healing. 

To open Set 1, Kroll-Zeldin discusses five key factors that contribute to a disproportionately high percentage of Jewish Phish fans relative to the general population of the United States: summer camp and Jewish community, the rise of cultural Jewish identity, affinity for counterculture, socioeconomics, and humor. Musicologist Jacob A. Cohen weaves together theories from multiple areas of study to consider ways that Jewish fans experience a sense of collective identity affirmation and belonging to both groups, Phish fans and Jews, through a process of double-layering their performance of identity during “Avenu Malkenu.” In Chapter 3, food journalist Evan Benn transitions from the auditory world of Phish to the culinary realm in his thick description of senses of place through food to show that certain dishes contain a symbolic and sensory meaning that links Jewishness to Phish fanhood. 

The contributors to the second half of Set 1 focus on aspects of embodiment and threshold experience. Psychoanalyst Isaac Slone combines perspectives on queer world-making and the male Jewish body with Victor Turner’s concept of the liminal to offer a powerful reflection on shuckling, musical embodiment, queerness, and Jewish masculinity, while also describing the Phish concert space as a site where a rejection of heteronormative masculinity is a shared fan practice. In Chapter 5, writer and poet Caroline Rothstein applies an explanatory framework of Whiteness and liminality in her activist exploration of the complex intersections of Jewish, White, female, and fan identities, concluding that Phish shows provide an experience that affirms Whiteness as a Jew in a liminal, countercultural space. Set 1 concludes with Rabbi Ben David’s deep reflection on the therapeutic effects of Phish’s music and the live Phish experience during his recovery from cancer, in which he claims that the transformative power of a highly affective musical experience is akin to transcendent religious experience. 

Set 2, “God On Tour: Judaism and the Live Phish Experience,” considers ways in which Jews connect and engage religiously through the live Phish experience and subculture. To open Set 2, Werden-Greenfield analyzes ethnographic evidence from Phish-focused online chat forums and Facebook groups to explore the significance that Jewish fans assign to Phish’s performance of Hebrew songs, particularly “Avenu Malkenu” and “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.” Her findings show that Phish’s performance of these and other Hebrew songs transform the concert space into a site of prayer and tradition, allowing for a unique expression of Jewish identity within the realm of popular culture. In Chapter 8, Mike Greenhaus, editor in chief of Relix magazine, interrogates some of the ways that Jews of all backgrounds congregate, both culturally and religiously, using the music of Phish. 

The theme of Jewish connection and religiosity is further developed and illustrated by the contributors who examine how religious Jews integrate spiritual tradition into the live Phish experience. Rabbi Jesse Dressin deploys the concept of “cultural literacy” to illuminate the parallels between the live Phish experience and two components of the Jewish pilgrimage holidays, pilgrimage and communal rejoicing. In Chapter 10, Hebrew scribal artist Josh Fleet explores the intersection of Jewish and fan identities through a reflection on Shabbat observance and the halachic complications raised by attending concerts on Saturday and Sunday. In turn, Rabbi Joshua Ladon explores how the live Phish experience can affect the religious lives of ritually observant Jews, centering on improvisation to frame the mutually constitutive aspects of Phish and Judaism. Set 2 concludes with Noah Munro Lehrman’s reflection on Phish tour and the Torah, in which he offers both textual exegesis and lyrical analysis to illustrate how the experiences of Phish fandom and Jewish religious observance influence and affect each other.

Nestled between Set 2 and Encore is a “venue” of Phish fandom that showcases a carefully curated collection of “poignant and playful” images to further invite the reader into the Jewish experience in the Phish world. In the final section, Encore, the editors deliver illuminating interviews with prominent individuals in the Phish and broader jam band scene, including an interview with Phish’s bassist, Mike Gordon. The volume concludes with an afterward penned by Dean Budnick, editor in chief of Relix magazine and founder of jambands.com, in which he reflects on Jewish identity in the Phish world and offers a set of questions that stimulates further research.

While reading this book, my attention, perhaps steered by my own research, was repeatedly drawn to two complementary themes that appeared to emerge again and again. These are affect and improvisation. Both Rothstein and David note that improvisation, as both a band and fan practice, is a core component of a shared, highly affective live Phish experience. Taking this notion one step further, Dressin, Greenhaus, and Ladon discuss how such highly affective improvisatory experiences have the capacity to influence Jewish fans’ religious orientation, including personal practice and communal worship, while Slone describes how a live Phish improvisation can facilitate an embracing and reclaiming of the power of the male Jewish body through ecstatic dance and shuckling. Finally, Lehrman links improvisation and communal interplay in the Phish scene to processes of learning, interpreting and living out the lessons of the Torah. Together, these perspectives suggest that improvisation can play a significant role in a live music experience that is transcendent and transformative. 

The volume’s greatest strength is its comprehensive and inclusive treatment of the topic by a diverse group of contributors. However, perhaps this is also the volume’s greatest weakness, as it does not deeply engage any one single disciplinary area. That said, This Is Your Song Too is an important initial probe into the complex interconnections between Phish and contemporary Jewish identity. The volume signals the inseparability of religion and culture by examining Phish shows as a site for cultural connection and religiosity. The chapters illuminate numerous elements of the musical, communal, and sometimes transcendental world of Phish that can be interpreted through a Jewish framework and offer Jewish meaning. With these points in mind, This Is Your Song Too is an insightful work that invites further research into both Phish and contemporary Jewish identity. 

Dr. Robert J Wuagneux is an assistant professor of music theory in the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. His research focuses on the ways in which highly affective live music experiences can be a source for positive world-building.