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Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 19, 2003 /24 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764

An ambitious new project surveys the American Jewish musical experience

By Paul Wieder

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http://www.jewishworldreview.com | For things, there is the Smithsonian. For words, the Library of Congress.


And for Jewish music, now there is the Milken Archive.


Three hundred and fifty years worth of American Jewish music — dating back to the early 1700s — has been researched and catalogued by the Archive. More importantly to the public, Milken is having this music performed, recorded, and distributed.


The focus is not on the American-centered work of such Jewish composers as Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin and Carole King. Rather, it revolves around Americans' works about Jewish life.


These include songs performed in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino, works based in Jewish prayer, scripture and history, and tunes composed for Jewish holidays and life-cycle events. The Archive's curators also included some not-very-Jewish songs that still employ Jewish melodies or styles.


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Naturally, the content of the pieces ranges widely. They encompass cantorial and choral melodies for the synagogue and concert hall… Yiddish vaudeville, radio and theater songs… pieces for classical-style ensembles and full orchestras… protest and Zionist songs… even prayers in jazz and rock arrangements.


Hundreds of musicians have been diligently recording these works for the Archive since 1990. And one need not be Jewish to apply; Dave Brubeck, the Julliard String Quartet, and the Vienna Boys Choir also perform these historic pieces.


The Archives' catalogue represents more than 200 composers, 91 of whom are living. Of the Archives' 600-plus works, fewer than 100 have been commercially released before, and almost a third had to be newly arranged for the project.


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The Milken Archives' first recordings were released this September. The first five discs center on the compositions of Kurt Weill and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, with performers including local favorite Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi and klezmer clarinet virtuoso David Krakauer.


First, individual discs will be released, some 50 of these through the year 2005. Later, they will be reissued as multi-disc sets. The goal is to produce 20 of these sets, each on a different genre or theme, packaged with extensive compilations of notes, translations, and photos.


But the Archive is more than just a publishing house; it is an educational resource. It has videotaped more than a hundred interviews with Jewish composers, musicians, and actors. And it offers conferences, classes, and concerts.


Ultimately, the success of the project will be measured in the impact the Archive has on the American Jewish musical landscape. If all goes as planned, some of these almost-forgotten melodies will be coming soon to a synagogue near you.

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JWR contributor Paul Wieder is a public relations associate at the Jewish United Fund and a columnist for JUF News. Contact the author or the magazine by either clicking here, or calling (312) 444-2853.

© 2003, Paul Wieder