In this landmark of musical scholarship, the leading 20th-century authority on Jewish music describes and analyzes its elements and characteristics, and chronicles its development from the earliest appearance of Semitic song 2000 years ago to the early 20th century. Liberally illustrating every type of music discussed, the book examines the music as a tonal expression of Judaism, Jewish life and the spiritual aspects of Jewish culture.

Have you ever quit trusting that God has a plan? This book will inspire you to live boldly for Jesus and recognize how God can use even the difficult times in life to accomplish His purposes. Whether big or small, God will use your difficult seasons to produce more strength, more faith, and perseverance. With raw transparency, Messianic Rabbi Kirt Schneider brings you with him on a heartfelt adventure that led him out from his insulated Jewish upbringing and culture onto the world stage, where he is proclaiming Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world. From the lost and broken state he was in when Jesus first appeared to him, to the rejection he experienced from his family and Jewish friends, which resulted in him being forcibly taken to the psychiatric ward of a major hospital as well as held captive by a famous deprogrammer, Rabbi Schneider shares the dramatic journey that revealed his calling. This riveting true story will inspire you to live boldly for Jesus and recognize how God can use even the difficult times in life to accomplish His purposes. God will use your trials, whether big or small, to produce more strength, faith, and perseverance to create a life profoundly marked by the call of Christ. FEATURES AND BENEFITS: Includes full-color photo section

Experiencing Jewish Music in America: A Listener's Companion offers an easy-to-read and new perspective on the remarkably diverse landscape that comprises Jewish music in the United States. This much-needed survey on the art of listening to and enjoying this dynamic and diverse musical culture invites listeners curious about the many types of music in its connection to Jewish life. Experiencing Jewish Music in America is intended to encourage further reading about, listening to, and viewing of this portion of America’s musical heritage, and provide listeners with the tools to understand and appreciate this body of work. This volume is designed to appeal to listeners of all stripes, regardless of ability to read music, and of religious or cultural background. Experiencing Jewish Music in America offers insights into an extensive range of musical genres and styles that have been central to the Jewish experience, beginning with the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants in the sixteenth century and the chanting of the Torah, to the sounds of pop today. It lays the groundwork for the listener’s understanding of music in its relation to Jewish studies by exploring the wide range of venues in which this music has appeared, from synagogue to street to stage to screen. Each chapter offers selected case studies where these unique forms of music were—and still can be—heard, seen, and experienced. This book gives readers unique insights into the challenges of classifying Jewish music, while it traces its history and development on American soil and outlines “ways of listening” so readers can draw clear connections to Jewish culture. The volume thus brings together American Jewish history, the story of American and Jewish music, and the roles of the individuals important to both. It offers the reader tools to identify, evaluate, and appreciate the musical genres, and reflect the growing interest of the past decade in the academic study of Jewish music.

A global history of Jewish music from the biblical era to the present day, with chapters by leading international scholars.

Shiloah (musicology, Hebrew U. of Jerusalem ) discusses the manner in which the 2,000-year-old Jewish musical heritage meshes with the complex web of Jewish history by way of central themes such as the relation of music to religion, music and the world of the Kabbalah, and music in communal life. He considers technical and theoretical approaches, as well as art music, folk music, and performance practices of poets, vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR