Past Event: March 1, 2007

“Yiddish Song in the Lives of Modern Hasidic Women”

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Thursday, March 1, 2007

5:30-7:00 PM

Asya Vaisman

PhD Candidate in Yiddish Language and Culture, Harvard University

Prof. Mark Kligman

Professor of Jewish Musicology, HUC-JIR

Prof. Ayala Fader

Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Fordham University

At the session, Mark Kligman and Ayala Fader will join Asya Vaisman in a discussion of her work on the topic of “Yiddish Song in the Lives of Modern Hasidic Women.” An abstract of her paper can be found below.

RSVP to JFRG.JTS@gmail.com to reserve a seat at the session and to receive a complete copy of the paper to be discussed.

Light refreshments will be served.

The event will be held in the Tananbaum Board Room on the 10th floor of the Kripke Tower at the Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, NYC (@122ndSt)

ABSTRACT of Asya Vaisman's Paper:
Yiddish Songs in the Lives of Modern Hasidic WomenAccording to Jewish law, the singing voice of a woman is forbidden to a man, because it is considered to be sensually attractive. In traditional communities where this law is strictly observed, women are unable to record or publicly perform songs, so very little is known about what women sing and the context in which they sing. Such Yiddish-speaking religious communities exist in several large cities in the US, Europe and Israel; for this work, the interviews were conducted in Williamsburg and Boro Park in New York and in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. The interviews with women from Satmar, Ger, Bobov, and Tolner Hasidic communities provide rich insights into the role that songs and singing play in a Hasidic woman's life. They help to understand how the prohibition against singing affects the way women sing, the environment in which they sing, and the content of their songs. The differences and mutual influences between men's songs and women's songs and between Hasidic Yiddish songs and secular Yiddish songs are also explored. Analysis of outside influences on the songs is used to examine the interactions of different groups of Hasidic women with the outside world. Discussed in this work are several interesting issues that have arisen during the interviews: the correlation between Hasidic group and the woman's perception of secular Yiddish songs, gender differences and the context for singing, and the content of the songs. Women from different Hasidic groups often react in very different ways to discussions of secular Yiddish songs: from complete denial (Satmar) to collecting CDs and records of secular Yiddish music (Ger and Tolner). This difference reflects attitudes toward the outside world of Satmar and other women. The Yiddish songs collected during the interviews fall into three main categories: school songs, camp songs, and songs learned at home. Most of the singing takes place in school and camp, while singing in the home is less frequent. Most of the songs have some level of religious content. There are songs about Jewish holidays, faith, and the role of G-d in the life of the Hasidim. There are also some historical songs, mostly about the Holocaust, as well as lullabies and songs with stories from the Torah.