Considering I spent much of my time the past 3 days in synagogue for Rosh Hashana, it was pretty clear to me that I was going to write about my Jewish culture for this blog. But Jewish culture means something different to everyone, so the exact details took me a while to figure out.
At first it seems strange that I’m calling a religion my culture. If you want to be picky, I’m German, Polish, and Hungarian, but within all those places, my grandparents were part of the smaller, self contained, community of Jews. They really did not interact with the culture around them.
Even in America, I grew up in a town with a lot of Jews. I went to Jewish schools, Jewish camps, and the same synagogue every week. Despite being in the cultural melting pot that is America, I saw a pretty isolated view of the world. My Judaism has been the defining culture in my life.
So what do I feel is a piece of art that defines that culture? Actually, it’s a song. But nothing fancy, sung by performers. Appropriately enough, it’s a prayer. But oddly, it’s not the meaning of the prayer that speaks to me or the beauty of the composition. In fact, looking for a clip of it on YouTube was rather disappointing. All the videos are opera singers, or groups trying to add some pop to the song. The real beauty of the song lies in the true setting.
Every time I’ve heard the song “Etz Chaim Hi” in synagogue, I feel an instant connection to everyone in the room. It’s a slow and low song. Everyone in the room comes together to sing it. No matter where you are, there is always one person who will harmonize beautifully. For the two minutes that the song is being sung (when the torah scroll is being returned to the ark) nothing else is going on in the room. There is absolutely no side conversation. Everyone is just wholly invested in singing.
To me, this has always been so beautiful. No matter what your life is outside of synagogue, for those few moments, you are a part of a greater community. I’m not usually one to find spiritual meaning in everyday life, but for some reason the song has always given me chills.
(Here’s the basic idea of the song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1T8SMZ2qsk Sadly, much of the beauty is lost when sung by only one person.)
