While there were Jewish individuals who made their way to America, the first American Jewish community is accepted to have been established in 1654. There had been a pretty substantial Jewish community in Dutch-controlled Brazil. When Portugal got Brazil back from the Dutch, the Jews left. Many of them settled in places around the Caribbean, some went home to Amsterdam, and one boatload of 23 Jews wound up in New Amsterdam (which became New York). Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam, did not want Jews in his colony and ordered their deportation. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us, he was under the employ of the Dutch West India Trading Company, which was funded, in part, by wealthy Dutch Jews. So, the hateful, anti-semetic Governor Stuyvesant
was overruled by his Jewish bosses.
The Dutch West India Company sent 5 affluent Jewish families to help settle the Jews in their new home. And Jewish immigration to New Amsterdam commenced from Amsterdam and Dutch territories.
What I found interesting is that the first Jewish settlers in America were not Ashkenazi; they were Sephardic. See, what had happened was Spain did this little thing called the inquisition (what a show!).
To escape the horrors of the Inquisition (or possibly the horrors of being in a Mel Brooks movie), some crypto-Jews (Jews who publicly converted to Catholicism to escape persecution, but privately remained Jewish) fled Spain and settled in North Africa and the Mediterranean. These Jewish communities came to be known as Sephardic Jews, from the Hebrew word for Spain: s'farad. Some crypto-Jews elected to remain in Spain and practice Judiasm secretly. But, as the Dutch were gaining their independence from Spain, crypto-Jews took the opportunity to move to Amsterdam. You see, the Dutch, being protestant, welcomed the Jews as fellow haters of the Catholic Church and saw them as a beneficial addition to the middle and merchant classes needed to bolster the Dutch capitalist economy. These Jews came to be known as Western Sephardic Jews and it was members of this community that immigrated to Brazil and finally to New Amsterdam.
The musical traditions of this Jewish community were an oral tradition passed from hazzan (cantor) to hazzan. Western Sephardim, having been unable to practice Judiasm for so long, had no formal Jewish traditions left when they finally arrived in Amsterdam. So, they employed Sephardic hazzanim from North Africa and the Mediterranean to come teach them the Sephardic Jewish musical traditions. The Western Sephardim found this music hard to wrap their minds around. It had been influenced by the musical traditions of the Islamic lands in which it had been flourishing and was characterized by a nasal timbre, rhythmic improvisation, melodic ornamentation, and non-western tonalities. So, the Western Sephardim "westernized it, blending it with some of the European musical conventions they had become accustomed to as well as some of the Ashkenazi musical traditions. It was this "composite" musical tradition that made its way to America. The colonial American Jews were so concerned with the correctness of their musical tradition that they imported hazzanim from Amsterdam to ensure they did it right. It is thought that the musical tradition was an incredibly important part of their Jewish identity because of the expense paid to bring in musical experts.
There was a choir in the Western Sephardic tradition. The choir was a set group of trained singers whose job was to provide a musical example for the congregation and lead them through the sung prayers. The choir sang in unison and it is unknown how often they were used in synagogue services.
There are some obvious reasons why the Jewish musical tradition of the American colonies has become lost in the Christian tradition that dominated the American colonies. First, the Jewish tradition was an oral one whereas the Christian tradition included notation. Second there, were so few Jews in relation to the number of Christians. By the American Revolution, there were only 5 cities with established Jewish communities: New York, Newport, Savannah, Charleston, and Philadelphia. And third, though we are all taught that the Americas were founded as a place for religious freedom, it was really only founded as a place for religious freedom for some, not all. Though, the Jews were allowed to settle in New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant and later, the British, imposed restrictions on when and how the Jews could observe their religion. Some of Stuyvesant's decrees were overturned by the Dutch West India Company. But, it wasn't until 1730 that the first Synagogue in New Amsterdam was allowed to be built. One of the early synagogues, Mikveh Israel (founded in 1740), still operates today in Philadelphia using the Western Sephardic musical tradition observed in colonial times. I think I may go check it out! Does anyone want to come?
If you want to read more about the musical history of Jews in America, I found this great website: http://www.milkenarchive.org/articles/view/introduction-to-volume-1#colonial
Other than that, not a lot of note happened last week. I still feel like I am struggling through the technology for the online class. I am not convinced that will change.
Well, folks, they can't all be amazingly interesting weeks. But, I hope next week will be more exciting for you. I should be getting back to my scholarly reading, so I will have some fun articles to review for your next week.
Until then, Future Dr. Mitch, out!
