A Celebration of Jewish Music.

(This choral music article appears by permission of the World Zionist Organization. It first appeared on their website Hagshama.)

By: Ilene Bloch

Jews are a people of the Book as much as we are a people of the Note. The Musical Note, that is. We can trace the first Jewish choral work to Biblical times, where the entire nation made their choral debut in a paean to God for saving them from the hands of the pursuing Egyptians.

“My victory and song is G-d, that was my salvation.”
Ch. 15, verses 1-2, Shemot.

That can certainly help to explain the waves of passion and excitement that filled Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium during the Zimriya¹s, the world assembly of choirs, 50-year jubilee concert celebration that took place last month. Our roots run deep.

It’s not rare that the 3000 seats in Mann Auditorium should be filled to capacity. After all, this hall hosts some of the world’s finest conductors, singers, instrumentalists and performers. But, to watch the seats being filled by what can only be described as a genuine cross-section of Israeli society that loves choral music was warming and encouraging.

The notion of a Zimriya — a world gathering of Jewish choirs — was first sparked in the soul of Latvian born A. Z. Propes. It was Propes idea, as early as 1935, to bring together Jewish choirs from Europe with choirs in the nascent Jewish State. The idea did not get off the ground until nearly 20 years later, and unfortunately, many of the European choirs had been decimated by the Holocaust. Nevertheless, in 1952 a hearty group of 450 Jewish men and women from the USA and Eastern and Western Europe disembarked in Haifa and began spontaneously singing on the pier.

They brought with them their music sheets along with their bed sheets, and spent the next week traveling and singing throughout the length and breadth of Israel. Their first concert took place in Ramat Gan Stadium before 40,000 enthusiasts, who sat and listened to choral works sung by 13 international choirs and 38 Israeli choirs.

Since then, the Zimriya, which means the “song of God,” has been taking place every three years. And, since 1961 dozens of choirs, many non-Jewish, have been coming to Israel to perform, learn, sing, work with conductors from here and abroad, and travel throughout the country. In fact, in the annals of choral history, Israel’s Zimriya is the first international choir assembly.

Israel has hosted choirs from every continent. Choirs from southern Africa whose performances in native tongue, in native dress and accompanied by native dance have proven to be among the most exotic.

The October 31st concert, while not exotic, was a titillating entree to the next Zimriya scheduled for August 2004. With more than 2,000 singers in the hall, we were entertained by works largely based on lyrics from Jewish sources.

The evening closed with an excellent rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” sung by five different choirs who joined forces under the baton of Maestro Stanley Sperber, a long-time Zimriya participant and current board member.

Maestro Sperber’s first Zimriya performance took place in 1967, shortly following the Six-Day War. “That concert changed my life. We sang at the newly liberated Western Wall and it is one of the most vivid memories of my life.” A few years later, Stanley Sperber left the Zamir Chorale of New York, which he founded, and made Aliyah.

The audience was nearly as colorful as the singers themselves. Former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Zimriya since Propes first approached him with the idea, has attended every Zimriya performance. And Moshe Katzav, President of Israel, opened the evening’s events and personally welcomed the more than 100 people sitting in the hall who had also participated in the first Zimriya. Today they may not be able to sing, but remain devotees of choral singing.

I was invited to the concert by my friend, Ryna, who has been an avid choir singer for several decades. She was actually the youngest member of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, which also appeared at this concert, when she was still in high school.

More than just the common international language as Stanley expressed, choral singing is ecstasy for my friend, “just being in the middle of these masses of sound, orchestra and harmonies swirling around you and singing with many others is just an unbelievable feeling.”

This unbelievable feeling can be re-sparked in August 2004 when the 20th international Zimriya will take place in Israel. There will be no need to bring bed sheets — Israel happily accommodates the thousands who attend the Zimriya’s workshops and sessions throughout the two week period, but participants will surely be arriving with plenty of music sheets. I look forward to being in the concert hall again to hear those voices rise in unison in a paean to beautiful music.

Der Kukvinkl wishes to thank WZO for kind permission to reproduce this article online.